Sep 2010

Imagine the outrage in Western capitals if it had happened in Russia. Imagine that before any due legal process had reached its course, the Kremlin had threatened the largest foreign investor in the most prospective oil province in the country with the removal of its licence to operate

Without federal direction on climate change, the US energy industry remains in legislative limbo

SHAREHOLDERS in Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (KPO), the last foreign-only consortium running a large project in Kazakhstan, will cede 10% of the project to the state

AS PART of its $30bn asset-disposal programme, BP agreed to sell 100% of the shares in its Colombian business last month

THE POLISH government may allow state-owned PKN Orlen to sell the Mazeikiai refinery as part of its strategy to revive the finances of the local unit that owns it, Orlen Lietuva

DOZENS of wind farms are in the pipeline and manufacturers are queuing up to build turbines in the UK, attracted by positive noises from the new coalition government and existing incentives

WITH a commitment to cut carbon emissions by 34% by 2020, and with little of its own money to spend, the UK government must encourage private-sector investment in low-carbon electricity generation

THE government has pulled the plug on development of a high-tech, experimental power plant that promised to be the answer to the US' quest for clean-burning, affordable, coal-based electricity

Oil prices, which topped more than $82/b earlier in August, were softening as the month moved on, amid renewed worries over the global economy, record-high stocks in the US and a dip in Chinese demand

Global oil output rose by 0.86m b/d to 85m b/d in July, as seasonal maintenance in Norway ended and Opec boosted supply

Shale gas has transformed the US energy industry. Nick Grealy thinks it is the golden ticket for the rest of the world, too. He explains why to Helen Robertson

THE US' debate over GHG emissions has become as heated as the effect of those emissions on the earth's air and oceans. Emotions have been running high as fierce advocates of both sides of the issue take their battle to the House and Senate floor

COSTS associated with BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have already risen to more than $6bn, including over $300m to compensate people and businesses adversely affected by the incident

Demand changes say the world needs fewer oil refineries, in different locations and making a different slate of products, Martin Quinlan writes

THE VOLUME of new refining capacity under construction or reasonably firmly planned worldwide represents an increase of 10% on existing capacity, Petroleum Economist's latest annual construction survey finds

MAJOR companies reported a lift in earnings in the second quarter of this year, in part because of improved refining margins

Canada's Utica shale has great potential, but there's work to be done before it can be realised

An agreement to buy more acreage in the Marcellus gives India's Reliance Industries its third slice of the US shale-gas business. It won't be the last deal involving a deep-pocketed Asian investor in North America's unconventional-energy sector

Cenovus's extensive oil-sands resources mean "decades of double-digit growth". And the firm may accelerate development through a series of partnerships – possibly with Chinese investors. Chief executive Brian Ferguson talks to Tom Nicholls

The oil sands' reputation as a high-cost and excessively carbon-intensive energy play is unjustified, says Brian Ferguson, chief executive of Canada's Cenovus Energy

An oil spill on an Enbridge pipeline in Michigan has undermined notions that Canadian oil imports provide a safer alternative to domestic US drilling, writes Derek Brower

Ecuador's uneasy relationship with foreign oil firms has again slipped towards threats and recriminations, complicating the smallest Opec nation's production outlook

E.On is weathering the economic storm, but uncertain German nuclear policy and high gas-procurement costs remain a threat to its bottom line, reports NJ Watson

Renewable energy can deliver 7% of Abu Dhabi's electricity by 2020, the emirate claims. If the plan works, it could bring a shift in power generation across the region. Miles Lang reports

Last year Russia improved the gas-pricing scheme under which it buys Central Asian gas. It's a move that now seems to have rung the death knell for the Nabucco pipeline, says Andrey Konoplyanik*

The petroleum fiscal regime in Russia is ineffective and confusing for investors. Could an economic-rent tax cut the Gordian knot, asks Zaur Muslumov, senior consultant, Palantir Solutions*

BP stopped the flow of oil from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico with its static-kill procedure on 3 August, by pumping heavy mud through the blowout preventer (BOP) and into the well

Total will go ahead with its deep-water Cravo-Lírio-Orquídea-Violéta (Clov) development, in Block 17, it said last month

MELROSE Resources says it could bring offshore gas production on stream as early as October after making three discoveries in Bulgaria's Black Sea waters, off the Kaliakra Cape. The finds could supply up to 20% of the country's gas needs in coming years

ECOPETROL is pushing ahead with plans to plough $80bn into its operations in 2011-20

Several of the world's largest oil and gas producers are extending their reach into the deep-water Canadian Beaufort Sea

GLOBAL upstream mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in second-quarter (Q2) was up by 21% compared with Q1, and 13% higher than in Q2 2009, lead by North American deals

Shale gas has transformed the US energy industry. It is the golden ticket, says Nick Grealy

Medco Energi and its partner CBM Asia are preparing to start a coal-bed methane (CBM) exploration programme in Indonesia

PGNiG hopes to team up with a US operator to explore for shale gas in Poland and says it will sign an agreement in October

Talon Energy is buying a 30% share in Tlou Energy's unconventional-gas acreage in Botswana

Sumitomo will pay Rex Energy $140m for a 30% stake in its shale-gas play in Pennsylvania and the Japanese trading company plans to invest $1.2bn in the project over the next 10 years

The Piceance basin holds 1.5 trillion barrels of oil shale, but technological hurdles will need to be jumped before they can be developed commercially

An environmental impact study into drilling the Utica Shale has been launched, but Greenpeace says it's not enough

India's Reliance Industries, which has already made three shale-gas purchases in the US this year, may try to buy Texas's EOG Resources, or another North American gas specialist as it seeks to expand its position in the continent's unconventional-energy sector, according to a report from India

The US unconventional oil and gas sector remains a hotbed of M&A activity

Canada's unconventional oil and gas sector remains fertile ground for acquisitive energy firms

Natural gas can displace coal and slash global emissions, but governments must enact new policies to support the market, according to Shell's chief executive, Peter Voser

A series of problems on pipelines taking crude from Canada's oil sands to the US is causing problems for oil-sands producers

Total, Devon and Cenovus have won approval to develop new oil-sands projects

Jordan has vast oil-shale reserves that could be in production within seven years. They would transform the outlook for an energy-import- dependent nation, writes Helen Robertson

Technology is turning the Pembina Cardium formation into a rival for Saskatchewan's Bakken play

Estonia's Enefit says it can develop oil shale cleanly and economically in Jordan and in the US

Power in global oil markets doesn't rest in Ottawa or Calgary, but in Riyadh and Vienna – the headquarters of Opec

The Arctic Circle holds a quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. But environmental opposition, tough operating conditions and territorial disputes will hinder production growth

There are more than 100 outstanding teritorial claims in the Arctic region, which could take decades to resolve

Gazprom's grip on Russia's gas market is loosening, but liberalisation will be a slow process, writes Tom Nicholls

Russian gas prices rose by 34% in the first quarter of 2010, helping Gazprom more than triple its net profit for the three-month period.

Nord Stream plans to raise €2.5bn ($3.3bn) by the end of the year and has already been approached by several banks, although it has yet to send out tender documents, writes Tom Nicholls

For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia is bringing large new oilfields on stream, boosting production to record highs. But plans to increase oil taxation are clouding the prospects for growth

Turkmenistan is broadening its upstream options, renewing efforts to diversify gas-export routes and drawing in US firms

Having demonstrated the viability of tanker exports to the Pacific around Russia's Arctic coast, Novatek should reap the rewards at the Yamal LNG project, writes NJ Watson

Fears of an economic relapse should stop Opec from changing its oil production quotas at next month's meeting, writes Tom Nicholls

Middle East oil producers have proved time and again they have the capital, know-how and political will to be leaders of the global industry, writes Bill Farren-Price

By ring-fencing its oil sector from royal influence, Saudi Arabia has minted a successful template for resource-rich NOCs, writes James Gavin

The insulation of Saudi Arabia's energy sector from royal politics stands in contrast to other areas of economic life

Saudi Aramco has called for "complete and rational assessment" of alternative energy sources as it outlines plans for boosting its own oil and gas reserves

Deep-water specialist Petrobras is now further under the Brazilian government's control, after a high-cost purchase of new oil reserves

Ecopetrol is experiencing a renaissance as it grabs the revival of Colombia's oil sector with both hands

Gas should start flowing from new fields in the northern Norwegian Sea in 2016 – but, disappointing those who wanted a new export system, it will be transported to markets through existing pipelines, Martin Quinlan writes

Statoil CEO Helge Lund talks to Miles Lang about the effects of the US Gulf oil spill on the global deep-water industry, gas's leading role in a low-carbon future and wind-power economics

Exploration in east Africa is gathering pace as the region's first offshore oil and gas discoveries prompt a new wave of interest

Tullow Oil has taken stakes in Kenyan and Ethiopian exploration acreage, undeterred by problems surrounding its Ugandan discoveries

The US unconventional oil and gas sector remains a hotbed of M&A activity. Anne Feltus pinpoints the next targets

Jordan has vast oil-shale reserves that could be in production within seven years

The US' oil-shale resources are potentially vast, but tapping them could be a problem

Halliburton and Transocean, the two contractors involved in BP's calamitous Macondo well – which was finally sealed on 19 September – reacted hard and fast after the major cited them for operational breaches contributing to the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) disaster

The US oil and gas industry's leading trade association has launched a powerful campaign aimed at mobilising Americans to oppose legislation it says would hinder economic growth, cost jobs and erode energy security

THE UK's offshore safety culture is robust and there is no reason to halt drilling operations in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil spill, industry body Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) has told a parliamentary investigation

The argument over whether it is thieves and saboteurs, or oil companies that are mainly to blame for oil-spill damage in the Niger Delta is threatening progress in cleaning up the region

Appraisal of Tullow Oil's recent Owo discovery has confirmed it to be a substantial oil and condensate field, with strong prospects for following Jubilee and Tweneboa to become Ghana's third stand-alone development

THE IMAGE of Ghana's nascent oil industry is at risk from a lack of clarity over energy policy and ExxonMobil's messy, drawn-out failure to buy Kosmos's assets

Spain's Repsol is hoping to export the pre-salt imaging technology it has honed in Brazil to similar plays in west Africa, preferably by acquiring stakes in new acreage in the region

CONSOLIDATION of the US power sector has accelerated at lightning speed

NATURAL gas can displace coal and slash global emissions, but governments must enact new policies to support the market, according to Shell's chief executive, Peter Voser

The tussle between the EU and Russia over control of piped natural gas supplies to Europe is reaching a head. In early September, the EU-backed Nabucco gas-pipeline project received a boost from international lenders; but a few days earlier, Russia moved to secure for itself gas supplies crucial to Nabucco's viability

THE GOVERNMENT in Baghdad has rejected a deal between the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Germany's RWE that would have allowed for exports of gas to Europe

German opposition to an €80m ($102m) EU subsidy for the planned Polskie LNG import terminal could delay the project for three years, leaving Poland reliant on Russian gas until 2017

DEMAND for natural gas in Europe will begin growing steadily again in 2012-14 as coal-fired electricity-generating capacity is replaced with gas-fired plants, says GDF Suez. But the market will tighten as supplies begin to hit a plateau, or drop

Despite holding close to Opec's $75/b target, oil prices have weakened as fears of further economic turmoil and burgeoning inventories continue to hang over the market

Global oil production fell by 250,000 b/d month-on-month to 84.6m b/d in August, mainly because of lower non-Opec output, which slipped by 0.2m b/d to 52.4m b/d, says the IEA

At 50, Opec has mellowed. But remains a formidable geopolitical force, writes Tom Nicholls

Ezra Levant's book on the oil sands is a passionate defence of Alberta's massive resource. But his polemic isn't entirely successful