The Oil Daily articles from April 2004

The Oil Daily archives from April 2004

Opec Affirms Commitment to Slash Output.(Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)
April 1, 2004... VIENNA -- Opec ministers shrugged off a consumer outcry over high fuel prices and stuck to their guns on Wednesday, reaffirming their commitment to lower their collective production limit to 23.5 million barrels per day from Apr. 1. ...

White House Deals With Fallout From Opec Action.(Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)
April 1, 2004... WASHINGTON -- Noticeably dismayed that its overtures to Opec to open the taps fell on deaf ears, the White House on Wednesday struggled to defray the political fallout of its inability to cool red-hot gasoline prices. For the White House,...

Oil Futures Slump on Stockbuilds, Ignoring Opec Output Cuts.(Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)
April 1, 2004... NEW YORK -- Oil futures fell Wednesday as a surprisingly large stockbuild overshadowed an affirmation by Opec to follow through with a previously announced plan to cut output by 1 million barrels per day starting today. The May light,...

Iraq Talking to Firms About Boosting Output to 3 Million B/D.
April 1, 2004... VIENNA -- Iraq plans to increase its oil production from current levels of around 2.5 million barrels per day toward the 3 million b/d mark over the next three months, and then to sustain it at that level for the rest of the year, according to...

Syria Tabs Petro-Canada Led Consortium to Develop Gas Field.
April 1, 2004... DUBAI -- Syria has selected an international consortium led by Petro-Canada and including two US companies to develop a gas field in the center of the country, at an estimated cost of $750 million. Syrian oil ministry sources were quoted as...

Oxy, EnCana Follow Similar Path to Strong Financial Results.(Occidental Petroleum)(EnCana Corp.)
April 1, 2004... NEW ORLEANS -- Any exploration and production company hoping for a 50% hike in its stock price over the next year might want to take a hard look at what Occidental Petroleum and EnCana are doing. Both companies have the bulk of their...

XTO and Occidental Shine in Upstream Performance Rankings.(XTO Energy Inc., Occidental Petroleum)
April 1, 2004... HOUSTON -- XTO Energy and Occidental Petroleum stood out as top performers in a report on US exploration and production companies published by Prudential Equity Group on Wednesday. The report, authored by analyst Jason Gammel, measured how...

Sasol CEO Cox Outlines Ambitious Plans for GTL Development.(Pieter Cox)(gas to liquids )
April 1, 2004... NEW YORK -- On a one-man promotional road show, Sasol Chief Executive Pieter Cox boldly summed up his mission "to enhance the stature of gas to liquids (GTL)" -- an area in which Sasol dominates -- on the one year anniversary of the company's...

Barton Hopes Prices Will Spur Energy Bill Passage.(Joe Barton)
April 1, 2004... WASHINGTON -- The new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee stood fast by his position that any energy bill enacted by Congress this year must include liability protection for manufacturers of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE)....

Mexico Increases Role as Supplier of Jet Fuel to the US.
April 1, 2004... NEW YORK -- Mexico's ongoing refinery upgrades are increasing the country's profile as a jet fuel exporter. After years of sporadic exports, Mexican jet cargoes now show up regularly in the Los Angeles and Florida markets. More consistent...

EIA Weekly Statistics.(Environmental Investigation Agency)(Illustration)
April 1, 2004... Department of Energy Weekly Statistics For Week Ended March 26, 2004 Crude Oil: StocksCrude Oil: Production and Imports (millions of bbl)(Average, thousands of bbl) Domestic Current Previous ...

Daily Oil & Gas Price Review.(Illustration)
April 1, 2004... Daily Oil & Gas Price Review Prices for Wednesday, March 31, 2004 Light Sweet Futures -- Prompt Month ($/barrel) 1st 5-Day 2nd 3rd Chg Month Avg. ...

Stock Market Scorecard.(Illustration)
April 1, 2004... Stock Market Scorecard Close 1-Day. % Chg. Mar 31 Chg. % Chg. 10-Day 52-Wk YTD Integrated Majors Marathon 33.67 +0.99 ...

Torch Misses Filing Deadline.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Torch Offshore missed a Mar. 30 deadline to file its 2003 financials because it was not able to complete its audited financial statements in time, the company told the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday. The New Orleans-based...

ATP Reports Big 2003 Loss.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... ATP Oil & Gas said late Tuesday that it booked a loss of $38.6 million on revenue of $14 million in the third quarter of 2003 compared with a loss of $3.2 million on revenue of $18.7 million in the same quarter of 2002. For the full year,...

Double Eagle Has Record 2003.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Double Eagle Petroleum of Casper, Wyoming, said Wednesday that 2003 was a record year in terms of earnings, revenue and production. The company reported annual income of $971,822 on revenue of $6.1 million versus a loss of $2.8 million on...

January Canadian Output Sags.(petroleum)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Amid the optimism about loner term prospects for growth in Canadian supplies driven by aggressive development of Alberta's bitumen resources, production gave back some of its recent gains in January according to data released this week by...

Talisman Inks Malaysia Deal.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Malaysia has signed a new production sharing contract with Canada's Talisman for the offshore Block PM-314. The block was earlier awarded in 1998 to Amerada Hess, whose contract expired recently. Under the terms of the new contract,...

Oil Output Starts in Yemen.(TransGlobe)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... US Vintage and Canada's TransGlobe have started production at their An Nagyah oil field in Yemen. Early production facilities were installed in the first quarter of this year and field production operations were initiated on Mar. 28,...

S&P Downgrades Hess Debt.(Standard & Poor)(Amerada Hess)
April 1, 2004... Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the debt of Amerada Hess to its lowest investment-grade rating on Wednesday, reflecting heightened concerns about the company's ability to meet expectations for production through 2006, in...

Ecuador Extends Bid Deadline.
April 1, 2004... Ecuador has extended to May 14 the deadline for bids for two offshore blocks, which failed to attract any interest in the latest licensing round. Officials will later this week open the sole bid submitted for two other blocks, lying partially...

Harkin Unit Drills Colombia.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Harken Energy said Wednesday that Global Energy Development, its subsidiary handling Colombian drilling operations, has begun the first of its in-country drilling projects under its 2004 capital expenditure budget. The Houston-based...

Plains Buys Link Energy Assets.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Plains All American Pipeline said Wednesday it will pay $273 million cash to buy the North American crude oil and pipeline operations of Link Energy, a former Enron affiliate that will no longer exist after the deal closes. Under the terms...

S&P:SPR Has Little Price Impact.(Strategic Petroleum Reserve )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... US stockpiling of crude in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) has had a "negligible impact" on global oil prices, according to analysis by Standard & Poor's released Wednesday. High prices oil prices are tied to low inventories and...

Enbridge Wants Stake in Alaska Gas Pipeline.
April 2, 2004... HOUSTON -- Calgary-based pipeline firm Enbridge is angling for a piece of the proposed Alaska North Slope natural gas pipeline project. Enbridge announced Thursday that it plans to file an application with the state of Alaska that will...

High Energy Prices Enable Big Oil Buybacks.
April 2, 2004... WASHINGTON -- The announcement of huge share buyback plans by BP and ChevronTexaco this week have analysts talking about an "embarrassment of riches" in the sector, as companies rake in windfall profits from sky-high oil prices and are forced...

Bush Administration Weighs Options to Cool Gasoline Prices.
April 2, 2004... WASHINGTON -- Facing heat from Democrats, the Bush administration is in a quandary about how to contain gasoline prices after Opec ignored US sentiment and moved ahead to cut production. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham had no immediate...

Futures Plummet as Administration Mulls Gasoline Waivers.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... NEW YORK -- Politics tipped the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) crude oil futures to the bearish side Thursday, and then technicals took over, forcing the Nymex May contract sharply downward. After spending most of day near the early...

Sakhalin-3 Project Strategic for Russia, Resource Minister Says.
April 2, 2004... MOSCOW -- Russia's newly appointed natural resources minister, Yuri Trutnev, said Thursday that the Sakhalin-3 project on Russia's Pacific shelf has strategic importance and that its fate should be given careful thought. He made it clear,...

Argentina's Government, Gas Producers Face Off During Crisis.
April 2, 2004... WASHINGTON -- On one side, President Nestor Kirchner; on the other side, natural gas producers. This might be the best image to describe Argentina these days where a natural gas shortage of unprecedented levels has forced the government to stop...

EIA Gas Storage.(Energy Information Administration )(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... Gas Storage Drops 18 Bcf Stocks of working natural gas in US storage facilities fell 18 Bcf for the week ended Mar. 26, leaving storage levels at 1,014 Bcf, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Stocks were 318 Bcf...

Daily Oil & Gas Price Review.
April 2, 2004... Daily Oil & Gas Price Review Prices for Thursday, April 1, 2004 Light Sweet Futures -- Prompt Month ($/barrel) 1st 5-Day 2nd 3rd Chg Month Avg. ...

Stock Market Scorecard.
April 2, 2004... Stock Market Scorecard Close 1-Day. % Chg. Apr 01 Chg. % Chg. 10-Day 52-Wk YTD Integrated Majors Royal Dutch Pet. 47.80 +0.22 ...

Iraqi March Exports Near 2M B/D.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... Iraqi oil exports came in just shy of 2 million b/d in March, at 1.94 million b/d, according to preliminary estimates by Oil Daily. March loadings from Iraq's two operational Mideast Gulf terminals, the Basrah Oil Terminal (BOT) and Khor...

Alaskan Crude Output Jumps.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... Alaskan crude oil production bounced back last month from a dip in February, as colder than normal weather and better operating performance combined to push output up by nearly 50,000 b/d from February to 1.031 million b/d, according to data...

Turnaround in Rig Market Seen.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... The lackluster performance of the deepwater rig market over the last two years is coming to an end, said a Houston-based consultant Thursday. With no new rig orders in the pipeline, demand will eventually surpass supply, according to the...

Carrizo Boosts Capex for 2004.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... Carrizo Oil & Gas announced Thursday a 2004 capital expenditures budget of $45 million -- $40 million for drilling and $5 million for land and seismic development -- with a 68% increase in 2004 drilling expenditures compared to 2003. The...

Alaska Unveils Lease Plans.
April 2, 2004... Alaska has ambitious plans to lease just over 1 million acres onshore and offshore for oil and natural gas exploration. The state on Wednesday said the leasing would include state waters off-shore of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)...

Cheney Loses Again in Court.(US District Court (Washington))(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... A federal court in Washington on Wednesday dealt another blow to the Bush administration's efforts to keep secret records pertaining to the energy task force chaired by Vice President Dick Cheney. US District Court Judge Paul Friedman...

Exxon Closes Aussie Asset Sale.(Gradav buys Delhi Petroleum subsidiary)
April 2, 2004... Exxon Mobil unit Esso Australia Resources has completed the sale of its Delhi Petroleum subsidiary in Australia's onshore Cooper-Eromanga Basin to the little-known Sydney- based investment Gradav. Exxon Mobil announced its intention to...

Targa Buys Conoco Assets.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... Targa Resources announced Thursday that it will acquire midstream assets in Texas and Louisiana from ConocoPhillips. The deal is expected to close this month. The Texas assets consist of an integrated gathering and processing system with...

Williams Closes Alaska Deals.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... Williams announced the completion of the sale of $290 million in downstream Alaskan assets to two Koch subsidiaries and a Minnesota convenience store company. The transaction also eliminates two $90.9 million letters of credit held by the state...

Texas Has Second Refinery Blast.
April 2, 2004... The Texas refining sector suffered another blow early Thursday morning when a naphtha processing unit exploded at Exxon Mobil's 525,000 b/d Baytown refinery, and subsequently burned for about an hour. The refinery was not affected, said an...

Exxon Names Exploration Exec.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... A. T. (Tim) Cejka is expected to take over Exxon Mobil's exploration unit on Jun. 1, following the retirement of Jon Thompson as president of Exxon Mobil Exploration. Cejka, 52, began his career with Exxon in 1975 as an exploration...

Gas Producers in Argentina to See Higher Prices.
April 6, 2004... Natural gas producers in Argentina have received some luck following the government's concession last Friday for their long-standing desire for higher gas prices at the wellhead. In exchange for getting a higher price, producers will be...

Oil Shares Fail to Move on Price Bonanza in March.(forecasts)
April 6, 2004... WASHINGTON -- Shares of leading worldwide oil companies failed to capitalize on the highest oil prices in 13 years and continued strong refining margins in March, as concerns about broader equity market malaise and the sustainability of high...

Nymex Crude Futures Tread Water as Traders Await Stock Data.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... NEW YORK -- Crude futures in New York ended nearly unchanged on quiet, chopping trading Monday, as traders were reluctant to take fresh positions ahead of Wednesday's weekly release of US inventory data. The light, sweet May crude contract...

ConocoPhillips Reports Dip in Q1 Output in Preview of Results.(first-quarter)
April 6, 2004... NEW YORK -- ConocoPhillips, the No. 3 US oil company, Monday said oil and gas production for the first quarter fell slightly from the fourth quarter, but results for the period will reflect higher oil prices and lower exploration costs, Reuters...

Coal Company Outpaces Oil and Gas Issues in Latest Week.(Massey Energy)
April 6, 2004... HOUSTON -- Massey Energy, a coal mining company, was the leading gainer among energy stocks last week as it replenished its coffers with a $150 million private convertible debt offering. Shares of Massey, based in Richmond, Virginia, rose...

Lukoil Has Ambitions to Expand in the Mideast, North Africa.
April 6, 2004... CAIRO -- Russian oil major Lukoil is aiming to build a substantial presence in the Middle East and North Africa over the next decade, with a view to holding a quarter of its international projects in that region by 2013, according to Andrei...

Heating Degree Days.(Illustration)
April 6, 2004... Heating Degree Days Week Dev Cum Dev For week of From From From April 3, 2004 Week From Year...

Daily Oil & Gas Price Review.(Illustration)
April 6, 2004... Daily Oil & Gas Price Review Prices for Monday, April 5, 2004 Light Sweet Futures -- Prompt Month ($/barrel) 1st 5-Day 2nd 3rd Chg Month Avg. ...

Stock Market Scorecard.(Illustration)
April 6, 2004... Stock Market Scorecard Close 1-Day. % Chg. Apr 05 Chg. % Chg. 10-Day 52-Wk YTD Integrated Majors BP 52.95 +0.95 ...

FX Energy Plans Europe Offer.(shares sale)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... FX Energy plans to offer up to 2.5 million shares of common stock for sale exclusively to institutional investors in Europe. Proceeds from the offering would be allocated toward continuing FX Energy planned exploration activities, development...

Halliburton Wants to Up Shares.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Halliburton will ask shareholders at its May 19 annual meeting asking shareholders to approve a 67% increase in its authorized common stock, according to a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Houston oil field...

More Gasoline For Iraqis.(Defense Energy Support Center)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... The Pentagon is planning to buy an additional 24.17 million gallons of gasoline for distribution to Iraqis this spring. With the US Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) estimating fuel requirements to go up, the Defense Energy Support...

Iraq's Northern Pipeline Restarts.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Iraq's northern pipeline from the Kirkuk oil fields to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan resumed pumping on Apr. 3 after a closure of almost two weeks, Reuters reported. Crude in storage at Ceyhan had risen from 2 million bbl to 2.7...

Oxy to Explore Peru Block 101.(Occidental Petroleum, )(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Occidental Petroleum Friday signed a contract with Peruvian agency Perupetro to explore in Block 101 in Northeastern Peru. The block adjoins Occidental's Block 64, where the company plans to begin exploring after many years of negotiations with...

Maya Exports to Cost More.(Petroleos Mexicanos's crude exports)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Pemex narrowed discounts for Mexico's Maya crude exports to the US Gulf Coast by 25cents/bbl, as part of the monthly adjustment in its oil export price formulas. The May discount for Europe-bound Maya cargoes widened (OD Mar.8,p9). Pemex...

Ecopetrol Seeks Partners.(Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos S.A.)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Colombia's Ecopetrol is seeking private investment to increase production and expand refinery capacity, president Isaac Yanovich told a business audience Monday. Ecopetrol no longer holds a regulatory role in the Colombian oil sector, which has...

New Energy Bill Strategy.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... As expected, the Republican-controlled Senate will carve out the $15 billion tax component from a broad energy bill and attach it to the Foreign Sales Corporation tax legislation in a last-ditch effort to get the energy bill passed this year in...

Halliburton Loses Appeal.(patent infringement case)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... BJ Services Monday said the US Supreme Court denied a request from Halliburton to hear an appeal of a $101 million judgment in favor of BJ. No further appeals are available to Halliburton, according to BJ Services, which filed the suit...

Saudis Cut US Term Prices.(crude oil prices)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Saudi Arabia signaled on Monday that it expected US crude market fundamentals to continue to weaken next month by cutting for the fifth straight month its formula prices for most of its export grades heading for the US. At the same time,...

Teton Buys Russian Stake.(Teton Petroleum Co.)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Denver-based Teton Petroleum said Monday that it signed a purchase and sale agreement to acquire a majority interest in a producing field in Russia. When the deal closes, the property will be jointly operated by Teton and a major western...

Innicor Buys Precision Unit.(Innicor Subsurface Technologies, Polar Completions)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Innicor Subsurface Technologies, a Calgary-based oil services firm, announced Sunday that it plans to acquire Polar Completions, a unit of Precision Drilling. Purchase price is C$15 million (US$11.4 million). The deal is expected to close by...

Calpine Buys Brazos Gas Plant.(Calpine Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Calpine last week said it completed the $175 million purchase of the 570-MW Brazos Valley gas-fired power plant in Texas, representing a unique swap of merchant assets in the post-Enron era. Calpine bought the Brazos plant indirectly from a...

Speculators Trim Net Longs.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Noncommercial petroleum and gasoline speculators reduced their net long positions in the week ended Mar. 30, according to a Commodity Futures Trading Commission report issued Friday. The decrease for the week came a day before Opec decided...

New DOE, EPA Officials Named.(David Garman appointed at Department of Energy, Thomas Skinner appointed at Environmental Protection Agency )(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... The White House late Friday named David Garman, now in charge of energy efficiency and renewable energy, as the acting under secretary at the Department of Energy (DOE). Garman, who worked for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources...

Crosstex Names New VP.(Crosstex Energy Services hires Robert Bourne as vice president)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Midstream player Crosstex Energy Services of Dallas, named Robert Bourne Monday vice president of its commercial eastern division. Bourne spent more than 19 years with Tejas Gas/Acadian Gas Pipeline where he served most recently as a senior...

Latest Insurgency Clouds Iraq's Oil Outlook.
April 7, 2004... WASHINGTON -- While Iraq's oil installations have been spared the brunt of the latest violent insurgence, investor confidence can hardly be high as US-led forces struggle to maintain control a little more than two months before they hand over...

Opti Canada Plans Oil Sands Stock Offering.
April 7, 2004... HOUSTON -- Investors with a taste for Alberta's oil sands will have the chance later this week to acquire a stake in a pure oil sands company. Calgary-based Opti Canada plans to offer as early as today 13.4 million shares in an initial...

Technical Trading in Quiet Day Nudges Oil Futures Closer to $35.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2004... NEW YORK -- Oil prices got a boost in the last hour of Tuesday's session as traders squared their books ahead of today's release of weekly petroleum data, ending the day just below $35. Although volumes came in at a respectable 108,000...

Pemex Looks to Deepwater Gulf in Effort to Add Reserves.
April 7, 2004... NEW YORK -- Pemex marked the one-hundredth anniversary of Mexican oil production Apr. 3 by pledging to enter deeper waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The company will use its $13.4 billion exploration and production budget to raise reserves,...

Consumer Group Demands Shell Keep Bakersfield Refinery Open.(Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights)
April 7, 2004... WASHINGTON -- A consumer rights group, citing internal Royal Dutch/Shell documents, says the Anglo Dutch major is set to close the 70,000 barrels per day Bakersfield, California, refinery, even though the plant has proven to be one of the...

Daily Oil & Gas Price Review.(Illustration)
April 7, 2004... Daily Oil & Gas Price Review Prices for Tuesday, April 6, 2004 Light Sweet Futures -- Prompt Month ($/barrel) 1st 5-Day 2nd 3rd Chg Month Avg. ...

Stock Market Scorecard.(Illustration)
April 7, 2004... Stock Market Scorecard Close 1-Day. % Chg. Apr 06 Chg. % Chg. 10-Day 52-Wk YTD Integrated Majors Shell T & T 41.15 +0.54 ...

Goodrich Strikes in Louisiana.(Goodrich Petroleum Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2004... Goodrich Petroleum announced Tuesday a discovery on its Norton Prospect in the West Delta 83 Field in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. The company said it drilled and logged its State Lease 1922 No. 16 well, the initial discovery well for its...

Husky's SeaRose Arrives.(Husky Energy Inc., SeaRose Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2004... Husky Energy said Tuesday that the SeaRose FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading) vessel, which will produce oil from the White Rose field off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, has arrived in Canadian waters and will dock at...

Exxon Australia Plant Returns.(production management)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2004... Exxon Mobil subsidiary Esso Australia was continuing to ramp up gas output at its Longford processing plant in Victoria state on Tuesday, a day after a fire forced it to halt operations. The company had not yet restarted oil production. ...

Nigeria Signs Production Deals.(Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2004... The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. signed production- sharing contracts with five oil firms on Tuesday to develop three deepwater oilfields, Reuters reported. The agreements with ChevronTexaco, Brazil's Petrobras and local firms Famfa,...

Petrobras Opts to Shuttle Crude.(Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2004... Petrobras has decided to transfer crude by ship from the Campos basin to the state of Sao Paulo, since it has been unable to reach a compromise that would allow it to pipe the crude across the state of Rio de Janeiro. Restrictions imposed by...

Cheney Backed Oil Import Tax.(Dick Cheney)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2004... Turnabout is fair play, they say. Just a week after being attacked by President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for having supported an increase in the gasoline tax a decade ago, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) went after the vice president...

Saudis Cut US Term Prices.(Correction Notice)
April 7, 2004... Editor's Note: Due to a production error, the Apr. 6 issue of Oil Daily contained incorrect data with regard to Saudi prices for May. The correct pricing data appears below. Saudi Arabia signaled on Monday that it expected US crude market...

Gasoline Price Hits Record.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2004... The national average price for retail regular gasoline hit a new record at $1.77 a gallon, the AAA motorist association said on Tuesday. Strength in gasoline prices has been attributed to high costs for crude oil, the main ingredient in...