The Oil Daily articles from May 2008

The Oil Daily archives from May 2008

Stone snaps up US Gulf producer Bois d'Arc.
May 1, 2008... Stone Energy has agreed to acquire Bois d'Arc Energy in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $1.8 billion, thereby creating one of the largest Gulf of Mexico-focused exploration and production companies. Bois d'Arc is mainly active in the Gulf...

Former Saudi oil minister Yamani slams Opec.
May 1, 2008... Opec's current policy is wrong and risks contributing to a deeper and longer global recession, according to Saudi Arabia's longest-serving oil minister, Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani. Echoing the complaints of consumers, the veteran former minister...

BG moves to extend Pacific reach with bid for Australia's Origin.
May 1, 2008... In its third Asia-Pacific move this year, UK energy firm BG has made a A$12.9 billion (US$12 billion) bid for Australian gas utility Origin Energy. BG has approached Origin, Australia's largest integrated energy player, with a proposal to...

Crude dips below $114 on inventory build as Fed cuts rates.
May 1, 2008... Oil prices cooled for a second day on Wednesday as US crude inventories rose and concerns about supplies from the North Sea and West Africa abated. The dollar was stronger for most of the day but lost some ground after the US Federal Reserve...

Daily oil & gas price review.(Statistical table)
May 1, 2008... Daily Oil & Gas Price Review Prices for Wednesday, April 30, 2008 US Domestic Crudes ($/barrel) Cash/Spot Change Spot Price 5-Day Avg. Month-Ago WTS (Midland) -0.48 109.10 111.16 100.79 LLS (St....

New boss appointed at National Iranian Oil Co's Swiss-based trading unit.
May 1, 2008... After close to 10 years in the job, Iran's former ambassador to Rome, Majid Razavi Hedayatzadeh, has been replaced as head of Naftiran Intertrade Co. (Nico), the powerful Switzerland-based trade and finance subsidiary of state National Iranian...

EIA weekly statistics.(Statistical table)
May 1, 2008... EIA Weekly Statistics April 25, 2008 For Week Ended US Crude Oil: Stocks (1) (millions of bbl) Current Previous Week Week Chg. PADD 1 14.7 15.8 -7.0% PADD 2 ...

Rockefeller family voices concern over Exxon Mobil's direction.
May 1, 2008... Members of the Rockefeller family--the oldest continuous shareholders of Exxon Mobil--held a press conference in New York on Wednesday to seek support for a shareholder proposal to appoint an independent chairman of the board at the giant...

Brazil raises gasoline, diesel prices to stem Petrobras losses.
May 1, 2008... Brazil will hike gasoline and diesel prices on May 2 in a bid to boost revenues for state oil company Petrobras, which has suffered financial losses due to the combination of soaring crude oil prices and static prices for refined fuels that...

IMF meets to develop best practices for sovereign wealth funds.(International Monetary Fund)
May 1, 2008... The International Monetary Fund is meeting this week to develop a voluntary set of best practices for sovereign wealth funds. The gathering occurs at a time when turmoil in the financial markets has provided an opportunity for sovereign...

Hess continues Pony work, may make year-end development decision.
May 1, 2008... New York-based Hess appears to be nearing a decision on development of its Pony discovery in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. "By the end of the year, I think we would come close to being in a position to advocate a development scenario," John...

Talisman operating profit jumps.(Earnings)(Talisman Energy Inc., Financial news)(Financial report)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Talisman Energy said on Wednesday its first-quarter earnings fell 10% but its operating profit jumped, as Canada's No. 3 independent oil and gas exploration firm benefited from higher commodity prices. The company posted net income of C$466...

Horizon nears completion.(Exploration & Production)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Canadian Natural Resources said Wednesday that construction at its Horizon Oil Sands Project was 94% complete at the end of March as it nears its target of producing oil by the third quarter. The company said capital spending on Phase 1 of...

Samson to study shale acreage.(Exploration & Production)(Samson Oil & Gas acquired with Devon Energy )(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Samson Oil & Gas has signed an exploration agreement with Devon Energy to acquire 3-D seismic data across 6,400 acres it owns in the Vermillion Basin of Wyoming. The acreage includes a 3,500-foot section of the Baxter Shale which yielded...

Anadarko goes ahead with IPO.(Finance)(initial public offerings)(Anadarko Petroleum Corp.)
May 1, 2008... Anadarko Petroleum said it will try again to spin-off its Western Gas Partners gas gathering unit in an initial public offering. The company said it has filed a registration statement to sell 18.75 million common units of the master limited...

Stock market scorecard.(Finance)(Statistical table)
May 1, 2008... Stock Market Scorecard Integrated Close 1-Day % Chg. Majors 4/30 Chg. % Chg. 10-Day 52-Wk YTD BP 72.79 +3.81 +5.52% +10.94% +7.01% -0.52% Shell-A ...

Japan crude imports fall.(International)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Japan's crude oil imports fell 0.7% to 4.55 million b/d in March compared with a year ago, government statistics show. First quarter imports averaged nearly 5.11 million b/d, a 16.9% increase from the 4.37 million b/d imported in the same...

Yemen blasts rock embassy.(International)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Two blasts occurred early Wednesday in the parking lot of a customs building near the Italian embassy in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, but no one was reported injured. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but a diplomat in Yemen said...

Domenici asks big oil to detail investments.
May 1, 2008... The senior Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has called on the five largest oil companies operating in the US to explain how they are using record profits to increase energy production. Sen. Pete Domenici...

Landfill LNG facility in works.(Natural Gas)(liquefied natural gas)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Waste Management said Tuesday it plans to open the largest-ever facility to turn landfill gas into liquefied natural gas. The company has partnered with the North American unit of engineering company Linde Group to build an LNG facility...

Broad support for SPR freeze.(Oil & Gas Markets)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... A bill that would force the Bush administration to stop adding to the nation's emergency crude oil stockpile has a veto-proof majority, the bill's sponsor said Tuesday, Dow Jones reported. Earlier in the day, President Bush rebuffed a...

TGS acquires Greenland seismic.(Oil Field Service)(TGS Nopec)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Seismic specialist TGS-Nopec has launched a 2008 Greenland data acquisition program to add 138,000 km of aeromagnetic and aerogravity data and 8,300 km of 2-D seismic data to its database. The aero data covers 80,000 km of the Labrador...

Midcontinent pipe sold out.(Pipelines)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Midcontinent Express Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline project jointly owned by Kinder Morgan and Energy Transfer Partners, said Wednesday that initial capacity of 1.4 Bcf/d is now fully subscribed by creditworthy shippers. Kinder Morgan...

Sunoco buys Exxon pipe.(Pipelines)(Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. acquired with Exxon Mobil)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Sunoco Logistics Partners said on Wednesday it has signed a deal to acquire a 275-mile refined products pipeline system in Texas from Exxon Mobil for an undisclosed amount. The deal also includes six refined product storage facilities in...

UK Chevron units shut.(Refining)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Chevron had an outage at its 210,000 b/d Pembroke refinery which shut down part of the production process on Tuesday night, a spokesman for the UK Environmental Agency said on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the US company confirmed there was...

Shell inks LNG tanker accord.(Tankers)(Royal Dutch-Shell PLC)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary Shell Ship Management signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the American Maritime Officers Union (AMO) Wednesday at the Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration in Washington to ensure the...

Exxon's liquids output shows sharp decline.(Exxon Mobil)(Financial report)
May 2, 2008... Record-breaking oil prices had a mixed impact on Exxon Mobil during the first quarter of the year. Much like its supermajor rivals, Exxon's profit was lifted by oil prices that hovered near $100 per barrel in the period. But because so...

Shell quits major UK wind energy project.(Royal Dutch-Shell PLC)
May 2, 2008... Royal Dutch Shell has pulled out of the world's largest offshore wind farm project, leaving the London Array's two other partners--German utility giant E.On and Denmark's Dong--to ponder the implications. E.On said that, at the very least, it...

Indonesia to hold licensing round as political temperature rises.
May 2, 2008... A new Indonesian licensing round focusing on the Makassar Straits exploration hotspot could be launched as early as July, Oil Daily understands. A number of major international players are understood to have expressed interest, but are...

Crude futures avert meltdown but fall to third straight loss.(Brief article)
May 2, 2008... The oil futures market averted what traders said had the potential to become a meltdown on Thursday. The Nymex June crude contract pulled back from a loss of nearly $3 to close 94cents lower at $112.52 per barrel. June Brent on ICE Futures fell...

Daily oil & gas price review.(Statistical table)
May 2, 2008... Daily Oil & Gas Price Review Prices for Thursday, May 1, 2008 US Domestic Crudes ($/barrel) Cash/Spot Change Spot Price 5-Day Avg. Month-Ago WTS (Midland) -2.52 106.58 110.36 99.90 LLS (St. James)...

Bolivia takes over four energy companies in nationalization drive.
May 2, 2008... The Bolivian government completed its takeover of four energy companies on Wednesday, marking another step in President Evo Morales' nationalization drive that started in 2006 with the renegotiation of more than 40 upstream contracts. ...

Apache takes more cautious stance on 2008 production growth.
May 2, 2008... Apache Corp. Chief Executive Steve Farris said Thursday that the company now has a "more conservative" projection for 2008 production growth, bringing its prior guidance of 6% down slightly to a range of 4% to 6%. The revised guidance is...

Sunoco reports another loss as high crude prices hit refiners.
May 2, 2008... As gasoline and diesel prices rose during the first quarter of this year, the companies that make transportation fuels were bleeding cash. In the first three months of 2008, retail gasoline prices averaged $3.16 per gallon, up more than 30%...

Republicans say US should drill its way out of high energy prices.
May 2, 2008... Senate Republicans on Thursday unveiled an energy package designed to boost domestic production of oil and natural gas by expanding exploration offshore and in Alaska. The Domestic Energy Production Act was introduced by Sen. Pete Domenici...

Nigeria oil strike ends.(Top Briefs)(Brief article)
May 2, 2008... Nigerian oil union Pengassan confirmed Thursday that it had ended an eight-day strike that shut down all of Exxon Mobil's production in Nigeria (OD Apr.30,p7). Pengassan General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile told Oil Daily that its members had...

Oil companies hike dividends.(Corporate News)(Brief article)
May 2, 2008... Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the two top US oil companies, said they will raise their dividends over 10% as they pull in huge profits from record oil prices. The oil companies have been criticized in some quarters for not raising their...

EIA gas storage report.(Corporate News)(Statistical data)
May 2, 2008... Gas in Storage Rises 86 Bcf Stocks of working natural gas in US storage facilities rose by 86 Bcf in the week ending Apr. 25, leaving storage levels at 1,371 Bcf, according to the Energy Information Administration. Gas in storage is 255...

ATP offers offshore stakes.(Exploration & Production)(Brief article)
May 2, 2008... ATP Oil & Gas has started looking for buyers for some of the company's properties in the Gulf of Mexico and the UK North Sea. The Houston-based producer has hired Scotia Waterous to assist in the sale of some producing and undeveloped...

Harvest signs Gulf Coast deal.(Exploration & Production)(Harvest Natural Resources Inc.)(Brief article)
May 2, 2008... Harvest Natural Resources has signed a deal with an unnamed private company to jointly develop properties in an area of mutual interest along the coasts of Texas and Louisiana. The areas to be explored, including state waters, stretch from...

Stock market scorecard.(Exploration & Production)(Statistical table)
May 2, 2008... Stock Market Scorecard Integrated Close 1-Day % Chg. Majors 5/1 Chg. % Chg. 10-Day 52-Wk YTD Marathon 47.91 +2.34 +5.13% +0.50% -6.79% -21.28% ConocoPhillips ...

Sentry gets Australia acreage.(International)(Brief article)
May 2, 2008... Denver-based Sentry Petroleum said it has acquired a 1.68 million acre exploration permit in Queensland, Australia. Sentry said the ATP 865 permit area is located in the Adavale Basin, a proven petroleum basin that encompasses roughly 14...

Talisman to trim UK assets.(International)(Talisman Energy Inc.)(Brief article)
May 2, 2008... Talisman Energy plans to trim its assets in the North Sea, and will rely on the region less for its production growth, the chief executive of Canada's No. 3 independent oil explorer said on Wednesday. Talisman also plans to pour resources...

Oxy sees Colombia output boost.(Latin America)(Occidental Petroleum Corp.)(Brief article)
May 2, 2008... Occidental Petroleum expects gross output at two oil operations in Colombia to reach 135,000 b/d by 2011, up from current production of 111,000 b/d, a company executive said earlier this week. Oxy's Colombia President David Stangor said...

BP contracts pride drillship.(Offshore)(British Petroleum Company PLC contract with Pride International Inc.)(Brief article)
May 2, 2008... Pride International has landed a five-year, $984 million contract from BP for one of its ultra deepwater drillships that is under construction in a South Korean shipyard. A spokesman for Houston-based Pride said Thursday that the drillship...

CFTC sues Sentinel, managers.(Oil & Gas Markets)(Commodity Futures Trading Commission)(Brief article)
May 2, 2008... The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is suing futures and securities advisor Sentinel Management Group and two of its managers, charging them with mishandling $562 million in client assets. The CFTC alleged on Thursday that...

Land driller wins contracts.(Oil Field Service)(Brief article)
May 2, 2008... Helmerich & Payne has signed long-term contracts with three exploration and production companies for use of the company's FlexRigs in the US. The name of the customers and other terms were not disclosed. Helmerich & Payne's FlexRigs are...

Fire hits Holly refinery.(Refining)(Brief article)
May 2, 2008... A fire at a Holly Corp. refinery in Woods Cross, Utah, was extinguished in the early hours of Thursday morning, according to the local fire department. The fire broke out Wednesday night after fuel from a leak in a cracked fuel line...

Chevron stems losses from US refining.(Financial report)
May 5, 2008... Chevron capped off what was a busy week for the major oil companies, announcing a first-quarter profit increase that was fueled by higher commodity prices. The California-based oil major's earnings statement followed reports released last...

Indigenous groups turn heat up on oil firms.
May 5, 2008... Oil companies are facing mounting pressure around the world from accusations of pollution, human rights violations and intrusion into the territories of isolated indigenous populations. The legal cases behind the accusations can be long and...

Chesapeake to exit Woodford Shale, EOG unveils new Texas play.(Chesapeake Energy Corp.)
May 5, 2008... Chesapeake Energy announced plans late last week to trim its plump North America unconventional gas portfolio while rival EOG Resources unveiled preliminary results from yet another promising horizontal drilling play, this time in the Texas...

Traders scratch heads as oil rebounds strongly from recent fall.
May 5, 2008... Oil prices bounced back strongly on Friday after a three-day fall and some traders argued that the US economy might have bottomed out and demand for oil could now start to pick up. But other traders argued that the big move up on Friday was...

Daily oil & gas price review.(Statistical table)
May 5, 2008... Daily Oil & Gas Price Review Prices for Friday, May 2, 2008 US Domestic Crudes ($/barrel) Cash/Spot Change Spot Price 5-Day Avg. Month-Ago WTS (Midland) +3.39 109.97 109.72 101.78 LLS (St. James)...

US spot crude and gasoline stronger as strikes end in Nigeria and Scotland.
May 5, 2008... US spot sweet and sour crude grades firmed last week, even as supply disruptions caused by strikes in the Atlantic basin eased. On Thursday, Nigerian workers ended an eightday strike that shut in 700,000 barrels per day of Exxon production (OD...

Baker Hughes drilling report.(Statistical data)
May 5, 2008... Rig Count Falls by Three The number of drilling rigs searching for oil and gas in the US fell by three last week to 1,839, Baker Hughes said Friday. During the same week last year, there were 1,747 rigs at work. The number of rigs...

Arbitration court expected to rule soon in Hunt-Yemen dispute.
May 5, 2008... The International Court of Arbitration in Paris is likely to rule in the next month on a closely watched dispute between the Yemeni government and US firms Hunt Oil and Exxon Mobil over the fate of a production license in Yemen. Both sides...

May natural gas rolls off board at record high, June oscillates.
May 5, 2008... Nymex gas futures made a historic move last week, rolling off the board at more than $11/MMBtu--a first for the May contract. Fundamental issues like supply and demand don't seem to matter much in a momentum driven market, as June gas...

Alaska oil output falls.(Exploration & Production)(Brief article)
May 5, 2008... Alaska's crude oil production dropped by 24,400 b/d in April compared with March according to the state Department of Revenue Tax Division. Output was more than 43,000 b/d below April 2007 levels. The BP-operated Prudhoe Bay field accounted...

Santos advances CBM plans.(International)(coalbed methane)(Brief article)
May 5, 2008... Australian independent Santos said Friday it is mulling further expansion of its coalbed methane (CBM) business and is eyeing a second LNG liquefaction plant to be supplied with the fuel. At its annual general meeting, acting Chief...

Korea may merge state firms.(International)(Brief article)
May 5, 2008... Record-high oil prices and increasing competition are prompting the newly elected South Korean government to consider revamping the country's energy industry. One possibility would be to merge Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) and Korea Gas...

Lifeline for Chile power firm.(Latin America)(Brief article)
May 5, 2008... A group of Chilean mining companies has agreed to participate in a $650 million bailout of electricity supplier GasAtacama, which was on the brink of bankruptcy because of shortages of natural gas supplies from neighboring Argentina, Energy...

Rebels bomb Colombia pipe.(Latin America)(Brief article)
May 5, 2008... Colombia's Cano Limon-Covenas oil pipeline has been paralyzed since a Tuesday night rebel bomb attack, state petroleum company Ecopetrol said on Friday. The company said it planned to resume pumping oil through the 770-km pipeline Saturday...

Stock market scorecard.(Latin America)(Statistical table)
May 5, 2008... Stock Market Scorecard Integrated Close 1-Day % Chg. Majors 5/2 Chg. % Chg. 10-Day 52-Wk YTD Marathon 50.80 +5.23 +11.48% +6.57% -1.17% -16.53% Statoil ...

Gas deliverability glut seen.(Natural Gas)(Brief article)
May 5, 2008... Research and consulting firm Bentek Energy said that the 31 gas storage projects currently planned in the Southeast and Gulf Coast regions of the US between 2008 and 2010 could add more deliverability than outbound pipelines can handle. If...

IEA names new deputy director.(Personnel)(appointment of Richard Jones at International Energy Agency)(Brief article)
May 5, 2008... US career diplomat Richard Jones has been named deputy executive director of the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA). Jones, currently US ambassador to Israel, will take up the job on Oct. 1. He replaces William Ramsay, another...

Tesoro Bay area plant back up.(Refining)(Brief article)
May 5, 2008... Tesoro Corp. said on Friday that work to connect a new coking unit at its 166,000 b/d Golden Eagle refinery in the San Francisco Bay-area town of Martinez, California, was finished and refinery units are restarting after being shut since...

Valero shuts Texas unit.(Refining)(Valero Energy Corp.)(Brief article)
May 5, 2008... Valero Energy said on Friday it shut a 40,000 b/d crude distillation unit for a 14-day planned turnaround at its 340,000 b/d refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. A vacuum unit, which is connected to the crude unit, will also be shut during...

Chevron plant still out Friday.(Refining)(Brief article)
May 5, 2008... Chevron had still not resumed production at its 210,000 b/d refinery at Pembroke in Wales by Friday afternoon. The refinery was brought to a controlled shutdown after an electrical fault occurred in the plant's steam room Tuesday evening....

Bolivia's hydrocarbons states win referendum.
May 6, 2008... One of Bolivia's two most important hydrocarbons producing states, Santa Cruz, voted Sunday by a large majority in favor of becoming autonomous from the central government, in a referendum that President Evo Morales declared "illegal and...

Steep price rise lifts oil equities in April.
May 6, 2008... Oil equities had a breakout month in April, with companies ranging from supermajor Exxon Mobil to smaller integrateds like Petro-Canada recording gains of at least 10% in the month. Oil equities shot higher in large part thanks to benchmark...

Schlumberger and First Reserve team up to acquire Saxon Energy.
May 6, 2008... Oil field services giant Schlumberger and private equity firm First Reserve have entered into an agreement to buy oil services company Saxon Energy Services in a deal valued at approximately C$592 million (US$586 million), Saxon said in a...

Share performance.(Statistical table)(Brief article)
May 6, 2008... Share Performance Top Oil & Gas Companies Company April YTD Statoil 21.1% 18.5% Hess 20.4 5.3 BP 20.0 -0.5 Shell-B 18.3 -4.0 Repsol YPF 17.9 13.9...

Crude rallies to just below $120 on Nigeria attacks, weak dollar.(Brief article)
May 6, 2008... Oil futures climbed to new highs Monday, continuing a rally that began late last week. The move higher was also boosted by fresh attacks in Nigeria and a weaker dollar. Nymex light, sweet crude touched an intraday high of $120.36 per...

Daily oil & gas price review.(Statistical table)
May 6, 2008... Daily Oil & Gas Price Review Prices for Monday, May 5, 2008 US Domestic Crudes ($/barrel) Cash/Spot Change Spot Price 5-Day Avg. Month-Ago WTS (Midland) +3.56 113.53 109.75 104.50 LLS (St. James)...

World oil demand still growing despite record futures prices.
May 6, 2008... Even though oil futures flirted with $120 per barrel in April, world oil demand managed to grow that month, if only by a small amount. The increase was solely the result of the growth in non-OECD countries. Meanwhile, more and more cracks are...

Heating degree days.(Statistical table)
May 6, 2008... Heating Degree Days For the week of May 3, 2008 Week Dev Cum Dev From From From Week From Year Cum From...

Lawsuit challenges arctic seismic.(Environment)(Brief article)
May 6, 2008... Alaska Natives and conservation groups have joined together to try to block planned seismic activity this summer in Alaska's Chukchi and Beaufort seas. The groups filed a lawsuit Monday in a federal district court in Anchorage challenging...

Brown calls for Opec pressure.(International)(Gordon Brown)(Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)(Brief article)
May 6, 2008... British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday called for international pressure on oil producers' group Opec to bring oil prices down. "Clearly oil prices are very high. Clearly also there needs to be some international effort with Opec to...

Bush, Saudis to talk prices.(International)(George W. Bush)(Brief article)
May 6, 2008... President Bush will make US concerns about soaring oil prices "very clear" when he visits Saudi Arabia next week, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said Monday, according to Dow Jones. "Whenever the president has discussions with leaders...

Seismic firm wins Petrobras work.(Latin America)(Petroleum Geo-Services ASA)(Brief article)
May 6, 2008... Norwegian seismic survey group Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) won a contract worth $180 million to $200 million from Brazil's Petrobras, the biggest ever of its kind, PGS said Monday. PGS said the tendered value of the contract, which is for...

Brazil to send energy to Argentina.(Latin America)
May 6, 2008... Brazil will export between 800 and 1,500 MW of electricity to Argentina between the winter months of May and August, Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister Edison Loboa said last week. The electricity from Brazil could help Argentina avoid an...

Stock market scorecard.(Latin America)(Statistical table)
May 6, 2008... Stock Market Scorecard Integrated Close 1-Day % Chg. Majors 5/5 Chg. % Chg. 10-Day 52-Wk YTD Marathon 51.66 +6.09 +13.36% +8.37% +0.51% -15.12% Petro-Canada...

GOP calls for ethanol cuts.(Legislation/Regulation)(Brief article)
May 6, 2008... Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and two dozen other GOP senators sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency urging it to ease requirements for more ethanol to be blended into the nation's...

Senators offer anti-Opec bill.(Legislation/Regulation)(Brief article)
May 6, 2008... A handful of US Senators on Monday proposed a bill that threatens a trade dispute with members of Opec if the group doesn't stop "its anti-competitive practices and illegal export quotas on oil." The bill is the latest salvo in a series of...