Lower oil and gas prices reduced profits and slowed third quarter exploration and production efforts for international integrated oil companies, but the firms also noted that higher gas sale volumes have helped offset the impact of sliding oil prices.
US crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids proved reserves all increased in 2000, with natural gas increasing a record 6% to 177,427 bcf, the US Energy Information Administration said earlier this month.
Ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed Nov. 14 to cut their oil production quotas by 1.5 million b/d by Jan. 1, 2002, but only if non-OPEC producers also reduce their combined output by 500,000 b/d so as not to infringe on the cartel's market share.
The Department of Energy at press-time was expected to unveil a unit that will coordinate homeland defense for the nation's oil and gas sector, industry sources said.
The dimming of the lights in California earlier this year has provided a salutary lesson for European lawmakers now contemplating how to introduce legislation to guarantee security of energy supplies, while at the same time liberalizing the market.
European TV viewers are seeing something new on their screens: advertising extolling the virtues of different brands of gasoline and diesel fuels. Previously, there was an acceptance within the European market that all fuels were refined to meet government-set specifications and that price, not branding, brought customers to service stations. There was no point in advertising brands.
Commercialization earlier this year of Phillips Petroleum Co.'s S Zorb sulfur-removal technology at the company's Borger, Tex., refinery represented a major step forward for the process.
Gear-driven drawworks have gained greater acceptance in the drilling industry. They achieve improved safety, optimal performance and control, considerable weight re duction, and increased reliability over chain-driven drawworks.
Worldwide demand for methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) will peak at 520,000 b/d in 2001, according to a paper presented at the 10th Annual DeWitt MTBE/Oxygenates & Methanol Conference.
Installation of wireless technology at seven storage terminals around Knoxville, Tenn., has eliminated hardwired-phone circuit problems and recurring monthly phone costs and expanded the capability of exchanging more data between terminal and pipeline that can lead to safer operations.
Global oil demand in the third quarter contracted by an estimated 750,000 b/d from the third quarter of last year, but IEA has not lowered its demand growth estimates for 2001 and 2002 at all since its October report.
My name is Charles Laser, a wildcatter who has drilled 50 wells over the past 15 years as a one-man independent in Wyoming, Montana, Michigan, and elsewhere.
