A number of environmental regulations coming into force in the next few years will compel refiners to rethink their operations and future capital investments.
At the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development last week in Johannesburg, South Africa, attention held fast, though not without distraction, to the problem of poverty. For international meetings on weighty global issues, it seems, there is hope.
If the US takes military action against Iraq, oil prices probably will tumble as other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries again increase production to offset the loss of Iraqi exports, as they did in 1991, said Robert Morris at Salomon Smith Barney Inc.
Crude oil prices are hovering near $30/bbl again. Demand for oil is inching up, a trend surely to continue with seasonal trends in the coming months. Indications are that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will do little to boost oil supply. And the dogs of war are baying again in the Middle East.
The US Gulf of Mexico (GOM), providing 1.8 million b/d of crude oil/NGLs and 14 bcfd of natural gas, has been a major source of domestic energy supplies. However, considerable uncertainty surrounds the outlook for this critical oil and gas producing area, with many concluding that production is or soon will be in decline.
A well-established mathematical algorithm known as dynamic programming, combined with advances in personal computing power, now allows straightforward optimization of fixed-bed catalyst life strategy.
A casing-conveyed perforating and integral flapper valve system proved effective in developing stacked pay Beluga sands in the Kenai gas field in Alaska's Cook inlet.
Shell UK Exploration & Production, an operating unit of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, used an electromagnetic measurement-while-drilling (EM-MWD) tool to transmit downhole-measured data during drilling operations from more than 14,500 ft MD (6,400 ft TVD) in a southern North Sea well.
Direct assessment (DA) can be effectively employed to assess pipeline integrity within the framework of an operator's overall integrity-management program (IMP).
Lower oil and gas prices coupled with weak refining margins to shrink the earnings of many US oil and gas companies during the second quarter. Oil and gas prices were stronger than during the first 3 months but still below prices posted during the second quarter of last year.
Reduced oil and gas price realizations affected financial results of oil and gas firms based in Canada, while rising feedstock costs squeezed refining margins.
Industry participants in the US Environmental Protection Agency's Natural Gas STAR program reduced methane emissions from equipment leaks and unit operations by 42 bcf in 2001, saving about $126 million, EPA said.
The emerging greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions market is anticipated to have a robust future, with participants expecting prices to average slightly more than $5/tonne of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) until 2005, before the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change-yet to be ratified by all countries-takes full effect.
A project to establish a deepwater facilities testing center off Toulon on the French Riviera should be ready for submission to possible financial partners within the next 2 months.
The US will focus more on Eurasia, West Africa, and Latin America to diversify its oil supply sources and bolster energy security in the face of increasing imports and rising Middle East tensions, contends Daniel Yergin.
Pure Resources Inc. reported late last month it wants a special committee of independent directors to evaluate a stock-swap acquisition offer from Union Oil Co. of California, a unit of Unocal Corp. New York-based Fitch Ratings valued the offer at slightly more than $400 million.
Apache Corp., Houston, and Williams Cos. Inc., Tulsa, exchanged swipes concerning a nearly year-old dispute over Williams's attempt to transfer ownership of a gas gathering system in South Texas from a subsidiary regulated by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to an unregulated affiliate.
