Crude and gasoline futures prices hit record highs May 12 and were expected to continue trending upward, despite a push by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries for an informal discussion of tight world oil markets at a meeting to be held May 22-24 in Amsterdam.
Intec Engineering Inc.
Houston, has named Jerry F. Wenzel vice-president of LNG engineering services. Wenzel previously served as vice-president and general manager for the BP Mardi Gras Transportation System, the largest-capacity deepwater oil and gas transportation system in the world.
Abu Ghraib misconduct limits what's possible in Iraq
Disclosure of inhuman treatment of prisoners in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison degrades US legitimacy in Iraq.
Gas price risk mainly upside
The fundamental drivers of US natural gas prices are pointing increasingly to sustained higher levels in the near term as well as the long term.
The leader of an international petroleum-industry research group believes technology will raise the amount of oil ultimately produced to three or four times currently estimated levels of reserves.
Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco endorsed calls by some industry analysts to expand information on global oil supplies as a way to stabilize mercurial oil markets.
Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may need the energy market equivalent of the post-World War II Marshall Plan to lift their growing populations above the poverty level and ensure a sound and secure energy future for the world, said a Houston investment banker at the recent Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.
OTC: North Sea development needs majors' cash, indies' perspective
The North Sea needs a mixture of major oil and gas companies, which provide large investments, and independent operators, which bring a new perspective to the region, panelists said during the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.
Megaprojects and superlatives generally go hand-in-hand, and development of giant Ormen Lange natural gas-condensate field in the Norwegian Sea extends that trend.
US deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico continues to be an expanding frontier for both majors and independents, the US Minerals Management Service said. That is the case even though recent data suggest that actual drilling has dropped over the past 2 years, the agency told the Offshore Technology Conference May 6 in Houston.
Industry members of an energy roundtable debated the direction of the future path of the "digital oil field" and what role information technology (IT) would play in oil and natural gas exploration and production companies' journeys down that path.
North American land drilling outstrips offshore
Land rig counts are up, independents are investing more in North America, and a new US Securities and Exchange Commission statement eases regulations for deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
The UK is urging North Sea developers, electric-power generators, and oil producers to implement a plan for capturing and sequestering CO2 in oil fields as a way to reduce greenhouse emissions while enhancing recovery.
A March 2004 study by the International Maritime Associates Inc. (IMA), Washington identifies more than 80 offshore projects in the planning stage that potentially will require floating production systems.
Asia continues to play an important role in global petroleum demand growth, and China leads the way with 451,000 b/d of growth in 2003. Japan also played an important, albeit temporary, role as its nuclear crisis contributed to a demand growth of 84,000 b/d in 2003.
With LNG poised to become an important source of natural gas the US, Europe, China, and other countries, understanding its cost might help in understanding how it will fit into the overall supply and pricing of natural gas in the future.
