Oil & Gas Journal Articles, March 2010

Table of Contents

Regular Features

Journally Speaking

Oil market uncertainty

Incomplete information is a big problem for oil market forecasters. Couple the lack of complete data with a market that responds to factors other than supply and demand, and what are forecasters to do?

The Editor's Perspective

Study: US needs $7/gal gasoline to meet CO2 aims

Meeting goals set by the Obama administration for carbon dioxide emissions would require sharp increases in fuel prices and strict regulation, a new report says.

Market Journal

Oil futures top $80/bbl

After failing to sustain pushes above $80/bbl in four previous sessions, April crude closed at $80.87/bbl Mar. 3, up $1.19 for the day in the highest closing for a front-month contract in 7 weeks in the New York market as the euro strengthened against the US dollar.

General Interest

Editorial: The algae advance

US producers of fuel ethanol must be gritting their teeth. First, markets turned against them. Then political support began to weaken.

'Flexible factory' steadies unconventional gas work

Enhancing operational flexibility of the factory approach to unconventional-gas drilling programs can help operators lower the risk of inefficient use of capital, which some have encountered with costly results.

CERAWeek: Technology, gas key to fossil fuels future

Improving technologies and massive natural gas reserves?especially shale gas plays?will assure fossil fuels remain the dominant energy source for decades, industry speakers told CERAWeek, hosted by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

CERAWeek: Asia to dominate growing energy demand

Energy demand is shifting from the developed world to the developing world, and Asia is expected to account for much of the growing demand during the next 20 years, speakers told CERAWeek attendees on Mar. 8.

IHS Herold: Global upstream M&A activity up in 2009

The value of global upstream mergers and acquisitions jumped 40% during 2009 to just under $150 billion, IHS Herold Inc. reported Mar. 8 in its annual Global Upstream M&A Review.

Obama meets with policymakers to discuss energy

US President Barack Obama hosted 14 US senators and top administration policymakers at the White House on Mar. 9 for more than an hour to discuss prospects for comprehensive energy legislation.

Watching Government: Marcellus shale's sweet spot

Although the shale gas formation stretches across several states, the new Marcellus Shale Coalition president and executive director thinks Pennsylvania is its "sweet spot."

OSHA cites BP for alleged violations at Toledo refinery

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed more than $3 million in fines as it cited a BP North America Inc. and BP-Husky Refining LLC refinery near Toledo, Ohio, on Mar. 8 for 42 alleged willful violations of federal workplace regulations.

French workers reject Dunkirk refinery plan

Another strike threatens France's refining industry as workers at the 137,000-b/d Flanders Refinery at Dunkirk rejected a plan Total SA presented to a labor committee not to resume refining operations and to convert the site to other uses able to employ 370 with no layoffs.

OPEC revises 2010 oil outlook

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, in its latest monthly Oil Market Report, expects worldwide oil demand to grow by 900,000 b/d in 2010.

Watching The World: Shale gas battle looms in Europe

The international oil and gas industry is fast learning the importance of shale gas, and the excitement over the relatively new resource is growing?especially in Europe.

P&G: LPG will resume supply growth, expand by 2013

Global and regional economic recovery during 2010-11 will prompt global LPG supply to resume where it left off when the recession hit.

Exploration & Development

Ghana discovery list grows with Vanco-Lukoil find

Another name is added to the list of major oil and gas discoveries off Ghana as Vanco Ghana Ltd. and Lukoil Overseas Ghana Ltd. reported a gas-condensate and oil discovery at the Dzata-1 exploratory well.

Idaho's Boise basin gets exploratory drilling program

Calgary independents have spud the first well in a five-well exploratory drilling program in the Boise basin.

Several UK North Sea development plans solidify

A string of oil development and redevelopment projects was making news in the UK North Sea as 2010 began.

Technology

Special Report: LNG Update: Asia-Pacific LNG capacities, plans to move ahead in 2010

Global LNG capacities and trade moved into unfamiliar and unsettling territory in 2009-10.

Special Report: LNG Update: Panama Canal expansion will loosen LNG trade

LNG traded from Asia's current and future producers and to its burgeoning markets will likely broaden after 2014.

Special Report: LNG Update: US gas market well-supplied: LNG or shale gas?

Expanding natural gas production from indigenous sources poses the most serious threat to imports of natural gas as LNG into North America, primarily the US.

Study assesses Asia-Pacific offshore decommissioning costs

A recent study has updated decommissioning costs for offshore installations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Current Magazine

Volume 108
Issue 10
March 2010
 

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