Frigid temperatures across much of the US triggered some surprisingly high spot natural gas prices for late February delivery, and traders also reported concern about anticipated dwindling gas inventory numbers heading into spring.
Before the first shot is fired in an anticipated war with Iraq, US officials should sit down with representatives of various countries and oil companies claiming concession in that nation to determine who will produce Iraq's oil once the shooting's ended, said an Oklahoma law professor.
An extended war with Iraq would have severe consequences that are likely unanticipated by the US and its allies, said some academic experts at a Jan. 17 forum on Middle East oil at the University of Houston.
Venezuela's oil production remains severely curtailed during the country's ongoing crisis, which is impacting the future of the national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA). The national strike in Venezuela is also costing some of the largest international oil companies millions of dollars daily, according to two January reports by financial analysts.
The US remains vulnerable to oil supply shocks from Venezuela and other foreign suppliers because the nation still lacks a comprehensive energy policy, White House officials said.
World crude oil supply is already tight, and even a small additional disruption this winter could cause serious problems, senior industry analysts warn.
SeaRiver Maritime, the US transportation affiliate of ExxonMobil Corp., reached an agreement with National Steel & Shipbuilding Co. (Nassco) to develop a contract design for a 750,000 bbl capacity, double-hull tanker for transport of Alaskan crude to West Coast refineries.
Congress late last month moved closer to completing a long-delayed federal budget for fiscal year 2003, with the US Senate passing a $390 billion appropriations bill Jan 23.
Although world attention is focused primarily on the potential war in Iraq, the current political conflict in Venezuela is just as likely to have a long-term negative impact on world oil markets, especially if Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez wins, said an expert on South American political and economic issues.
Oil giant ExxonMobil Corp. has given up on its remote deepwater acreage far off Trinidad's East Coast but will remain in the country in an alternate role.
All the sedimentary basins around South Island are underexplored, but none offers better upstream and downstream opportunities than the Canterbury basin (Fig. 1). The region has potential for onshore and shallow-water discoveries, and it contains the largest population centers on the South Island.
Successful completion of the refinery observation test run (ROTR) at the Middle East Oil Refining Co. (Midor) plant in Alexandria, Egypt, was the final step in the start-up of the grassroots plant. The ROTR was completed in late August 2002.
Sobriety, even fear, returned to pipeline operators' outlook for new construction in 2003 and beyond, after optimism a year ago drove plans and proposals unrealistically high. The change in direction has resulted from the continued, stubborn economic downturn, now sharpened by war fears.
TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., by virtue of a test conducted fourth quarter of last year, has confirmed the constructability of the latest development in higher strength, thinner wall line pipe.
US pipeline operators entered 2003 under a new and far stricter safety regime after President George W. Bush signed into law on Dec. 17 the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002.
