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Climate change is a global environmental concern with potentially significant consequences for society, both from the possible future impacts of climate change and from the socioeconomic consequences of policies proposed to respond to it.

Iraqi officials are giving mixed signals about the resumption of crude oil exports from the country's northern fields, some saying it could start in days, while others insisting that any start-up will be months away—possibly as late as August.

Reserves definitions and reserves reporting standards are designed to help protect investors, but the US regulatory process sometimes actually constrains the amount of available public information, an analyst with IHS Energy said.

The US Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service Jan. 26 expanded offshore royalty relief to existing US Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) production that comes from deep wells in shallow water depths.

US Sec. of the Interior Gale Norton Jan. 22 finalized a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan that allows for more leasing in the northwestern portion of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A).

Automakers and environmentalists are hoping a new Health Effects Institute (HEI) report will help convince the US Environmental Protection Agency to more strictly regulate, or possibly even ban, the octane enhancer methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT).

Halliburton Co. reported Jan. 23 the issuance of a $6.3 million payment to its customer, Army Materiel Command, to cover "the potential overbilling charges" made by a Kuwaiti subcontractor on one of the company's contracts to restore war-torn Iraq's oil infrastructure.

Devon Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, has announced a new president and a new chief financial officer.

Most upstream petroleum contracts provide for host countries to hold back-in rights to acquire an equity participation in resulting commercial discoveries at no exploration risk.

Cairn Energy PLC, Edinburgh, reported that a significant oil discovery has followed a long string of tantalizing smaller successes in the Rajasthan basin in northwestern India.

Pemex sets the course for Mexican drilling Great interest among international companies is driving increased activity in Mexico's on and offshore basins.

A surface-modification additive (SMA) to the proppant in a fracture-stimulation treatment increased the gas production rate and prolonged the life of a gas well in Saudi Arabia.

Nelson-farrar cost indexes

Increasing Russian crude oil exports changing worldwide trade patterns Russian oil product exports will increase in the next few years, but will face major roadblocks from more-stringent European specifications.

Construction plans surge on prospects for gas use War in the Middle East last year didn't roil world energy markets, and major countries' economies at yearend 2003 were clearly recovering from more than 3 years of slump. These elements, together with continued strong demand for natural gas worldwide and especially in the US, helped push plans for oil and natural gas pipeline construction well ahead of what they were a year ago (OGJ, Feb. 3, 2003, p. 62).

The rapid development of the Russian oil companies into well funded, market-focused international players and international investment in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan has led to a rapid growth in crude oil production (Fig. 1).

Study of pipeline SCADA spending reveals a mature industry Research last year by the Newton-Evans Research Co., Ellicott City, Md., targeted the worldwide petroleum pipeline industry's use of and plans for supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems.

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