Oct 2004

The lure of offshore west Africa has seen signature-bonus payments scale record highs as the industry scrambles for the rights to newly released deep-water exploration acreage, writes Martin Clark

Japan: Downstream business consolidates

North America's coal-bed methane (CBM) industry is shifting its gaze to the immense resources in Alaska, Alberta and British Columbia, while regulators grapple with the complexities of allowing full-scale commercial development in these areas, writes WJ Simpson

After being repeatedly rebuffed by Russia in its attempts to secure much-needed energy supplies, China has turned its attention to Central Asia, with the signing of a 10m t/y crude pipeline agreement between CNPC and Kazakhstan's KazMunaiGaz. NJ Watson reports

The US' attempts to secure export routes for Caspian oil are suffering. The BTC pipeline has been put in jeopardy by skirmishes in South Ossetia and by environmental obstacles, while Ukraine has decided to reverse the flow of the Odessa-Brody pipeline. NJ Watson reports

Russia's attempts to re-exert its dominance over the former republics of the Soviet Union have, for the most part, been unsuccessful. However, a deal struck with Ukraine, on 26 July, establishing a new company to take over the purchasing and transporting of Turkmenistani gas to Ukraine has given Moscow control over gas flows out of the country for the foreseeable future. Foreign firms have been left to fight over Turkmenistan's more modest oil resources. NJ Watson reports

The importance of coal as a primary energy source is unlikely to diminish in the near future, but some of the environmental stigma attached to it might, as new clean-coal technologies seek to bring emission levels tumbling. Martin Clark reports

Spot coal prices in the Atlantic and Pacific markets have continued to rise this year, a pattern that began in 2003 and shows few signs of abating. Driven by infrastructure constraints in Australia and South Africa, and pressured by uncertainty surrounding China's future exports, supply dynamics are on the move again, writes Katherine Demopoulos

Strong currents in the Gulf of Mexico are a hazard for operators and can result in nasty increases to project costs. With exploration moving increasingly into deep-water areas that seem more prone to eddies, oil firms are eager to find ways of predicting where they will move and when. Anne Feltus writes

The recent first oil from ExxonMobil's Kizomba A development in Angola's deep waters is also the first flow through a tension-leg platform in the Gulf of Guinea, and another such platform is under construction. The firm's unusual hybrid development scheme has challenged the supremacy of ship-based production facilities in the area, Martin Quinlan writes

Deep-water prospects are dominated by Angola, Brazil, Nigeria and the US Gulf of Mexico. But Mexico has similar potential, and Egypt and Australia may have comparable gas reserves, writes Cris Heaton

The reserves are there and the desire is there, yet unlocking the potential of Nigeria's hydrocarbons-rich deep-water acreage appears fraught with difficulty, writes Martin Clark

After some poor exploration results and disappointing levels of interest in recent licensing rounds, the deep-water-focused 18th round seems to have rekindled interest in the Norwegian offshore, writes Cris Heaton

The main obstacle facing scientists and engineers at Brazil's Petrobras is designing risers to connect the bottom of the ocean to floating production platforms as upstream operations push into water depths approaching 3,000 metres, says Jacques Braile Saliés, manager of Procap-3000. Tom Nicholls reports

Southeast Asia has not been the most popular deep-water region, for a number of reasons, including uncompetitive fiscal terms, uncertain prospectivity and long-running territorial disputes. But after strong exploration results in recent years, a few basins look increasingly attractive, writes Cris Heaton

While rising oil prices have been grabbing the headlines, the cost of shipping oil has also been increasing sharply. Liz Bossley examines escalating costs and volatility in the tanker market and looks at the largely ignored shipping data that tracks vessels and accounts for the rising price trend

The last few years have been tough for Invensys, one of the last remaining conglomerates. Its response was a restructuring, the sale of numerous non-core companies and a £2.7bn ($4.8bn) refinancing. Derek Bamber talks to Rick Haythornthwaite, the CEO appointed to manage the company through the legacy issues of its past

Warnings from Yukos that it is running out of cash to support its 85m t/y of production has added to turbulence on world markets. Oil-hungry China, counting on the Russian major to feed it growing volumes of oil by railway, has more reason than most to be concerned by the deepening crisis at Yukos, writes Isabel Gorst

In the most important presentation of his life, the Royal Dutch/Shell chairman, Jeroen van der Veer, detailed plans for a $10bn-12bn disposal drive last month, which he hopes will transform the size and shape of Shell's business, Steve Hawkes writes

E&P expenditure is not keeping pace with robust oil prices, with the majors preferring to plough income back to their shareholders. Unless some new elephant fields emerge, capex will remain tight, reports James Gavin

The president is still on the campaign trail and that means the oil industry is as well. Until regional elections are held, deals are on hold and social-spending commitments are being forced on the industry, writes Robert Olsen

International boundary disputes can have a massive impact upon all forms of cross-border energy sector projects.

Could this be a wake-up call for the industry?

The Australian MRET scheme has delivered on its promises if not its potential.

How is it possible to use emissions trading compliance to achieve competitive advantage?

How is the EU open market working? Some would say not all that well.

Setting appropriate credit limits should be a key goal for risk managers in energy trading. To this end, a uniform approach to credit assessment is required.

The Russian Federation looks set to sign-up to the Kyoto Protocol, but the move will be felt much further afield. What are the implications for the European power sector?

Centrica has been lambasted in the media for changing tack, selling its none core assets and concentrating on home services. It plans to do the same in the US

Vietnam’s warming relations with the West has opened the doors to investment in this rapidly growing Asian economy.

Generating capacity in the East African countries of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda has long been restrained by a lack of investment.

Could the trades unions be indirectly calling the shots on energy policy?

Power Economics looks at the challenges faced by distribution network businesses