May 2011

Manufacturers have been keen to promote the latest breakthroughs in electric-vehicle technology in recent months

Crude prices volatile of fears of supply disruption; LNG takers face no serious threat

Tight labour market hits drilling sector as depths and costs soar

Asia critical for Horn River and Montney; players call for eastern gas-export route

Spot prices steady; Japanese needs still unclear; Europe awash with gas

Total is mooring its new floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel over the Pazflor field, in readiness for start-up of the field using the world’s first field-lifetime subsea-separation facilities

Deal will bring fracing know-how to Poland

Canada’s oil and gas industry breathes a sigh of relief as Harper is returned with a majority government

Representatives of the US offshore industry are demanding that the Obama administration lift political obstacles to exploration

Statoil’s Skrugard oil discovery could see the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea shake off its reputation as the dry-hole capital of the world

International Contact Group set to siphon Qadhafi funds to TNC

With the use of diesel in the fracing process under fire, the EPA is revising its position

Oil prices fell after US government data showed crude stocks increased by 3.4 million barrels

Price rises spurred by shale output and fuel switching

Supermajor U-turn boosts shale-gas portfolio

The deal is worth more than $1 billion

Crude oil plunged yesterday, recording its biggest loss for two years, with an influential US job report, due out later this afternoon, likely to extend the drop

Meeting the world’s energy demand in the years to come will require huge investment and technology innovation – and lots of oil and gas

Potential of trillions of cubic feet of reserves

Canada's National Energy Board says the Horn River ranks third among North American shale-gas deposits

The majority of Qatargas's liquefied natural gas (LNG) currently going to Europe could be diverted to other destinations - if the price is right, the world's largest producer said on Monday

Chavez boosts state's take from the oil patch

US oil executives are preparing for a face-off with the Senate finance committee on Thursday as lawmakers called on the industry to defend tax breaks worth an estimated $4 billion a year, even as consumers face rising gasoline prices

Opposition to the UK’s controversial decision to increase taxes on the country’s energy industry has gained pace

Spot LNG prices increased over the past week in Asia amid suspended nuclear operations

Misla and Sarir shut in "indefinitely"; Insurgents claim Qadhafi busting sanctions

European spot and oil-linked gas prices are likely to remain close to one another in the next two years as buyers that bought too little gas under long-term contracts are being forced to dip into the spot market to plug the demand gap, Gazprom’s head of pricing, Sergei Komlev said

The cheapest most effective way to cut emissions; fracing safe

Resources the 'third largest in North America'

Around 500 barrels of crude estimated to have been spilt

Patagonian probes tap millions of barrels

Minister hails “huge shale-gas potential”

Japan banking on BC LNG exports

Ban not good enough say environmentalists

Chemical components in hydraulic fracturing fluids must be named

Canada has staked its future on the dirtiest of oils

'Encouraging' signs, but not quite a breakthrough

Double drubbing in the space of a week for prices

A little-noticed deal and unannounced visit to Canada’s northern frontier have added weight to what might otherwise have been viewed as a long-shot – liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Asia

Abu Dhabi National Energy (Taqa) started selling long-term storage capacity at the Bergermeer gas storage facility, in the Netherlands, this week, a company executive told the Flame gas conference

With Norway’s oil output set to decline, finds such as Skrugard are vital to Statoil, but so is more risky overseas expansion

Reality is slowly dawning in Iraq of the implausibility of meeting even half of the 12 million barrels a day (b/d) of oil production the country is targeting by 2017

Shale-gas development has transformed the North American gas market, slashing US liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports again last year

Western Libya crude output halted; Regime seeking trade

Offshore operators must embrace a new approach to insurance in an increasingly complex and costly market

Next month’s Opec meeting in Vienna is shaping up to be a humdinger

BP will continue talks with Rosneft despite missing the deadline

Libya's rebel Transitional National Council (TNC) will not welcome Shokri Ghanem into the rebel east, despite his defection from Muammar Qadhafi’s regime, a source inside the TNC told Petroleum Economist today

Italian and Turkish fuel is still being shipped to government-controlled western Libya, providing Muammar Qadhafi's regime with fuel to sustain its war effort against rebels in the east

Harper’s vision for the Canadian energy sector faces its sternest test

BP's senior management, especially chief executive Robert Dudley, won’t be enjoying the headlines in today’s newspapers

Shokri Ghanem, the latest high-profile defector from Muammar Qadhafi’s regime, has left Tunisia and is believed to be heading for Dubai, Petroleum Economist has learned

Poland pre-empts EU shale-drilling ban, as Total enters the play

Anticlinal Campamento field yields 7 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas

Osum and Laricina see production from carbonates in 2013-14

The company is aiming for 80,000 barrels a day (b/d) of in-situ heavy-oil

Unnamed buyer will pick up assets for $575 million

Burgeoning oil-sands supplies have run into insufficient refining and pipeline capacity, depressing the price of Canadian crude. Solutions are on the horizon, but heavy discounts will persist

Northwest Europe has imported record amounts of LNG, but the prices can't beat pipeline gas

Due to nuclear shutdowns, Japan started buying cargoes from South America for the first time

Russia’s first direct gas link to the EU is in place, promising to meet around 10% of the bloc’s gas demand from next year

Pressure increases to stop lifting of Ras Lanuf crude cargo; Ghanem in Vienna; TNC "to attend Opec meeting"

The government says industry will enhance international reputation

With Canada’s new government looking to increased trade with Asia, upstream investment will driven by China

Denali joint-venture between BP and ConocoPhillips is scrapped

More than 100,000 barrels a day (b/d) off stream

Concession totals 74,000 acres in the East Bahariya field, in western Egypt

Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) gives out fines totalling $1.1 million

Supply gap leaves prices at $112 a barrel on 19 May

Services companies are looking to streamline their shale operations and green their processes

Interest in floating LNG liquefaction and regasification has grown substantially within the last year, a trend that is likely to continue over the next seven years. By Lucy Miller and Ian Jones*

The world's first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) production plant was approved by Shell today

Shell expects to take a final investment decision on its Prelude FLNG project this year. It would be a first for the industry, unlocking valuable stranded gas resources

German oil producer Wintershall hopes that fungi could help it boost its crude production by as much as 45%

Yemen was riven with political strife long before the Arab Spring lapped up on the country’s shores

Germany's Wintershall is set to boost its gas output from western Siberia as it looks for ways to offset challenging domestic production conditions

Gas pipelines and LNG prepare to battle for market supremacy in Europe

The rise in UK supplementary charge will squeeze the upstream industry, threatening to precipitate its decline

What does Japan’s energy picture look like in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami?

Indian megadeals and North American Shales lead M&A activity

Widening price gap pulls spot cargoes to Asia from Atlantic basin

Crude prices crashed in early May after a raft of bad economic data and automatic trading algorithms sparked a sell-off

Global oil supply dipped to 85.1 million barrels a day in April

Stifling Qadhafi’s fuel supplies might end the war. But, with the country’s political structures and its economy virtually destroyed, what comes after?

Fuel efficiency and environmental concerns are driving change in the transport sector. Helen Robertson reports from this year’s Michelin Challenge Bibendum in Berlin

Christophe de Margerie claims the resource is a factor in world prices

Big potential for unconventional reservoirs

Unconventional gas development planned British Columbia (BC) and Alberta

Department of Energy approves Sabine Pass terminal modifications

Canadian leader loads cabinet with veterans as economic plan unveiled

House Republicans, unions, and industry associations are pressuring the government

Could match shale gas effect on commodities prices

Bans risk losing chance to revolutionise gas-supply market

Parliament does not find evidence of water contamination risk

Mainly bearish US inventory report is outweighed

Building work at Santos’s started Gladstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) has begun in Queensland, Australia

Other power-hungry countries unlikely to follow German reactor decision