General Interest
- Apache buying Pioneer’s Argentine operations
  Pioneer Natural Resources Co. agreed to sell its oil and gas operations in Argentina to Apache Corp.
- BLM opens more NPR-A acres to leasing
  The US Department of the Interior announced Jan. 11 approval of a US Bureau of Land Management amendment to the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska’s leasing program, opening 389,000 acres for leasing in NPR-A’s northeastern corner.
- Eight proposals advance in BLM oil shale program
  Five applicants submitted eight oil shale development and demonstration proposals that are eligible for further consideration, the US Bureau of Land Management said.
- Future offshore outlays driven by drilling, analyst says
  Over the next 5 years drilling activities will draw a major share of offshore expenditures, according to international UK research firm Douglas-Westwood Ltd.
- Editorial: Iranian desperation
  In its response to nuclear ambitions in Iran, a concerned world must acknowledge but not submit to a motive strongly at work in the Islamic Republic.
- Watching the World: Oil heroes in Nigeria
  In the oil industry there are more heroes than one can imagine, and not a few of them are at work in Nigeria.
- Petrobras, partners plan Santos basin investment push
  Brazil’s state-owned Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) plans to invest, along with partners, $18 billion over the next 10 years for oil and gas development in the offshore Santos basin.
- Shell evacuates workers from Nigerian oil facilities
  Royal Dutch Shell PLC evacuated a reported 326 workers from one of its oil facilities in Nigeria on Jan. 15 after 16 people were killed or wounded in an attack by unidentified gunmen.
- Solutions proposed for UK’s ‘looming energy gap’
  The UK will require supply from all sources of energy if its standard of living is to be sustained, said 150 scientific, technical, economic, and sociological experts who contributed to a report aimed at helping the UK government address a “looming energy gap.
- Survey: US, China to lead Canadian investment
  Canadian oil executives and investment bankers expect the US and China to be the most active sources of foreign investment this year in Canadian oil and gas assets, particularly oil sands, according to a survey released by Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.
Regular Features
- Area Drilling
  - Area Drilling
    Renewed testing at the LMG03 coalbed methane well in the Gloucester basin resulted in a peak flow rate of 537 Mcfd, said Molopo Australia Ltd.
- Editor's Perspective
  - OPEC revenues once again key to price forecasts
    A crucial influence on the price of crude this year will be one that all but lacked pricing significance last year.
- Equip/Software/Lit
  - Equipment/Software/Literature
    This new integrated wrist camera for Titan manipulators features a titanium camera housing for protection and internal cabling that eliminates cable snags and abrasions.
- Journally Speaking
  - Chinese NOCs go shopping
    The Chinese central government, obsessed with energy security, is pressuring state-owed oil companies to intensify merger and acquisition activity abroad to help meet the country’s growing oil and gas demand.
- Letters
  - Letters
    The article “Oil reconstruction in Iraq: progress and challenges” (OGJ, Dec. 19, 2005, p. 26) was a very disappointing article on an obviously important subject.
- Market Journal
  - Mild weather undermines natural gas price
    Continued mild weather and a bearish report on US natural gas storage undermined the natural gas market in the week ended Jan. 13, with prices falling in all five daily sessions.
- OGJ Newsletter
  - OGJ Newsletter
    Indonesia’s State Minister for State-Owned Enterprises Sugiharto said discussions were slated for mid-January concerning operation of the oil and natural gas fields on the Cepu Block.
Processing
- BP issues recommendations to prevent recurrence of fatal explosion
  On Dec. 9, 2005, BP Products North America Inc.
Transportation
- Brass LNG shows importance of matching supply, demand
  In an interconnected world, where international LNG trade is growing and poised to grow even more dramatically, buyers and sellers become inextricably linked.
Special Report
- Cairn Energy aligns interests in India
  Scotland’s Cairn Energy PLC has occupied a niche in the Indian oil and gas community and is beginning to reap the rewards of its successful exploration program.
- Natural gas, LNG to play support role in meeting India’s increasing energy needs
  India’s energy balance is fundamentally changing due to the adoption of market-based economics, rapid economic growth, and a shift away from traditional biomass energy sources.
- Point of View: ONGC’s Raha: Exploring India’s untested basins needs incentives
  The Indian government should offer incentives to companies willing to explore the country’s many untested basins, says Subir Raha, chairman of state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp.
Exploration & Development
- Contracts let to develop
  Two TNK-BP subsidiaries let contracts worth a total of more than $60 million to Petrofac Ltd.
- Entrants, returnees to Libya face tight equipment market
  Libya’s plan to nearly double its oil production to 3 million b/d by 2010-11 is off to a rousing start with successful licensing rounds and the return of US operators exiled in 1986.
- Northern Campos block viable, says Shell Brasil
  Shell Brasil informed Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency that the BC-10 Block in the Campos basin off Espírito Santo is commercially viable.
- Range building acreage in US shale gas plays
  Range Resources Corp., Fort Worth, said it has accumulated 180,000 acres of leases in US shale gas plays.
- Santos basin 3D campaign starting off Brazil
  Petróleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) let a contract to Petroleum Geo-Services ASA (PGS) to acquire 1,266 sq km of 3D seismic data on prospect area BM-S-42 in the Santos basin off Brazil.
- Three key oil discoveries buoy prospects in Peru basins
  Peru ended 2005 with three key discoveries, one in a nonproducing basin in the Pacific Ocean and two in the Maranon basin near several large undeveloped heavy oil discoveries.
Drilling & Production
- Eliminating liquid loading hikes Burgos basin production
  An integrated production-management process increased gas production from more than 600 Burgos basin wells that had experienced severe liquid loading.