The Oil Daily articles from January 2008

The Oil Daily archives from January 2008

Billionaire investor grabs stake in Delta.
January 2, 2008... A little over a month after failing to get his way with independent refiner Tesoro, billionaire takeover specialist Kirk Kerkorian has struck again, finding it far easier this time to grab a sizeable stake in a small US exploration and...

CEO plans to take Transmeridian private.
January 2, 2008... Houston-based Caspian explorer Transmeridian Exploration said Monday that a British Virgin Islands-based company formed by its Chief Executive, Lorrie Olivier, has made an $825 million tender offer in an effort to take the company private. ...

Ecuador's 70% windfall tax on future contracts signals compromise.
January 2, 2008... Ecuador's constitutional assembly approved a tax reform bill Friday that includes a 70% windfall oil revenue tax for future contracts in an apparent back-pedaling from the government's hard line against foreign oil companies. The law,...

Front-month Nymex crude contract ends 2007 just below $96.(Brief article)
January 2, 2008... Crude futures in New York and London jumped in early trading on Monday, the result of market players attempting to position themselves in end-of-the-year trading. But prices eventually cooled, the result of profit taking and a lack of...

Daily oil & gas price review.(Statistical table)
January 2, 2008... Daily Oil & Gas Price Review Prices for Monday, December 31, 2007 US Domestic Crudes ($/barrel) Cash/Spot Change Spot Price 5-Day Avg. Month-Ago WTS (Midland) -0.09 91.85 91.50 82.99 LLS...

President Bush puts signature on measure backing divestment from Sudan.
January 2, 2008... President George W. Bush on Monday signed into a law a measure allowing state and local governments as well as mutual funds and private pension funds to divest from four Sudanese business sectors, including its oil sector (OD Jun.4,p5). ...

Cooling degree days.(Statistical table)
January 2, 2008... Cooling Degree Days For the week of Dec. 29, 2007 Week Dev From From Week Year Year State/City (PADD) ...

Shell to outsource information technology as it seeks to cut costs.(Royal Dutch-Shell PLC)
January 2, 2008... Royal Dutch Shell has confirmed it will sign contracts to outsource most of its information technology (IT) functions to third parties this year. The outsourcing will affect the bulk of Shell's global IT workforce of approximately 3,500 people....

Callon closes mineral deal.(Corporate News)
January 2, 2008... Callon Petroleum Company has closed the sale of certain non-core, non-operated royalty and mineral interests to Houstonbased Indigo Minerals for $61.5 million. The interests represent less than 2% of Callon's estimated current net proved...

Shell finishes upgrader repairs.(Exploration & Production)(Royal Dutch-Shell PLC)(Brief article)
January 2, 2008... Royal Dutch Shell completed repairs to its fire-damaged Scotford oil sands upgrader and is now producing more than half of its 155,000 b/d capacity of synthetic oil, with full output expected next month. Shell spokesman Randy Provencal said...

Oman well costs soar.(International)(Brief article)
January 2, 2008... The completion of the Al-Jariya well at Oman's potentially sizeable Jebel Hafit gas reservoir has been delayed until at least February, resulting in costs rising to over $50 million, investor Indago Petroleum said Friday. UAE-based Indago...

Petronas to develop Kebabangan.(International)(Petroliam Nasional Bhd.)(Brief article)
January 2, 2008... Malaysian state oil company Petronas signed a production sharing contract Monday with Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips to develop the Kebabangan Cluster of gas fields offshore the Malaysian state of Sabah. The four fields in the...

Australian cyclone hits.(International)(Brief article)
January 2, 2008... The tropical cyclone season offshore northwestern Australia began over the weekend as Category 2 Cyclone Melanie forced over 100,000 b/d of offshore crude production to be shut in. But, as of Monday, the storm seemed to be fading fast. ...

Natuna prospects improve.(International)(Brief article)
January 2, 2008... Prospects for the stalled Natuna D-Alpha natural gas development offshore Indonesia may finally be looking up, with Indonesian government officials reporting the revival of plans to sell the gas to Thailand via pipeline. Thai sales are...

Stock market scorecard.(Statistical table)
January 2, 2008... Stock Market Scorecard Integrated Close 1-Day % Chg. Majors 12/31 Chg. % Chg. 10-Day 52-Wk YTD Hess 100.86 +30.84 +44.04% +44.33% +101.28% +103.47% Total ...

PDV buys back Cerro Negro debt.(Latin America)
January 2, 2008... Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDV) said on Friday it has bought back almost all bonds linked to the multi-billion dollar Cerro Negro heavy oil project that President Hugo Chavez nationalized this year (OD Aug.31,p4). ...

Pemex blames incident on drunks.(Latin America)(Brief article)
January 2, 2008... Mexican oil and gas monopoly Pemex said on Sunday a drunken group caused a ruckus outside an installation overnight, but the company denied that it was another sabotage attempt to cut gas or oil supplies. Online newspaper El Universal said...

Venezuelan economy expands.(Latin America)(Brief article)
January 2, 2008... Venezuela's economy expanded 8.4% in 2007 despite a contraction in the oil sector, the backbone of the South American nation's economy, the central bank said on Sunday. The bank said the oil sector had shrunk 5.3% in the year, but 9.7%...

Encore to buy properties.(Mergers & Acquisitions)
January 2, 2008... Encore Energy Partners has agreed to acquire oil and natural gas producing properties from Encore Acquisition Co. for $250 million in cash and equity. Encore Energy will acquire properties in the Permian and Williston Basins with proven...

Comstock closes shell deal.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief article)
January 2, 2008... Comstock Resources has closed a deal to acquire some oil and gas properties in South Texas from Swepi, a unit of Shell, for $170 million. The acquisition includes 67 wells with a current production of 22 MMcf/d of natural gas and estimated...

BP Texas City restart delayed.(Refining)(Brief article)
January 2, 2008... Delays to the restart of a crude unit at BP's Texas City refinery will cause the major to miss its goal of raising crude oil processing rates at the refinery to 400,000 b/d by the end of 2007, a source familiar with refinery operations said...

Price of crude finally hits triple digits.
January 3, 2008... Crude oil futures finally touched the $100 mark in New York on Wednesday--the first trading day of 2008-- underscoring the power of a bull run that has seen prices double from their lows at the start of last year. Crude prices flirted with...

Privately owned crusader acquires Westside.(Westside Energy Corporation)(Crusader Energy Corporation)
January 3, 2008... Westside Energy said Wednesday it has entered into an agreement to merge with privately held, Oklahoma City-based oil and gas firm Crusader Energy, creating a company with a significant land position in some of North America's most prolific...

Alaskan oil output struggles in 2007, extending downtrend.
January 3, 2008... Alaska's North Slope finished the year on a slight down note with December production averaging just over 756,000 barrels per day, down 4,800 b/d from November and almost 51,700 b/d or 6.4% below December 2006, according to data from the tax...

Iraq sets Jan. 31 registration deadline for upstream contracts.(Brief article)
January 3, 2008... Iraq has set a Jan. 31 deadline for international oil firms to register to compete for tenders to help develop the world's third-largest oil reserves, the Ministry of Oil said on Wednesday. Tenders will be issued "soon" for oil extraction...

Daily oil & gas price review.(Statistical table)
January 3, 2008... Daily Oil & Gas Price Review Prices for Wednesday, January 2, 2008 US Domestic Crudes ($/barrel) Cash/Spot Change Spot Price 5-Day Avg. Month-Ago WTS (Midland) +3.09 94.94 92.51 83.97 LLS (St....

China to raise taxes on companies in line with high oil prices.
January 3, 2008... High oil prices have allowed Chinese firms to notch up robust upstream profits--but they could soon find themselves handing over more revenue to the government as it looks to change the way it taxes oil and gas output. Finance Ministry...

Venezuela revamps currency as state spending creates inflation.
January 3, 2008... The Venezuelan government cut three zeros off its Bolivar currency Tuesday in a bid to tame mounting inflation caused by abundant liquidity and unconstrained government spending of oil revenues. Inflation averaged 18.6% in the first eleven...

Mexico closes crude ports.(Brief article)
January 3, 2008... Mexico closed its main oil exporting ports on Wednesday due to bad weather, but state energy monopoly Pemex said the closure should mean only minor delays to crude shipments. "It will not affect production or exports. If [the ports] open...

BP settles long-standing Alaska tax dispute.
January 3, 2008... London-based oil giant BP has paid the state of Alaska $379 million to settle a dispute over unpaid taxes. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced the deal on Dec. 31, the day BP made the $379 million payment. The money was deposited into the...

Nigeria cracks down on militants as gang launches attack.(Niger Delta Vigilante Movement )
January 3, 2008... Crude oil prices surged to triple digits Wednesday, buoyed partly by news of fresh violence in the heartland of Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta. At least 13 people were killed in attacks Tuesday on two police stations and a hotel in...

TransMontaigne closes deals.(Corporate News)(Brief article)
January 3, 2008... TransMontaigne Partners has acquired 21 oil product terminals with a storage capacity of 9 million bbl along the Colonial and Plantation Pipelines from TransMontaigne Inc. for approximately $125 million. In connection with the acquisition,...

Chesapeake sells gas output.(Corporate News)(Chesapeake Energy Corp.)(Brief article)
January 3, 2008... Chesapeake Energy said on Wednesday it had reached an agreement to sell some of its future natural gas production to UBS and Deutsche Bank for $1.1 billion and planned to raise a further $2 billion from similar deals in 2008 and 2009. The...

Total awards Angola deal.(International)(Brief article)
January 3, 2008... Total has awarded a major contract worth over $1.8 billion to a consortium led by France's Technip to develop the deepwater Pazflor oil field in Angola's prolific Block 17. The consortium also includes UK-based Acergy, Engineering work is...

Woodside shuts Karratha.(International)(Brief article)
January 3, 2008... Australian producer Woodside Petroleum said Wednesday that an electrical fault at the North West Shelf Venture's Karratha gas plant had resulted in a production shutdown. Operator Woodside said it is investigating the cause of the...

Harvest buys into Indonesia.(International)(Harvest Natural Resources)(Tately Budong-Budong)(Brief article)
January 3, 2008... Harvest Natural Resources said it has acquired a 47% interest in the 1.35 million acre Budong-Budong production sharing contract in West Sulawesi, Indonesia from Tately Budong-Budong. During the first three-year exploration phase of the...

Libya signs off on new deals.(International)(Brief article)
January 3, 2008... Libya's Board of Oil and Gas Affairs has approved a series of deals reached by state National Oil Corp. (NOC) in recent months to change international oil companies' existing contracts to conform with the Epsa-4 model contract. The new...

Suez Canal hikes transit fees.(International)(Brief article)
January 3, 2008... Egypt's Suez Canal Authority announced at the end of December that transit fees would rise by an average of 7% from April--7.4% for crude oil tankers, 7.4% for oil product tankers and 10.5% for LNG tankers. Charges for container ships are to...

New Algerian suicide bomb.(International)(Brief article)
January 3, 2008... Three people were killed and seven injured in a suicide car bomb attack on an Algerian police station Wednesday. The attack, in Naciria, 50 km east of the capital, came four days after the Algerian army reportedly killed seven suspected...

Iraq warns Korea on KRG deal.(International)(Brief article)
January 3, 2008... Baghdad has warned SK Energy it will stop supplying it with crude oil unless the company--South Korea's biggest refiner and top importer of Iraqi oil--halts exploration work in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. The Iraqis gave SK a deadline...

Cameron inks Venezuela deal.(Latin America)(Brief article)
January 3, 2008... Oilfield equipment and services company Cameron International said Wednesday it had won a $190 million contract to provide subsea equipment to Venezuelan national oil company Petroleos De Venezuela (PDV). Under the contract, Cameron will...

Colombia to build pipeline.(Latin America)(Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos S.A.)
January 3, 2008... Colombia's state oil firm Ecopetrol and Canada-based Petro Rubiales have signed a memorandum of understanding to construct a 143 mile-long oil pipeline for transporting heavy crude produced from the Rubiales and Piriri fields in the Llanos...

California sues EPA.(Legislation/Regulation)(Environmental Protection Agency)(Brief article)
January 3, 2008... California and 15 other states have filed a suit with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that challenges the US Environmental Protection Agency's recent decision to deny California's request for permission to regulate carbon dioxide emissions...

VeraSun gets antitrust OK.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(VeraSun Energy Corp.)(Brief article)
January 3, 2008... VeraSun Energy has received antitrust approval to acquire ethanol maker US BioEnergy, US officials said on Wednesday. Antitrust authorities completed their review of the deal without taking any action to block it, the US Federal Trade...

Superior wins deal to remove Gulf platforms.
January 4, 2008... In a stark reminder of the backlog of crippled Gulf of Mexico infrastructure left behind by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Superior Energy Services has signed contracts worth $750 million with BP, Chevron and Apache to decommission seven...

Brazil enacts 2% biodiesel blend mandate.
January 4, 2008... Brazil's National Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) has mandated a 2% biodiesel blend for all diesel sold domestically. The measure is aimed at boosting the domestic biofuels industry in order to reduce dependence on foreign energy...

Oil shares easily outperform broader stock market in 2007.
January 4, 2008... Oil shares had no trouble outperforming the stock market as a whole in 2007, marking the fourth year in a row that oil equities beat out the broader market. For the year, the IPF Index--compiled by Oil Daily sister publication...

Crude touches $100 again, but closes short of that milestone.
January 4, 2008... Crude oil prices reached the $100 mark again on Thursday and then pushed through it by a few cents, buoyed by a US petroleum inventory report that was supportive of prices, before eventually settling back to end the day slightly lower. It...

Daily oil & gas price review.(Statistical table)
January 4, 2008... US Domestic Crudes ($/barrel) f Cash/Spot Change Spot Price 5-Day Avg. Month-Ago WTS (Midland) +0.20 95.14 93.27 83.38 LLS (St. James) +0.30 102.44 100.48 92.38 ANS (California) +0.08...

EIA weekly statistics.(Energy Information Administration)(Statistical table)
January 4, 2008... EIA Weekly Statistics For Week Ended December 28, 2007 US Crude Oil: Stocks (1) (millions of bbl) Current Previous Week Week Chg. PADD 1 11.7 13.1 -10.7% PADD 2 ...

US court dismisses billion-dollar claim in tanker spill case.
January 4, 2008... A US district court has dismissed Madrid's billion-dollar damage claims against the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) in relation to the 2002 sinking of the oil tanker Prestige off northwest Spain--which resulted in one of the biggest oil...

Federal government to hold lease sale in Alaska's Chukchi Sea.
January 4, 2008... The US Interior Department's Minerals Management Service has announced plans to hold the first oil and gas lease sale off Alaska's northwestern coast in more than two decades. The MMS will offer 5,355 whole or partial blocks in the Chukchi...

New Saudi refinery will feed giant petrochemical project.(Saudi Arabian Oil Co.)
January 4, 2008... Saudi Arabia intends to modify its planned East Coast refinery and integrate it with the existing 550,000 barrel per day Ras Tanura refinery to create a facility with a capacity of 950,000 b/d by 2012. The scheme--renamed the Ras Tanura...

ICE volume, commissions rise.(Intercontinental Exchange)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) said volumes and commissions for December rose from the year-ago period. Average daily volume for ICE Futures US was up 31% to 208,073 contracts and rose 19% to 469,407 contracts on ICE Futures Europe, from...

Enterra sells properties.(Corporate News)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... Enterra Energy Trust said Thursday it has agreed to sell oil and gas properties to three companies for a total of C$40.9 million (US$41.4 million). The deals are expected to close in mid-February. Enterra also said it closed the sale of...

Conoco expects higher output.(Corporate News)
January 4, 2008... ConocoPhillips said Monday that fourth-quarter production is expected to rise 60,000 boe/d from third-quarter volumes. In the third quarter, Conoco's production, including Canadian Syncrude and excluding the Lukoil investment, averaged 1.8...

Nature plays role in warming.(Environment)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... A new study in the journal Nature argues that natural increases in the amount of energy in the atmosphere around the Arctic Circle may have as much to do with changes in the region's climate as human activity. The study, published...

Probe into EPA decision sought.(Environment)(United States. Environmental Protection Agency)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... A California lawmaker is asking the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) inspector general to investigate EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson's decision to block California vehicle-emission rules from going into effect. Sen. Dianne...

Stock market scorecard.(NEWS ALERT)(Statistical table)
January 4, 2008... Stock Market Scorecard Integrated Close 1-Day % Chg. Majors 1/3 Chg. % Chg. 10-Day 52-Wk YTD Total 85.10 +1.82 +2.19% +7.57% +18.33% +3.03% Shell-A ...

Carrizo's Barnett output jumps.(Exploration & Production)(Carrizo Oil and Gas Inc.)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... Carrizo Oil & Gas said its year-end production rate in the Barnett Shale of North Texas came in at 47 MMcfe/d, roughly 135% higher than the year-end 2006 rate of 20 MMcfe/d, boosted by four new horizontal wells that recently came on stream. ...

Jakarta sweetens terms.(International)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... Harvest Natural Resources' acquisition of a 47% stake in Malaysian independent Tately's onshore Budong-Budong production sharing contract (PSC) appears to reflect new PSC terms for Indonesian frontier acreage (OD Jan.3,p6). Harvest said...

Petroplus refinery suffers leak.(International)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... Petroplus' 110,000 b/d Ingolstadt refinery in Germany suffered a leak in a hydrogen gas pipe on Jan. 2. The company said there were no injuries, no fire and no impact on production, and it expected to complete repairs on or around Jan. 7. "The...

Cameron lands Angola contract.(International)
January 4, 2008... FMC Technologies said it has won a contract with revenue value of $980 million to supply deepwater subsea processing and production systems to Total's exploration and production unit in Angola. FMC said its deliveries to Total will be...

Antigraft czar asked to resign.(International)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... Nigeria's leading antigraft official, Nuhu Ribadu--who has been at the forefront of attempts to combat financial crime--is coming under increasing pressure to resign from senior politicians, including President Umaru Yar'Adua. Ribadu was...

Aramco starts landmark field.(International)(Saudi Arabian Oil Co.)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... Saudi Aramco said Thursday it has begun the delayed start-up of its 500,000 b/d Khursaniyah oil field development, a landmark in the state giant's program to raise oil production capacity to 12.5 million b/d in 2009. "Precommissioning...

Venezuela raises Natgas output.(Latin America)
January 4, 2008... Petroleos de Venezuela (PDV) said application of new technology will enable it to increase natural gas production from the Anaco gas field by 110 MMcf/d. The Anaco field, in the eastern state of Anzoategui, currently produces 1.6 Bcf/d,...

Investment in Bolivia grows.(Latin America)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... Bolivian officials said on Thursday that investment in the nationalized energy sector will surge to up to $1.5 billion this year, but the country will not be able to fully meet its export commitments until 2009. Bolivia exports natural gas...

Drilling permit fee instated.(Legislation/Regulation)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... The US Interior Department said Thursday it will begin charging a $4,000 processing fee for each new oil and natural gas drilling permit application submitted by energy companies. The Interior Department currently does not charge for...

Prepaid Natgas deal signed.(Natural Gas)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... The Public Energy Authority of Kentucky has signed a 20-year, $456 million prepaid natural gas contract with Societe Generale Energie (SGE). SGE will deliver 88.6 Bcf of natural gas to the energy authority, which will use the supply to...

IEA urges energy efficiency.(Oil & gas markets)(International Energy Agency)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... The International Energy Agency (IEA) said Thursday that $100/bbl oil is a "strong reminder that consumers and governments have to implement measures that improve energy efficiency." The Paris-based agency said a number of factors,...

Driller Noble names new CEO.(Personnel)(appointment of David Williams)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... Offshore oil and gas drilling contractor Noble on Thursday named its chief operating officer, David Williams, as chairman of the board, chief executive officer and president. Williams, 50, joined the company in 2006 and has been its chief...

Chevron refinery hit by fire.(Refining)(Brief article)
January 4, 2008... A small fire was quickly extinguished at Chevron's oil refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on Thursday with little impact seen to production, a company spokesman said. "We don't expect much impact to production," said Steve Renfroe,...

Alaska: only TransCanada meets pipe terms.
January 7, 2008... The state of Alaska has whittled down a handful of proposals for a multibillion dollar natural gas pipeline project to a single company--TransCanada. Gov. Sarah Palin on Friday announced the results of the state's initial review of the...

Global demand exceeds supply in December.
January 7, 2008... Global oil balances shifted in favor of demand in December, with the beginning of meaningful seasonal heating consumption in the Northern Hemisphere that took demand up a solid 2.1% above last year's abnormally warm December, to reach 87.89...

Tullow faces sterner tests in 2008 after a blistering 2007.(Tullow Oil PLC)
January 7, 2008... After a blistering 2007, UK independent Tullow Oil faces a host of sterner tests this year. Drilling successes in Ghana and Uganda drove a near 90% rise in the London-listed company's share price over the past 12 months, and the firm led the...

Bearish US economic data takes steam out of crude market.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... The week in which US crude futures finally hit the $100 per barrel level ended on a down note. Prices fell on Friday because of profit-taking and a bearish employment report from the US government that showed the slowest rate of job creation in...

Daily oil & gas price review.(Statistical table)
January 7, 2008... Daily Oil & Gas Price Review Prices for Friday, January 4, 2008 US Domestic Crudes ($/barrel) Cash/Spot Change Spot Price 5-Day Avg. Month-Ago WTS (Midland) -1.18 93.96 93.57 82.28...

Standoff between buyers and sellers makes for slow start to spot trade in 2008.
January 7, 2008... Though traders are back at their desks after the holidays and have reopened their trading books, the spot crude trade into the US Gulf Coast was not as busy as expected last week. One trader attributed this to a "standoff" between buyers and...

Rig count falls by eight.(Baker Hughes Drilling Report)(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... The number of drilling rigs searching for oil and gas in the US fell by eight last week to 1,774, Baker Hughes said Friday. During the same week last year, there were 1,695 rigs at work. The number of rigs searching for oil in the US fell...

Alaska cuts deal with Conoco to back extension of LNG exports.
January 7, 2008... Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has struck a deal with ConocoPhillips and Marathon designed to keep North America's sole liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in operation. The agreement includes pledges from the two companies to supply gas...

Pundits raise forecasts for oil prices, see WTI averaging out at $81 in 2008.
January 7, 2008... Crude oil prices in New York touched $100 per barrel for the first time last week, so does this set the stage for another strong year for crude in 2008? A poll by Energy Intelligence indicates that analysts and traders expect US benchmark...

Valero Energy may Sell two US refineries.(Valero Energy Corp.)(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... Valero Energy, which became the nation's largest oil refiner after several years of growth through acquisitions, has said it is considering selling its plants in Krotz Springs, Louisiana, and Memphis, Tennessee. "We are seeking strategic...

February gas nears $8, buoyed by relentless speculative buying.
January 7, 2008... As crude oil futures topped $100 a barrel for the first time last week, natural gas futures followed the market hype by trading up near $8/MMBtu. But while crude appears to be setting up for a sell-off, relentless speculative buying in natural...

Infinity to sell assets.(Corporate News)(Infinity Oil and Gas of Wyoming)(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... Infinity Energy Resources said its Infinity Oil & Gas of Wyoming unit has agreed to sell certain assets to Forest Oil for $17.4 million in cash. The unit is selling essentially all of its producing oil and gas properties in Colorado and...