Regular Features
- OGJ Newsletter
  - OGJ Newsletter
- Journally Speaking
  - Measuring ‘cheap’ oil
    Oil prices have been on a downward spiral for several weeks, punched by dwindling demand.
- Equip/Software/Lit
  - E q u i p m e n t / S o f t w a r e / L i t e r a t u r e
- Services/Suppliers
  - Services Suppliers
- Advertisers Index
- Editor's Perspective
  - Oil industry helps ease the new load on US taxpayers
    Congress has allowed the oil and gas business to ease the extra load taxpayers will assume from the vote-winning part of the economic rescue package signed into law Oct. 3.
- Market Journal
  - Crude prices lowest in a year
    The November contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes hit new lows for the year, trading as low as $77.09/bbl Oct. 10 before closing at $77.70/bbl, down $8.89 for the day on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
General Interest
- Editorial: The crisis and capitalism
  An extra hazard lurks in the turmoil that has engulfed the global financial system.
- Special Report: US oil shale resources look promising yet still uncertain
  The quest for commercial viability of oil shale ultimately could prove the most practical option among unconventional hydrocarbon resources to add large quantities of proved US reserves, say researchers working toward this goal.
- Special Report: Environmental, leasing policies evolving
  Oil companies researching oil shale development are watching the unfolding of US leasing and environmental regulatory policies that could influence the economics of producing unconventional petroleum resources, said the National Oil Shale Association.
- Kazakh transport plans unfazed by Russia-Georgia strife
  Although Kazakhstan has said it plans to arrange delivery of its oil to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline via Azerbaijan and on to Georgia’s Black Sea port of Batumi, traders expressed fears, after the Georgia-Russia conflict, about the efficiency of the trans-Caucasus routes and about possible future pressures from Russia.
- BP to flow Kazakh oil through BTC pipeline
  BP PLC plans to begin shipping oil from Kazakhstan’s Tengiz oil field via the 1,770-km Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline beginning later this month.
- Brazil to offer fewer blocks for December auction
  Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP), apparently bowing to pressure from the government, has reduced the number of exploration and production concession blocks to be auctioned at the 10th round, scheduled for Dec. 18.
- Brazil launches new platform, loading terminal
  Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has inaugurated the P-51, the company’s first domestically built semisubmersible platform—a milestone event according to government and company officials.
- Watching The World: Oiling the road To Ulaanbaatar
  The Japanese government, aiming to reduce the country’s dependence on oil and natural gas, has cast its eyes far and wide for new sources of energy.
- US House panel’s minority report disputes findings
  The US House Natural Resources Committee’s minority staff released its own report on Oct. 9 challenging one which the majority staff issued 6 months ago that has been the basis of many 2008 Democratic candidates’ energy stands.
- Watching Government: A politically audacious idea
  The full-page, A-section advertisement in the Oct. 9 Washington Post stood out from others; it was not for a major commercial bank saying how much it appreciated its depositors.
- Egyptian court to rule in November on gas to Israel
  Egypt’s State Council Administrative Court said it will issue a ruling Nov. 18 regarding a case lodged by a former ambassador and several lawyers against the export of Egyptian natural gas to Israel.
- Modec FSO hits 1 billion bbl offloading mark
  Modec Inc.’s floating storage and offloading unit Ta’Kuntah has reached a milestone in the industry—offloading a total of 1 billion bbl of oil to 1,745 export tankers.
- Company News: E.On secures stake in Yuzhno Russkoye gas project
  Russia’s state-owned OAO Gazprom has signed an asset swap agreement granting German utility E.On AG a stake in the Yuzhno-Russkoye natural gas project.
- PERSONNEL MOVES AND PROMOTIONS: ConocoPhillips makes management changes
  ConocoPhillips made several senior management changes.
Exploration & Development
- Atlas Energy’s Marcellus program delivers 60 MMcfd in Pennsylvania
  Atlas Energy Resources LLC, Philadelphia, is the largest producer of gas from Devonian Marcellus shale in the Appalachian basin and has drilled more than 80 wells, almost all of them vertical, the company said in a webcast Oct. 8.
- MMS plans central gulf sale for March 2009
  The US Minerals Management Service has scheduled Lease Sale 208 for the Central Planning Area (CPA) in the Gulf of Mexico for Mar. 18, 2009.
- Eni signs exploration deal with Papua New Guinea
  Italy’s Eni SPA has signed an agreement with Papua New Guinea for a long-term partnership to pursue sustainable development of the country’s untouched hydrocarbon resources.
- Oil service executive sees fast exploration growth
  Exploration services are likely to grow much faster than the overall oil field services market worldwide for years, Schlumberger Ltd. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Gould said.
Drilling & Production
- Successful fast-track project brought Su Tu Den field on stream
  Following the Su Tu Den discovery in Block 15-1 off Vietnam, a fast-track field development program culminated in first oil production only 2 years and 82 days after declaration of the field’s commerciality.
Processing
- US may become net gasoline exporter by 2010, study says
  Shifts in energy demand and biofuels capacity will disrupt the global refining industry, potentially turning the US into a net exporter of gasoline by 2010.
Transportation
- FRACTURE PROPAGATION—1: Fracture-arrest prediction requires correction factors
  The Batelle two-curve method of fracture-arrest prediction for X70 and X80 high toughness steels requires correction factors based on the steel’s grade and toughness level.