Regular Features
- OGJ Newsletter
- Letters
  - If Atlas shrugged
- Journally Speaking
  - Oil, gas, and social media
    A recent survey has found that while oil and gas industry professionals may view certain social media tools—such as networking web sites, instant messaging, text messaging, wikis, blogs, and podcasts—as important for improving productivity and collaboration, few companies currently have tools in place to successfully benefit from these electronic tools’ potential efficiencies.
- Services/Suppliers
  - Services/Suppliers
- Equip/Software/Lit
  - Equipment/Software/Literature
- Advertisers Index
- Editor's Perspective
  - Salazar: It’s not war on oil and gas; it’s taxation
    In case anyone finds the difference between war and larceny puzzling, US Interior Sec. Ken Salazar Offers help.
- Market Journal
  - Economic outlook remains cloudy
    In the final days of March, market analysts saw some indications that the economic crisis might be nearing bottom and could perhaps rebound in the second half of this year.
General Interest
- Editorial: Stopping the juggernaut
  For anyone in the oil and gas industry, the spectacle of an American president sacking the head of General Motors should be chilling.
- Special Report: Survey notes project delays, cancellations
  Oil & Gas Journal’s semiannual Worldwide Construction Update shows a decline in construction activity compared with the previous edition of the report (OGJ, Nov. 17, 2008, p. 24).
- Iraqi oil minister seeks investment, offers contracts
  Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain Al-Shahristani, in a wide-ranging interview with Arab media in Paris, said his country’s oil industry needs $50 billion in investment over the next 5-6 years, with much of it expected to come from international oil companies (IOCs).
- Iraq considers PSAs in second licensing round
  Iraq is considering offering exploration blocks under production-sharing agreements (PSA) this year for its second licensing round, according to Oil Minister Hussain Al-Shahristani.
- Watching The World: Bring on the clowns
  The international oil and gas industry—as well as Russia’s—is watching with incredulity as prosecutors bring a new case against former OAO Yukos Chief Executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
- Aramco renews commitment to long-term investment plans
  Saudi Aramco, in line with newly announced government policies, will continue to invest in new oil, gas, and petrochemical projects, despite the current global economic downturn, according to government leaders and company officials.
- Brazil considering OPEC’s renewed membership invitation
  Brazil’s President Luiz Lula da Silva, apparently reversing earlier decisions, said his government is again considering an invitation to join the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
- Obama signs far-reaching public lands bill
  Calling it an “extraordinary piece of legislation,” US President Barack H. Obama signed a far-reaching public lands bill into law on Mar. 30.
- Waxman’s clean energy draft includes cap-and-trade proposals
  US House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman released a draft of clean energy legislation on Mar. 30.
- CFTC increases its exempt commercial market oversight
  The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission closed the so-called “Enron Loophole” on Mar. 23 as it approved final rules and amendments increasing its oversight of exempt commercial markets (ECMs).
- Watching Government: Hard work for Western Caucus
  USRep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) was ready to give Ken Salazar the benefit of the doubt.
- NPRA: Speakers differ on ethanol ‘blend wall’ issues
  Meeting specifications for renewable fuels in the US requires rapid growth in the use of 85-15 ethanol-gasoline blends (E85) and, if the ethanol industry has its way, relaxation of the current 10% cap on gasoline for uses other than in flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs).
- NPRA: Economy shaping climate politics
  Economic pain will shape how the US addresses climate change—if not the question whether it responds at all.
- US to see more LNG, despite downturn
  More shipments of LNG will come to the US this year, whether the market needs them or not.
- COMPANY NEWS: Suncor, Petro-Canada merge in $19.3 billion (Can.) deal
  Suncor Energy Inc. and Petro-Canada, both of Calgary, have agreed to merge the two companies in a $19.3 billion (Can.) transaction. The resulting company, Suncor, will have 7.5 billion boe of proved and probable reserves with existing production of 680,000 boe/d.
- PERSONNEL MOVES AND PROMOTIONS: Chevron makes executive changes
Exploration & Development
- Nonproducing Paraguay’s potential conventional and unconventional
  A number of external factors have come together to provide many opportunities for growth for the fledgling hydrocarbon industry in Paraguay.
Drilling & Production
- HYDRAULIC FRACTURING— Conclusion: Additional keys give stimulation insights
  Four keys provide a way for understanding, modeling, and predicting shear stimulation and its benefits in naturally fractured reservoirs.
Processing
- GUIDE TO WORLD CRUDES: StatoilHydro publishes Gimboa crude oil assay
  StatoilHydro has published a crude oil assay for its Gimboa field, which began producing first-quarter 2009 from Block 4/05 about 3 miles off Angola (Fig. 1) in 2,300 ft of water.
- Nelson-Farrar Quarterly Costimating: Indexes for selected equipment show moderate increase
  Costs for six selected equipment items used in refining construction operations have been surveyed for the 3 years 2006-08.
- Nelson-Farrar Cost Indexes
Transportation
- EXTERNAL CORROSION—1 Study investigates damage to cased pipeline segments
  New analysis shows pipelines using shorted casings are more susceptible to corrosion than pipelines using nonshorted casings.