Total well completions in the US increased by 10% in the fourth quarter of 2005 from year-earlier levels, with oil and gas completions up 11% in each category, according to American Petroleum Institute.
A group of 26 Dutch pension funds, led by Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, filed a shareholder securities fraud suit against Royal Dutch Shell PLC seeking “hundreds of millions of dollars” in damages for what it calls improper accounting for oil and gas reserves during 1997-2003.
As the Bureau of Land Management begins a new examination of split-estate resource management, Rocky Mountain oil and gas producers and landowners continue to grapple with problems resulting from surface and subsurface land rights being held by different parties at the state level.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is beginning to encounter opposition to PetroCaribe, his plan to distribute cost-deferred oil to 13 nations in the Caribbean.
Motor fuel prices remain very sensitive to changes in the price of crude oil, supply disruptions, and weather-related incidents such as last summer’s hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.
With weather still the primary influence over US energy markets, price volatility increased through December and into January, particularly for natural gas.
Total SA, operator of Block 32 off Angola, and Sonangol EP reported that an ultradeepwater delineation well has confirmed the commercial potential of the adjacent Gengibre-1 oil discovery (OGJ Online, June 10, 2005).
Aberdeen, has announced the appointment of Carl Mook as region manager-Middle East & Asia Pacific, based in Dubai. Mook, who holds an ONC in electronic engineering from Norwich City College, UK, has 21 years of experience in the process and pipeline industry.
Retrofit diesel pilot ignition (DPI), or micropilot, systems installed on natural gas pipeline compressor engines can deliver efficiency and emissions improvements when compared to spark ignition systems.
Field tests in Alberta showed that multiphase meters can measure the high-temperature fluids produced in steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) projects.
One of the biggest challenges the oil and gas industry faces today is to extract the natural resources locked into the ground while minimizing cost and the impact on the environment.
Given current oil demand projections, key members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will need to reduce output to avoid oversupplying the market in the short run as non-OPEC supply grows.
A healthy US economy will bring limited growth to energy demand in 2006, as crude oil, natural gas, and petroleum product prices ease from record-setting highs.
As in most organizations today, energy industry leaders must have the skills to guide their companies through steady growth and faster progress toward globalization.
As the energy industry invests capital/cash flow derived from higher oil and gas prices to meet the increasing global thirst for oil, companies are working feverously to secure the talent they need.
