Apr 2005

It might seem odd that the global champion of the free market would be hostile about a developing country pursuing that goal, but the US government has expressed disquiet at the news that Georgia plans to privatise its gas pipeline network. NJ Watson reports

Flushed with Cairn Energy's success, the firm's exploration director, Mike Watts, takes great enjoyment at industry conferences in putting up a map of Southeast Asia showing the huge number of wells drilled across the region by the biggest seven oil companies in the world. The red dots outside India total 8,000. Inside the country? Well, it's somewhat fewer – 12. Steve Hawkes reports.

February saw the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol and the delivery of EU emissions allowances into national registries, paving the way for the first spot trades in the CO2 market. Liz Bossley talks to some of the executive committee members of LCCS about the development of emissions trading

State-owned energy companies have oil and gas reserves and, increasingly, their own technology and funds for producing them. What does big oil have? Tom Nicholls writes

Once again, predictions of the demise of the North Sea oil and gas province have been proved wrong. The statistics for 2004 show a mostly mature, but busy area, with high oil prices supporting incremental developments at older fields and a number of new-field developments. Increasingly, projects are being led by the new breed of specialist operator, Martin Quinlan writes

Nuclear energy is re-establishing its credentials, as proponents emphasise its capacity to provide baseload electricity without exacerbating global warming. Technological advances and fears over future energy supply are steeling governments to reconsider decommissioning programmes and to give the green light to new construction. James Gavin reports

The Science may make sense, but plans for new nuclear plant capacity could yet be thwarted by difficult economics. Investor caution remains the order of the day, as prohibitive capital-investment costs and hefty decommissioning expenses run into tens of billions of dollars, James Gavin writes.

The US Energy Information Agency (EIA) expects domestic gas production to reach 20.5 trillion cubic feet (cf) by 2010, well below the 26.2 trillion cf demand it forecasts for the same year. As the US increasingly turns to imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) to help close the supply/demand gap, energy companies have revealed plans to construct more than 40 facilities to store and regasify LNG, writes Anne Feltus

The award-winning Submerged Turret Loading Buoy system, developed by Norway's APL, is being put to the test on the world's first offshore LNG terminal in the US Gulf of Mexico. Martin Clark reports

AGR Subsea, a Norwegian company, has developed technology that allows for drilling fluid, or mud, used in subsea wells to be returned to the rig without the use of a riser. The technology offers an environmentally friendly alternative to leaving the mud on the seafloor, a common practice known as pump and dump, Anne Feltus reports

The eerie depths of the Atlantic were the making of the SpiderBOT Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), which achieved international fame for its high-resolution film documentation of the Titanic. Now, this innovative technology used in Hollywood is available to help oil and gas firms in their deep-sea exploration work, writes Martin Clark

A raft of new LNG deals is set to maintain Qatar's gas-expansion momentum. As the majors look to Qatar to shore up their reserve bases, Qatar Petroleum is now the partner of choice. James Gavin reports from Doha

Two deals – the purchase of North Sea assets from BP in 2000 and last year's take-over of Energy Africa – have changed perceptions about Tullow Oil in both the industry and the City. Aidan Heavey, the company's chief executive, talks to Steve Hawkes

A temporary break in electoral activity has not brought about the expected revival in oil sector investment. Instead, capital spending has slipped, while the government's ambivalent relationship with foreign companies has led to clashes with investors and delays in approving new projects, reports Robert Olson

Canada: TransCanada enters crude-export race

The country's rapid emergence as a 400,000 b/d oil exporter will be crowned when it becomes the African continent's fourth substantial LNG exporter, in just over two years. But the country's offshore attractions are still tainted by alleged government corruption and mismanagement of oil wealth, Martin Quinlan writes