Feb 2011

Chinese capital to underpin drilling in Wyoming and Denver; agreement continues cash-for-expertise trend

Alberta energy minister Ron Liepert was in Europe this week doing his best to burnish the image of the sticky black substance that enriches his province’s northern muskeg

Apache and Southwestern Energy already drilling; access to US northeast provides market, but opposition to fracing is mounting

49 shale deals over $50m in Q4 2010; total shale M&A spending hits $26.9bn

Former Bloc Québécois leader to lobby for shale-gas drilling; resistance to Utica development strong

NOC hails ‘significant’ shale-gas discovery in West Bengal

A rig will be mobilised within weeks and the first two wells drilled by spring 2011

$5.4bn deal to boost Kitimat LNG export prospects; Chinese capital to speed Encana development plans

NEB approves TransCanada gas pipeline; Kitimat LNG partners increase holding in supply link

Canadian PM stresses friendly oil source; report says pipeline could help end Mideast imports

Fast-track strategy to reduce debt; focus shifting to liquids-rich plays

Chinese unconventional-gas will structurally alter LNG market; good news for EU gas markets

EPA to report on hydraulic fracturing by 2013; public comment sought

Madagascar Oil shares suspended on London’s Aim; development of 1bn-barrel Tsimiroro field under threat

Environmental impact assessment demanded by minister

10% boost in output in the fourth quarter

Huge tight-gas reserves need higher prices to make projects economic

Oil industry wins battle for influence in Alberta; international needs come to fore

ONGC Videsh and Gail mull upstream acquisitions; oil sands, shale-gas resources and technology targetted

Liquids boom prompts new midstream investments

Infrastructure lag takes shine off; US shale-gas bonanza

Well-services division boosts US player’s unconventional offering

TransCanada costs soar by $1bn

Private-equity funds support Australian drilling programme

1m acres in the Podlasie basin in the southeast of the country

North West Upgrading and Canadian Natural Resources (CNR) have agreed to provide feedstock

Polish shale find “has potential”

China's CBM reserves are the third-largest in the world

Backing dictatorships is a cynical strategy, but a policy designed to preserve the steady flow of oil from a volatile region may end up doing the opposite

The world's economy has nothing to fear from $100/b oil, says Opec secretary general Abdalla El-Badri

Encana and PetroChina have taken a huge leap towards building an energy bridge across the Pacific

BP's retreat from the US looks more certain with each passing week, a move that will reinforce its strategic shift to more prospective regions and may signal the beginning of the end of its troubles in the country. But pruning must yield new growth, especially upstream

Shell may have unveiled an almost doubling in profits, but as far as investors are concerned, the Anglo-Dutch major must try harder

IF THERE is an upside to the theft of at least €45m ($61m) of allowances that brought spot trading on the EU's carbon market to a halt, it is that the affair should bring about a more robust, rigorous system

Barack Obama is showing uncharacteristic reticence when it comes to TransCanada's plans to build a direct pipeline link from Alberta's oil sands to the Texas Gulf coast

Unrest in the Middle East and rising demand forecasts from Opec and the IEA have combined to push oil prices to their highest levels since the spike of 2008

World crude production rose by 0.5m b/d in January, to 86.2m b/d on the back of higher Opec oil and NGLs supply

A film about shale-gas fracking in the US is up for an Oscar

Anti-government protests are sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East, bringing uncertainty for oil and gas investors and markets

Prime minister Nuri al-Maliki has pledged to honour the PSAs Kurdistan struck with foreign players. The region could be on track for an oil boom

A huge gas find in Kurdistan has restarted the debate over exports

Shell agreed to sell its Stanlow, UK, refinery to India's Essar last month – the latest in a wave of refinery sales, mostly by the majors, which is set to bring the largest upheaval in European downstream in over 50 years

Predicting soaring global demand for power generation, ExxonMobil is betting on natural gas as the fuel of the future

Market fundamentals have never looked better for GTL and if Shell's Pearl plant works as expected, it will be a huge breakthrough for the industry

D-day looms as pipeline suitors jostle for Shah Deniz riches

Tentative sales agreements in place for Cheniere; Dominion a third LNG importer to plan exports

Asia and Europe hunt for cheap spot LNG volumes; more spot cargoes available later this year

LNG prices firmed this week, with more Asian buying interest keeping prices steady for spot cargoes

US LNG-import terminals are signing agreements to export North American gas, but many variables affect the economics of these potentially risky ventures

PTTEP AA, responsible for Australia's worst offshore oil spill, has got away with it. The country remains too reliant on the resources sector, writes Anthea Pitt

With a new exploration licensing round planned, Tullow Oil's tax row with the government may dampen upstream investors' appetite for Uganda, writes Ian Lewis

On the heels of Uganda's upstream success, Kenya and Tanzania are stepping up oil and gas exploration efforts

The development of 1bn-barrel Tsimiroro field under threat

President Obama's plans to green the US economy face political and financial obstacles

Opinions on the SOU, energy and the US economy from across the industry and political spectrum

The IEA expects enhanced oil-recovery to be applied to 20% of production by 2030. Shell is developing a number of new techniques to boost the flow of oil

Solar power in enhanced oil-recovery projects holds high promise, increasing oil reserves while freeing up valuable natural gas supplies

Angola is to award 11 deep-water areas, all said to have potential for pre-salt oil, in the country's first large licensing offer since 2005

Offshore Ghana has another discovery, just two months after the Jubilee field started flowing

As Cuadrilla Resources, the UK's sole active unconventional-gas developer, drills shale in the unlikely hydrocarbon region of Lancashire, the government is debating whether to stop the whole process

Big money is being bet on liquefied natural gas (LNG), with energy companies needing to spend trillions of dollars to find, extract, and ship increasing volumes to hungry markets

THE US' Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) has stepped into compatriot ConocoPhillips's shoes at Abu Dhabi's $10bn Shah sour-gas development, eight months after the major walked away

EU fuel-emissions law may bar oil-sands imports; Alberta fears EU standards will be adopted elsewhere

Pragmatism should prevail in the dispute over the controversial pipeline

Firms jostle for position in Duvernay, Exhaw/Bakken; province in line for fresh E&P bonanza

Deal makes Australian firm a big player in US gas sector; Chesapeake continues asset sales to drive down debt

Majors taking government reserves estimates seriously

Existing licensees free to continue exploration; government to reassess licensing process

Exports to new shale plays put pressure on US production

Producers weigh up costs of reaping liquids reward

Three contract workers injured and five frac tanks damaged

Results awaited from 30-40 pilot wells

Authorities to decide whether a permit is needed

Marketing deal for PetroChina’s CBM pilot project in Sanjiaobei

Only for companies that “offer the highest economic benefits”

Alberta oil-sands producers and processors and US power generators to drive rise