Regular Features
- OGJ Newsletter
  - OGJ Newsletter
- Letters
  - Hydrogen and thermodynamics
    I daresay that, even as readers of this petroleum-oriented journal, most of us would like to see hydrogen become an economically viable transportation fuel that could supplement traditional automotive fuels.
- Journally Speaking
  - Driving habits transformed
    A recent Gallup poll entitled “Despite Cheaper Gas, New Driving Habits Sticking” caught this editor’s eye.
- Services/Suppliers
  Tulsa, has announced a series of key executive appointments. They are part of a major expansion of the company that includes a 28% overall increase in staff and a relocation to new offices in Tulsa that nearly doubles its square footage.
- Equip/Software/Lit
  - Equipment/Software/Literature
    Here’s an explosionproof-flameproof certified version of the Micro Motion 7835 custody transfer density meter.
- Advertisers Index
- Editor's Perspective
  - In Russia-Ukraine gas row, everyone loses something
    The new gas-price showdown between Russia and Ukraine is a complex affair in which all parties lose.
- Market Journal
  - Market rally remains ‘elusive’
    A sustained rally in oil and gas commodity prices “will be elusive” as markets search for a self-supporting recovery and a reduction in asset market volatility into 2010, predicted Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist, Deutsche Bank, Washington, DC, in his first report of the new year.
General Interest
- Editorial: Congress lurching leftward
  Concern about a disintegrating economy hasn’t daunted lawmakers who seem determined to force up the costs of energy.
- Special Report: Economic slump to suppress US, worldwide oil use in 2009
  US energy demand this year will shrink along with the economy, but total use of all forms of energy will decline by a smaller margin than during 2008.
- Special Report: Fewer wells to be drilled in US, Canada in 2009
  Drilling in the US is declining in response to the 2008 oil and gas price collapse and financial crisis in the US, and further drops are expected in the US and Canada in 2009.
- Mulva: US should pursue comprehensive energy strategy
  Broader economic problems should not keep the US from pursuing comprehensive energy and environmental strategies, according to ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Officer James J. Mulva.
- Watching Government: GAO report sees duplications
  The US Department of Energy should formally assess whether its oil and gas research and development projects would not have occurred without federal funding, the Government Accountability Office has recommended in a new report.
- Appeals court backs earlier Kerr-McGee deepwater ruling
  A federal appeals court affirmed on Jan. 12 a US district court’s ruling that Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp. should not have to pay royalties on eight Gulf of Mexico deepwater leases from 1996 to 2000 despite price thresholds imposed by the US Department of the Interior.
- Watching The World: Panama popping with possibility
  Panama has been out of the news for a while, but the oil and gas industry has plans for the place, and those plans are moving ahead smartly.
- INGAA: Wider economic pressures could hamper gas pipeline financing
  While US natural gas pipelines remain financially strong, broader economic conditions could challenge their ability to raise money to expand and maintain their systems, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America warned on Jan. 14.
- Petrobras keeping 5-year plan under wraps
  The long-awaited 5-year strategic plan spanning 2009-13 for Brazil’s Petroleo Brasilerio SA (Petrobras)—already delayed several times—will be assessed by the company’s board at the end of January, according to Paulo Roberto Costa, downstream director.
- NOIA, other trade groups voice support for leasing off Virginia
  The National Ocean Industries Association and seven other industry trade groups issued a statement supporting the US Mineral Management Service’s formal solicitation of comments about leasing off Virginia.
- Costs rise despite economic slowdown, analysts say
  Despite the global recession, construction costs for upstream oil and gas facilities have reached a record high, as have those for the design and construction of refining and petrochemical projects, say IHS Inc. and Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) in their most recent upstream capital costs index (UCCI) and downstream capital costs index (DCCI).
- USAEE: US economic growth likely to be slight in 2009
  The faltering economy and its effects on oil and gas production were among the main topics discussed at the December North American conference of the US Association for Energy Economics in New Orleans.
- BMI: Indonesian oil production decline to continue
  Indonesia will see a 17.5% decline in oil production by 2018, with the country’s crude volumes falling steadily to 800,000 b/d, according to the most recent Indonesia Oil and Gas Report from analyst BMI.
Exploration & Development
- IRAQ’S E&D FUTURE—1: Iraq’s oil prospects face political impediments
  Iraq’s proved reserves of 115 billion bbl are housed in some 80 oil fields (Fig. 1).
- Discoveries boost output on Fell Block in Chile
  GeoPark Holdings Ltd., Buenos Aires, said it is completing its $57 million 2008 capital program on the 440,000-acre Fell Block in southern Chile’s Austral basin.
Drilling & Production
- CNX Gas drills record Marcellus shale well
  Pittsburgh-based CNX Gas Corp., an exploration and production company that has drilled hundreds of coalbed-methane wells in the Appalachian basin, drilled its first horizontal Marcellus shale wells in Pennsylvania in 2008.
- OIL SHALE—1: US, world possess rich resource base
  Oil shale contains a massive energy resource that potentially can contribute greatly to the world’s energy supply.
Processing
- Report updates Iran’s refinery project status
  Iran has announced many refining and upgrading projects to increase the supply of transportation fuels. Many of these projects, however, will not proceed due to lack of funding.
Transportation
- Conversion, scrapping keep rates firm as demand erodes
  Tanker market earnings for the half-year ended September 2008 firmed 43.7%, accelerating the strength seen in the previous 6 months.