On Sept. 15, as Hurricane Ivan was disrupting oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries excluding Iraq voted to boost their collective production quota by 1 million b/d to a record high of 27 million b/d effective Nov. 1 in an effort to lower crude prices.
Scientists are drilling a 4 km borehole on a cattle ranch near Parkfield, Calif., in an attempt to drill directly to the hypocenter of a zone of recurring microearthquakes in the center of the San Andreas fault zone.
Here's the Type 5500 multistation, digital-to-pneumatic pressure regulator with DeviceNet, providing modulated control of valves, cylinders, and actuators.
Oil futures: picking a midterm scenario dicey
With the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting in Vienna Sept. 15 to do little more than bemoan their inability to affect oil prices and debate the relevance of current quotas and price bands, now is a good time to reflect on paradigms and cycles and plateaus.
A growing world would benefit from a move by its political and industry leaders beyond wishes expressed in terms of alternative sources of energy. This is not to say leaders should reject wind, sunlight, water movement, hydrogen, and other potential energy sources and carriers now considered exotic.
As the US dollar weakened in relation to the Canadian dollar, many firms based in Canada reported lower first half and second quarter earnings than in comparable periods a year earlier. Some companies, however, overcame currency losses with increased production volumes and stronger refining margins.
Foreign companies being wooed by Iran to help the Persian Gulf nation develop its vast oil and gas resources are balking amid US pressure and concerns over fiscal terms.
At the World Energy Congress this month in Sydney, Algerian Energy Mining Resources Minister and Sonatrach Pres. Chakib Khelil paved the way for the reopening of an old debate when he questioned the fairness of the world's continuing reliance on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries as a "crisis manager" during times of high oil demand.
India's state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp. plans to invest 24.84 billion rupees ($536 million) in Mumbai High, its largest oil field, during the current fiscal year, which ends Mar. 31, 2005.
High international oil prices mean that Brazilian ethanol is rapidly winning a place in new markets, according to findings by consultant Júlio Maria Borges, director of the JOB Economy & Planning consulting firm in Brazil.
Faced with lofty world crude oil prices, reflecting a perception of tight fundamentals and threats to supplies, Paris-based Institut Français du Pétrole recently examined how the situation might evolve over the next 18 months.
Not many years ago, maintenance turnarounds at refineries and other processing plants were a dreaded point on the calendar because product was not being produced and because of the extreme dangers posed to both personnel and equipment.
Sonatrach's GL1-Z LNG plant in Arzew, Algeria, installed an LPG-recovery heat exchanger downstream of an existing overhead condenser to alleviate problems
