The Oil Daily articles from September 2004

The Oil Daily archives from September 2004

Pemex Mulls Options For Vast Offshore Reserves.(Petroleos Mexicanos)
September 1, 2004... Mexican state oil company Pemex is taking baby steps toward developing an estimated 54 billion barrels of crude oil lying undiscovered in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The crude could remain untapped, however, without foreign partnerships, and...

US Backs Conoco's Alpine Expansion Plan.(ConocoPhillips)
September 1, 2004... The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) looks ready to give ConocoPhillips the green light to develop five satellite oil reservoirs near the US-based major's Alpine field on Alaska's North Slope. The BLM plans to release details of the...

Investors Unfazed by Sudan Human Rights Case Against Talisman.(Talisman Energy Inc.)
September 1, 2004... Despite its withdrawal from Sudan in March 2003, Canadian independent Talisman Energy continues to face allegations of complicity in genocide in the US federal court system. However, analysts and investors do not appear too concerned that...

Sardinia Comes Up Dry.(Unocal Alaska Resources)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Unocal said on Tuesday its closely watched Sardinia deepwater well, which tested a Lower Tertiary prospect on Keathley Canyon Block 681 in the Gulf of Mexico, was plugged and abandoned as a dry hole. The California-based independent said...

Oil Futures Continue Downward Trend; Brent Closes Below $40/bbl.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) traded to a low of $41.45 per barrel on Tuesday before rallying to close at $42.12/bbl, down 16cents on the day. The market rebounded on a technical correction after being oversold as...

US Spot Crude Market Remains Weak Despite Improved Refining Margins.
September 1, 2004... US refining margins moved a tad higher last week due to falling oil prices and a series of refinery outrages on the West Coast that pushed up gasoline prices. But that still has not helped the domestic spot crude market because demand for...

East Timor Deal Threatened by Elections; Greater Sunrise Faces Delay.
September 1, 2004... Plans for East Timor and Australia to hash out a final agreement on the long-running dispute over the maritime boundaries of the Timor Sea will likely be delayed by Australia's national elections set for Oct. 9. In a statement on Sunday,...

Saudis Not Likely Stockpiling Crude in Caribbean Storge Despite Evidence.
September 1, 2004... Is Saudi Arabia holding large volumes of crude oil in Caribbean storage tanks to calm market fears about potential supply disruptions in the Mideast Gulf and the unreliability of Iraqi exports? Geneva-based PetroLogistics thinks so. In its...

Russian Ministry Allows More Time as Yukos Deadline Passes.
September 1, 2004... The Russian Ministry of Justice announced Tuesday that its bailiffs would continue their collection process against oil giant Yukos, despite the expiration Monday of a two-month deadline for collection of a $3.4 billion tax debt. The...

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

Stock Market Scorecard.(Illustration)
September 1, 2004... Stock Market Scorecard Close 1-Day % Chg. 8/31 Chg. % Chg. 10-Day 52-Wk YTD Integrated Majors Murphy Oil 75.51 +2.91 ...

SPR Fill Rate to Accelerate.(Strategic Petroleum Reserve)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The plan to hike deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in October to almost 5.4 million bbl is the result of the government's need to finish its current delivery contract that runs through the end of October, a government official...

Greenpeace Rips Baja LNG.(liquefied natural gas)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Greenpeace is stepping up opposition to proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities off the coast of Baja California in Mexico. The two LNG facilities, promoted by ChevronTexaco and Sempra/Shell, are being targeted because of...

AEP Plans Clean Coal Plant.(American Electric Power )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Ohio-based American Electric Power said Tuesday that it plans to spend $1.6 billion by 2010 to build a power plant using a technology that reduces emissions to address environmental concerns. AEP is proposing to build at least one plant...

Devlan Spuds Moose Lake.(Devlan Exploration)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Devlan Exploration said late Monday that it has spudded its Devlan Moose Lake D-07 well -- the company's third major exploration project in Canada's Northwest Territories since it entered the Grandview Hills area in 2001. The well, located...

Conoco Waives Czech Option.(ConocoPhillips to buy extra shares in Ceska Rafinerska)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... ConocoPhillips waived its option to buy extra shares in the leading Czech crude oil refinery Ceska Rafinerska, majority owned by state-controlled firm Unipetrol, the US oil giant said on Tuesday. This follows a similar announcement by Royal...

Syntroleum Settles Dispute.(Syntroleum Sweetwater Operations Ltd.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Oklahoma-based Syntroleum has agreed to settle a dispute with the Australian government over the company's discontinued Sweetwater project for a one-time cash payment of A$2 million (US$1.4 million). The agreement covers interest and...

Petrobras Holds Prices Steady.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Brazilian state oil firm Petrobras, which has kept fuel prices steady despite the recent rise in crude oil prices, has no intention of bringing the volatility of international oil prices to the Brazilian market, a company executive told Reuters...

Petrobras Develops Piranema.(light crude oil )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Petrobras plans to develop about 76 million bbl of light crude oil from the Piranema field in the Bay of Sergipe- Alagoas, the Brazilian oil company said Tuesday. It declared the field commercial in a filing to the National Petroleum...

BP Signs Korea LNG Deal.(British Petroleum Company PLC)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... BP on Tuesday signed a second deal to supply Indonesian gas to South Korea, taking the oil giant a step closer to the volume of sales it needs before a commitment to proceed with the delayed $3 billion Indonesian Tangguh liquefied natural gas...

PG&E Sets Gas Terms.(Pacific Gas & Electric )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... California utility Pacific Gas & Electric said on Monday it has reached an all-party agreement on how much it will charge customers for natural gas transportation and storage beginning in 2005. The pact, backed by consumer and business...

Kinder Morgan Buys Pipeline.(Kaston Pipeline Company from Western Refining)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Western Refining announced Tuesday that it has sold its interest in the Kaston Pipeline Company to Kinder Morgan Energy Partners for an undisclosed sum. Kinder Morgan announced its intention to purchase the pipeline in January. Kaston owns...

Honeywell to Refit Shell Plant.(contracts with Royal Dutch/Shell)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Honeywell said Tuesday that it has received a $5.3 million contract to modernize the flexicoker unit at Royal Dutch/Shell's refinery in Martinez, California. Honeywell will install a process control system and provide engineering and...

Bolivia Looks to Neighbors -- Not US -- to Sell Gas.
September 2, 2004... Bolivian Energy Minister Guillermo Torres says his government is counting on neighboring South American countries to buy his country's 52.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves now that an export project to the US and Mexico appears...

Cacouna Ups Stakes in Canadian LNG Game.
September 2, 2004... Canadian developers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals are on a roll. TransCanada and Petro-Canada announced Wednesday that they would team up to develop a 500 million cubic feet per day facility on Gros Cacouna Island in Quebec,...

Talisman, Imperial Halt Drilling Operations Off Nova Scotia.
September 2, 2004... Taking a wait-and-see approach, Talisman Energy and Imperial Oil have suspended drilling operations off the coast of Nova Scotia until another company makes a deepwater natural gas discovery there. Talisman spokesman Barry Nelson said the...

Oil Markets at Unprecedented Crossroads; Futures Up on Bullish Stock Data.
September 2, 2004... Oil market experts are split on the direction of oil prices in the near-term. Some say it's just a matter of time before the so-called "speculative bubble" bursts and prices are back in the low-to-mid $30 per barrel range, which would be more...

Stock Market Sell-Off Hits Oil Shares in August.
September 2, 2004... August was a cruel month for oil shares, marking the first time since April when investors ditched energy stocks in favor of other investments. The IPF Index, which is compiled by Oil Daily sister publication International Petroleum...

Winner of Enron Pipelines Not Yet Revealed.
September 2, 2004... Bids for Enron's three remaining US natural gas pipelines were due in a bankruptcy court auction in Houston on Wednesday, but identities of the bidders and their offering amounts had not been released at press time. An Enron spokeswoman...

Iraq Confident It Can Maintain Kirkuk Term Contracts.
September 2, 2004... Iraqi officials are confident that they can commit themselves to term contracts of Kirkuk crude through the northern export pipeline, in the medium term at least, even though the security situation on the ground has not improved markedly. ...

Russian PSAs Stage a Comeback; Yukos Blamed For Former Policy.(production-sharing agreements)
September 2, 2004... After being nearly dead and buried, production-sharing agreements (PSAs) appear to be making a comeback in Russia. Currently up for consideration is a PSA for the Prirazlomnoye oil field in the Barents Sea harboring 600 million barrels of...

High Heating Oil Prices Put Northeast Reserve in Early Focus.
September 2, 2004... Heating oil prices look set to rise as temperatures fall in New England this winter -- provided the Farmer's Almanac is accurate with its prediction that this winter will be colder than normal. Prices are already high, however, riding in...

BLM Plan to Expand Drilling in Alaska Faces Little Opposition.(Bureau of Land Management)
September 2, 2004... With companies increasing their presence in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve, the Bush administration's proposal to allow oil and gas drilling in areas now off limits in the northeast portion because of wildlife protection couldn't have come...

EIA Weekly Statistics.(Illustration)
September 2, 2004... Summary of Weekly Petroleum Data for the Week Ending August 27, 2004 Crude Oil: StocksCrude Oil: Production and Imports (millions of bbl)(Average, thousands of bbl) Domestic Current Week Previous Week Chg....

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

Stock Market Scorecard.(Illustration)
September 2, 2004... Stock Market Scorecard Close 1-Day % Chg. 9/01 Chg. % Chg. 10-Day 52-Wk YTD Integrated Majors Occidental 52.83 +1.18 +2.28 +5.43 ...

Ecuador To Launch Tender.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Ecuadorian President Lucio Gutierrez plans to launch a $4 billion tender to develop the Ishpingo, Tambococha and Tiputini (ITT) fields this week, an Energy Ministry official said. The tender will include development of the heavy crude...

IHS Energy Buys CERA.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Houston-based oil and gas consultant IHS Energy announced Wednesday that it has purchased Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) for an undisclosed sum. CERA Chairman Daniel Yergin told Oil Daily that IHS and CERA are "natural...

Lockout Looms in Norway.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... A two-month old conflict between Norwegian rig workers and the offshore oil and gas industry remained deadlocked on Wednesday, a day before a planned lockout by employers, union and employers' representatives said. The lockout, set to...

BP Eyes More Vietnam Gas.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... BP said Wednesday it plans to invest between $600 million and $650 million to develop an offshore gas field in southern Vietnam to supply natural gas to power generators in the area. "Negotiations between BP and state oil firm Petrovietnam...

Atwood Gets Vietnam Deal.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Houston-based drilling firm Atwood Oceanics said Wednesday that it has been awarded a contract to drill three additional wells offshore Vietnam from Hoang Long and Hoan Vu Joint Operating Cos. According to Atwood, the contract provides for...

ONGC Considers Venezuela.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) said Wednesday it was evaluating an offer to invest in exploration and development of oilfields in Venezuela, the world's fifth- largest oil exporter. The company's overseas subsidiary, ONGC Videsh,...

Exxon Alaska Claim Denied.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Exxon Mobil suffered a setback this week when a judge ruled against its claim that it is owed $34 million stemming from alleged underpayments for oil it produced on Alaska's North Slope. At the heart of the matter is the method used to...

Nova Scotia Plots Retail Sale.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... A Nova Scotia government committee is proposing that gasoline refiners -- including dominant players like Irving Oil and Imperial Oil -- sell off their retail stations in an attempt to promote competition and reduce prices. The move was...

Citgo Refinery Unit Down.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Lyondell Citgo's Houston refinery shut a hydro- desulfurization unit on Tuesday because of a leak, the company reported to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. There was no estimate given on the duration of the outage at the...

Petro-Canada Starts New Unit.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2004... Petro-Canada has successfully completed the start-up and initial operation of a new VGO Unionfining unit at its Edmonton, Alberta refinery. The new unit, which has been operational since June 2004, is designed to process 41,400 b/d of...

Deals Mark Demise of Energy Merchant Business.
September 3, 2004... Natural gas trading and marketing, the business that was supposed to turn natural gas pipeline companies, utilities and other low-return energy companies into glamorous high- profit trendsetters, is losing what little charm it had left for the...

Why Moscow Looks Kindly on ConocoPhillips.
September 3, 2004... Moscow's upcoming sale of the government's remaining 7.59% stake in Lukoil is set to be the biggest oil privatization in the history of the new Russia. However, one feature will not differ from the old times -- the auction will be...

Falling US Gas Prices Divert LNG Cargoes to Lucrative Asia.(Liquefied Natural Gas)
September 3, 2004... Recent high oil prices are starting to ripple into the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market. With US natural gas prices sliding, August imports of LNG into the US were substantially lower than expected. Market sources say that many of...

Futures Post Slight Gain; Market Ignores Bullish News in Iraq, Russia.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Despite bullish news out of Iraq and Russia, crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) closed on Thursday with only a 6cents gain to settle at $44.06 per barrel. In London, Brent crude gained 10cents to close at $41.57/bbl....

New Kid on the Block Whiting Ties Up Biggest Deal to Date.
September 3, 2004... Denver-based Whiting Petroleum has agreed to buy interests in 17 fields in the Permian Basin of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico for $345 million in what is by far the biggest of five merger and acquisition deals the company has done since...

Record Rig Count Not Enough to Offset High US Gas Depletion Rate.
September 3, 2004... The US gas rig count set a new high last week, but the milestone passed with little flag-waving in evidence as producers struggle to raise domestic production. According to oil services firm Baker Hughes, the domestic gas rig count rose to...

Alaskan North Slope Production Down Sharply on Maintenance.
September 3, 2004... Alaskan oil production has gone through a tough stretch this summer, with crude oil output in July and August running 17% below the same period in 2003 as a result of heavy maintenance and modernization work on the TransAlaskan Pipeline (Taps)....

Yukos Warns of Paralysis After Account Freeze.(account freeze)
September 3, 2004... Russia's embattled Yukos said Thursday that it could be forced to halt production after its operations were "paralyzed" when a court froze $2.6 billion in the bank accounts of its subsidiaries. Yukos had been using the accounts of its...

EIA Gas Storage.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Gas in Storage Rises 81 Bcf Stocks of working natural gas in US storage facilities rose 81 Bcf for the week ended Aug. 27, leaving storage levels at 2,695 Bcf, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Stocks are 276...

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

Stock Market Scorecard.(Illustration)
September 3, 2004... Stock Market Scorecard Close 1-Day % Chg. 9/02 Chg. % Chg. 10-Day 52-Wk YTD Integrated Majors Statoil 13.39 ...

Nigeria Bribes 'Talked About'.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Halliburton said an internal probe found information suggesting that members of a consortium it helps lead had considered bribing Nigerian officials to win business. The world's second-largest oilfield services company, which is also...

Syntroleum Inks Nigeria Deal.(Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Tulsa-based Syntroleum has signed an agreement with Nigerian firm Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum (YFP) to consider development of an offshore oil and gas discovery that would employ Syntroleum's natural gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology. Under the...

Pemex Releases Prices.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... The October discount for Maya crude sent to the US West Coast widened by 90cents/bbl, Pemex said late Wednesday. Pemex narrowed October discounts for Mexico's Maya crude exports to the US Gulf Coast and widened discounts for Europe-bound...

PetroTech Signs Peru Deal.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Peruvian oil company PetroTech has signed a $22 million contract to explore for oil in Peru's Block 33. The offshore block is located along the coast between Lima and Ica. PetroTech has committed to performing seismic activity before...

Parker Named in Asbestos Suit.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Parker Drilling said on Thursday some of its subsidiaries have been named in lawsuits claiming that products containing asbestos were used in drilling operations and drilling equipment, according to a regulatory filing. The Houston-based...

California Demands Gas Plan.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... California energy regulators on Thursday directed investor- owned utilities to take steps to ensure that the state has enough supplies of natural gas to meet increasing demand for the fuel. The California Public Utilities Commission's...

Husky Signs Tucker Deal.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Calgary-based Husky Energy said Thursday it signed a C$290 million (US$221.9 million) deal with SNC-Lavalin and PCL Industrial Management to design and build a large part of the company's oil sands project in northern Alberta. The Husky...

BP Finds Leak in Texas Unit.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... BP said Thursday that it found a leak in an alkylation unit at its 460,000 b/d Texas City, Texas, refinery Tuesday evening but did not say if it shut the unit down for repairs, Texas environmental regulators said. A BP spokesman at the...

Athabasca Output Soars.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Shell Canada said Thursday that its Athabasca Oil Sands Project produced a record average of 182,000 b/d of bitumen in August -- demonstrating what Shell says is the project's ability to meet and exceed the design rate of 155,000 b/d on a...

Congress Unlikely to Pass Energy Bill.
September 7, 2004... Energy policy was barely mentioned by President Bush last week in his nomination speech, and many Washington insiders say that Bush's failure to push his energy plans does not bode well for those hoping to see energy policy as a centerpiece of...

TransCanada Won't Stop With Quebec LNG.
September 7, 2004... TransCanada PipeLines (TCPL) expects its home country to be more accepting toward liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving and regasification terminals than folks in the New England have been so far, but it is not yet giving up on efforts on the...

France's Total Options Capacity at US Gulf Coast LNG Terminal.
September 7, 2004... French oil major Total, one of the main movers and shakers in the global liquefied natural gas business, has taken an option on a big chunk of the capacity at Cheniere Energy's proposed Sabine Pass LNG regasification terminal. If it...

Oil Futures End Volatile Week a Shade Under $44/bbl.
September 7, 2004... The crude futures market on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) hovered around $44 per barrel Friday, as no significant news surfaced and players jockeyed for position ahead of the Labor Day weekend. Last week was a volatile one, as...

Sunoco Plans Early Refinery Turnaround; Sour Crudes Weaker Last Week.(Sunoco Inc.,petroleum industry)
September 7, 2004... US refiner Sunoco announced Friday that over the next several days it will begin planned maintenance across its US Northeast refining system that will reduce gasoline production by 180,000 barrels per day through the end of September. ...

Oil Market Balances Tighten, But Ample Supplies Remain.
September 7, 2004... Global oil balances tightened a bit in August but markets remain amply supplied, according to preliminary data from Oil Daily sister publication Oil Market Intelligence. By Oil Market Intelligence calculations, the spread between supply...

US Refining Margins Off From Highs, But Further Drops Unlikely.
September 7, 2004... US refining margins have dropped from their impressive highs of early summer and now appear to have stabilized, according to a number of Wall Street analysts. The US composite margin for the third quarter is averaging $7.44 per barrel,...

Gas Prices Plummet Below $5 on High Storage, Mild Weather.
September 7, 2004... Bears are in full command of natural gas markets with no weather loads on the horizon, storage rapidly filling and powerful Hurricane Frances likely to inflict a heavy toll on gas-fired power loads in Florida. Gas prices fell to their...

Canadian Gas Storage.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Canadian Enerdata reported that the amount of natural gas in Canadian storage facilities rose 13.8 Bcf for the week ended Aug. 27. Storage caverns are 89.1% full, up from 86.3% the previous week and 77.8% a year ago. (Bcf) ...

Baker Hughes Rig Count.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... US Rig Count Rises by 10 The number of rigs searching for oil and gas in the US rose by 10 to 1,249 last week, oil services firm Baker Hughes said Friday. During the same week last year, there were 1,091 rigs in operation. The number...

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

Stock Market Scorecard.(Illustration)
September 7, 2004... Stock Market Scorecard Close 1-Day % Chg. 9/03 Chg. % Chg. 10-Day 52-Wk YTD Integrated Majors Kerr-McGee 53.72 +0.27 ...

EPA Grants Clean Air Waivers.(Environmental Protection Agency)(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted waivers from clean air regulations for fuel sold in Florida as the state prepared Friday to face Hurricane Frances. The agency decided to grant the temporary waivers after determining there...

Stone Ups Capital Budget.(Stone Energy)(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Stone Energy has joined the ranks of independents that have decided to bump up capital spending following an announcement Friday of a 10% increase in its 2004 capital budget. The Louisiana-based producer plans to spend $310 million on...

Williams Buys Back Debt.(Williams Natural Gas Co.)(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Williams has bought back $793 million of debt and will take a quarterly charge as a result, the natural gas company said on Friday. Williams is trying to cut total long-term debt to less than $8 billion by the end of 2005. At the end of the...

Sunoco Plans More Buybacks.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Independent refiner Sunoco announced late Thursday that its board of directors has approved buying back an additional $500 million in stock. The Philadelphia-based company said in a statement that it has bought back 21 million shares worth...

Pertamina Seeks Partner.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Pertamina is hoping to find a partner to help it develop Indonesia's Cepu Block once Exxon Mobil's service contract expires in 2010. In the meantime, a company spokesman said that Pertamina may begin talks with Exxon this week to continue...

Former Pemex Head Extradited.(Rogelio Montemayor)(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... The former head of Mexico state Pemex was extradited to Mexico on Thursday, after US judges ruled he could no longer stay in Texas. Rogelio Montemayor is accused as part of the "Pemexgate" scandal of channeling $200 million in Pemex funds to...