From a record intraday high of $135.09/bbl May 22, the contract for benchmark US light sweet crudes closed at $127.35/bbl May 30, down 3.7% during the four trading sessions following the May 26 Memorial Day holiday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission broke with its tradition of not disclosing current investigations and announced on May 29 that its enforcement division is continuing a crude oil market and derivatives inquiry that began in December 2007.
US Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and three US House Democrats from Illinois asked a US Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 official to object to a construction permit BP Products North America Inc. seeks for its Whiting, Ind., refinery.
Two federal regulatory agencies are moving too timidly in response to record crude oil prices, US Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said during a Senate committee hearing on energy market manipulation and federal regulatory regimes.
A recent study from the Natural Gas Council concluded that legislation to be debated this week in the US Senate is likely to increase natural gas demand without addressing the need for increased supply.
The projected growth of Alberta oil sands production, which has in place some 1.75 trillion bbl of resources, is triggering a wave of investments, said Wood Mackenzie Ltd., Edinburgh.
Nigeria has become the world’s leader in piracy attacks, primarily targeting the oil industry in that country, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
Saudi Arabia’s oil officials will doubtlessly feel exonerated—if not downright pleased—by a report last week blaming speculators for the steep rise in global oil prices over the past year or two.
Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), in an effort to reduce its dependence on imports from neighboring Bolivia, has announced the signing of two contracts for the purchase of LNG from Britain’s BG Group PLC.
The soaring price of diesel oil, which is jeopardizing fishermen’s already meager profits, has led to protests in France that are spreading to Spain, Portugal, and Italy.
Installation of a restriction orifice in a regeneration gas blower solved catalyst plugging and blowouts in a continuous catalyst regeneration (CCR) tower in Saudi Aramco’s Yanbu refinery.
A simple economic procedure applied to NGL pipelines can help operators determine whether abnormalities detected during periodic magnetic-flux leakage pigging are large enough to shut the pipeline for repair or if operations can continue.
