Regular Features
- OGJ Newsletter
- Letters
- Journally Speaking
  - Energy knowledge needed
    More people are discussing energy issues, but most don’t know enough to make informed decisions and are still advocating “wishful” solutions, according to a recent study by Public Agenda, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, DC.
- Equipment/Software/Literature
- Services/Suppliers
- Advertisers Index
- Editor's Perspective
  - EIA use of JODI data a step for oil transparency
    An international effort to improve transparency of oil and gas markets advanced a step this month.
- Market Journal
  - Tight April crude prices
    For 5 consecutive weeks through Apr. 17, the front–month contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes finished each week “almost unchanged” from the close of the previous week within a narrow price range above $50/bbl, said Olivier Jakob at Petromatrix, Zug, Switzerland.
General Interest
- Editorial: Markey uses the d–word
  US Rep. Ed Markey (D–Mass.) deployed the d–word as he opened subcommittee hearings on legislation calling for aggressive action on climate change.
- Special Report: Economic slump to chill capital spending in 2009
  Oil and gas producers—slammed by the worldwide economic downturn, lower oil and gas prices, and tight credit markets—have slashed their 2009 capital budget plans.
- Figures show recession’s impact on US industry in 1Q
  Government and industry statistics show that the US oil and gas industry was hit hard as the economic recession deepened during this year’s first quarter.
- Stanislaw: Administration will bring oil, gas to energy policy table
  The US oil and gas industry should prepare to be actively involved as the administration of President Barack Obama applies its recovery–and–reform strategy to energy and the environment, a leading consultant said on Apr. 20.
- EPA issues proposed endangerment finding on GHGs
  Greenhouse gases (GHGs) contribute to air pollution, which may threaten public health or welfare, the US Environmental Protection Agency said on Apr. 17.
- Watching Government: Perceptions and bad policy
  Government policymakers are often criticized for making the wrong decisions about energy.
- BMI sees ‘no clear pattern’ emerging for products market
  Analyst BMI says weaker demand for diesel in road transport use, gas oil for manufacturing and industrial applications, and falling jet fuel consumption have acted in concert “to pull the rug from under the middle distillates market.
- Watching The World: Having Al–Bashir’s back
  A nyone in the oil and gas industry who thought that Sudanese President Omar Al–Bashir would soon be out of the picture may want to think again.
- Indonesia changes rules for oil, gas cost recovery
  The Indonesian government, responding to criticism of current cost recovery procedures in the oil and gas industry, has drafted new rules that will reduce national expenditure by redefining some cost components as downstream instead of upstream.
- Global drilling spend to increase by 32% by 2013
  The global drilling market is expected to pick up by 2013 with deepwater rigs driving the growth, according to data from Douglas–Westwood Ltd. and Energyfiles.
- USGS updates Piceance basin oil shale assessments
  The US Geological Survey said western Colorado’s Piceance basin has an estimated 1.525 trillion bbl of in-place oil shale.
- First quarter US drilling plunges to 2004 levels
  US oil and gas drilling during the first quarter dropped to levels not seen since 2004, ending 6 consecutive years of year–to–year growth for the period, reported the American Petroleum Institute Apr. 15.
Exploration & Development
- Oilex group to drill in Timor Sea JPDA
  A group led by Oilex Ltd., Perth, has identified 10 prospects as potential drilling targets on Block 06–103 in the northwest corner of the Joint Petroleum Development Area in the Timor Sea between Australia and Timor–Leste.
- India seeks bids in eighth NELP licensing round
  India has invited operators to bid for 70 exploration blocks covering 163,535 sq km under its eighth New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP 8) round.
Drilling & Production
- CBM reservoir thickness affects production from horizontal wells
  A stimulation study shows the importance of considering reservoir thickness when developing low–permeability coalbed methane resources with a horizontal lateral.
Processing
- Marathon refineries employ new FCCU CO combustion promoter
  To meet objectives of a 2001 consent decree with the US Environmental Protection Agency, Marathon Petroleum Co. LLC, a subsidiary of Marathon Oil Co., agreed to decrease NOx emissions from each of its fluid catalytic cracking units at seven midwestern US refineries.
Transportation
- Gazprom pipeline gas remains key to Europe
  Europe will have to work with Gazprom to develop the supplies and transport routes to meet projected natural gas shortfalls, as increased European LNG receipts and such pipelines as the Trans–Sahara are unlikely to provide timely relief.