In the day-to-day job of covering news about the oil and natural gas industry, OGJ editors happen upon stacks of news tidbits that, although important in their own right, will not likely receive a drop of ink in Oil & Gas Journal.
Has the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries miscalculated? Some OPEC ministers have been hinting as much recently, suggesting that the group may have undershot estimates of the call on its crude.
US politicians inclined to complain about the transfer of jobs to countries other than their own should check their voting records on oil and gas leasing of federal land. Complaints about job losses from people who won't create jobs are hypocritical.
In late November 2003, by a narrow margin, opponents of the Energy Policy Act of 2003 succeeded in delaying further consideration of the bill until early this year and in reducing chances of eventual passage, at least in its present form.
The US Senate late Mar. 11 approved a nonbinding budget blueprint that includes an amendment sponsored by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Susan Collins (R-Me.), which calls on the US Department of Energy to temporarily suspend royalty oil transfers to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The Enron Corp. scandal continues to create regulatory hangovers for energy companies. But as painful as the process has been, there are signs that government reforms coupled with industry-led actions are slowly reassuring investors that marketers can play by the rules.
Canada's oil sands industry in Alberta has a "very robust" future—given a reasonable outlook for oil prices and that it can overcome a number of challenges.
TransCanada Corp., Calgary, plans to buy Gas Transmission Northwest Corp. (GTN) for $1.2 billion, plus $500 million of assumed debt, subject to approval from the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland.
Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s Chairman and CEO Ray R. Irani met with Libyan leader Moammar al-Ghadafi and other officials in Libya last week to discuss the resumption of the company's operations that were suspended in 1986.
Trials with weights dropped from helicopters in northern Canada have led instead to a highly controllable, ground based seismic impact source vehicle that compares favorably with conventional dynamite acquisition methods.
ealthy rig counts and utilization rates in most sectors, continued reinvestment in rig fleets and equipment, and substantial drilling plans by operators indicate a vigorous year ahead for drilling.
Net global ethylene capacity additions recorded a nearly 2-decade low in 2003 due to significant shutdowns. Last year saw only 1.34 million tonnes/year (tpy) of net additions, compared with an increase of 2.4 million tpy in 2002, according to the latest ethylene survey.
US refinery turnaround for spring maintenance will throw a larger than usual kink into crude oil imports, with throughputs declining toward 14 million b/d. Complicating that eventuality for the world's tanker owners is that US crude oil inventories, in January, were hovering at 270 million bbl.
