Oct 2011

Waha complex to be ready within two months, 1 million b/d due on stream by March and the Zawiyah refinery is now on line

Qatar’s RasGas is planning further maintenance at its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facilities in March and October next year, but traders do not expect a huge market reaction because of the timing of the shut-downs

The NTC is struggling to control factional differences within the country. Will it be able to govern with authority?

Russ Girling says rejection of Keystone would increase US reliance on offshore oil

TransCanada president Russ Girling talks exclusively to PEU about the Keystone XL pipeline and why it must be built

Decision would increase US reliance on foreign oil and emissions, says CEO

The first exploration well drilled off Sri Lanka for more than 30 years hit a gasfield in the Mannar basin, raising hopes that the country could establish a hydrocarbons sector

Turkey’s Botas has not renewed a 6 billion cubic metres a year (cm/y) gas contract with Gazprom, saying the price the Russian gas monopoly demanded was too high

Exports have diversified by 30% over the past decade

Natural gas up to 30% cheaper than gasoline or diesel, produces 30% less carbon dioxide

Companies using hydraulic fracturing (fracking) banned

Rush for gas reserves for Queensland’s CBM-to-LNG projects "may triple Australian gas prices"

Kuwait will import up to 42% more liquefied natural gas (LNG) this year as it extends its buying period by a month into November

Tullow Oil has proved an extension to its Enyenra field and is close to a declaration of commerciality for Enyenra and Tweneboa, which will be brought on stream together as Ghana’s second production development

Sixth well in exploration campaign in Queensland

Coal miner Semirara unveils plans for a 7 megawatt unit

Decade to exploit huge shale-gas potential says Gail head

Karak International Oil has approval to start work on $1.8 billion project

Symbolic attempt to ban oil-sands crude from Europe sparks trans-Atlantic war of words

Brent at $103 a barrel in London on 6 October, while WTI was at $80/b

Areas from northeast England down southeast coast up for grabs

The swift resumption and return to pre-war levels of oil production will be crucial to the success of a new Libya. A transparent oil and gas framework is vital

With a new premier in place, Alberta’s political landscape is in flux; meanwhile, Keystone XL weighs in Washington

Leaked report provides updates on oil production from the all the country's fields; output nearing 370,000 b/d

Having raised its gas-resource estimate for Mozambique’s Area 1, the northernmost offshore block, Anadarko is targeting exports through a 10 million tonnes a year liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant

"Don't gas our water!" say street demonstrators

Eni is primed to pump 40,000 barrels a day of oil offshore Timor Leste, after starting production from its Kitan oilfield in the Timor Sea

Libyan oil production will hit 1 million barrels a day (b/d) in six months, and reach pre-war levels in less than 15, said Opec secretary general Abdalla El-Badri on Tuesday

Daniel Yergin’s The Quest provides the comprehensive story of energy, its politics and its problems. It’s an optimistic book in a pessimistic age

Overseas expansion and ambitious oil-production targets require huge investment from Russia’s national oil company, but can it afford it?

Petrobras chief executive Jose Sergio Gabrielli shrugged off talk that global economic uncertainty could derail the company’s ambitious plans to develop Brazil’s pre-salt play, saying the slowdown in the Brazilian firm’s investment programme had nothing to do with macroeconomics

PetroFrontier drills its first horizontal well in Lower Arthur Creek shale formation

Up to 24 trillion cubic feet (cf) of recoverable gas resources

Plan to extract 4.2 million tonnes a year from the Uus-Kiviõli oil-shale field

Government is also considering offering pricing and other incentives

Regulatory concerns and infrastructure issues must be overcome if European shale-gas output is to reach 35 billion cm by 2020

A southwest extension at the BP-operated Clair field has boosted its initial in-place resources to more than 7 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe)

Russia’s only liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility will boost output beyond nameplate capacity to meet rising demand in a tight market, plant operator Sakhalin Energy said

Australia has enough gas reserves to overtake Qatar as the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer, according to Santos

China plays the long game in its quest for overseas oil and gas assets, and experience

Gas-processing plant purchase part of larger Asia export plan

IEA says it sees "indications of weaker demand" in some markets

The restart of the Greenstream pipeline to Italy will flood an already oversupplied European gas market. Gas prices look set to drop

Alison Redford surprises with appointment of rival Ted Morton to energy portfolio

Contentious trans-Caspian gas pipeline will be built; Shah Deniz gas will be transported through Nabucco; managing director Reinhard Mitschek talks to Kwok W Wan

Developing a successful unconventional gas industry in Poland can be achieved only with the help of experienced North American operators

20-year licence allows Kitimat LNG to ship 10 million tonnes a year

NGLs production from Alberta’s Deep Basin will receive a boost from Encana, as it strives to move higher up the processing value chain

Firm suing DERM CEOs for negligence and breach of statutory duties

There is little petroleum data available for Mongolia, but there is a potentially big upside for adventurous companies willing to take a risk

The world must invest $38 trillion in oil, gas and electricity infrastructure over the next 25 years to stop prices from soaring, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today. And about half of that will need to be spent in the power sector

Up to 180 billion cubic metres in 13 unconventional-gas deposits in Gran Enara

Acquisition of midstream and upstream independent El Paso creates $94 billion company

Deal worth $4.4 billion gives control of 375,000 net acres in the Williston basin

Vladimir Putin’s inevitable return to the top of Russian politics will not alter the country’s energy policy, deputy energy minister Anatoly Yanovsky told yesterday’s International Energy Agency (IEA) ministerial meeting

Japan is readying to restart its first nuclear reactors since March’s devastating earthquake, according the economy minister Yukio Edano

Spain will continue to rely on coal to back up its huge renewable energy programme, although linking the country’s electricity grid to France will also help, the Spanish government said

Tests indicate gas in place volumes of up to 20 billion cubic feet

The rush to drill unconventional wells in North America’s shale basins helped push Halliburton’s third-quarter profits to record levels and bodes well for the oilfield services and supply sector

Canada’s top chief executive, Enbridge’s Pat Daniel, prepares for battle over Northern Gateway – a vital national economic interest

Petišovci concession could hold 412 billion cubic feet of gas in place

The resource curse is not inevitable. What’s needed is transparency and accountability, say Gavin Hayman and Giulio Carini of Global Witness*

Brent trades at $108 a barrel after falling by almost $5/b earlier in the week

Shell Canada has reportedly bought land on Canada’s west coast for a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, the country’s third export outlet for growing volumes of unconventional gas

Encana, Canada’s largest natural gas producer, posted sharply lower third quarter profits this week, a result of foreign exchange losses rather than low gas prices

The dictator's death ends the war in Libya. Can the NTC now govern with authority?

The project has evolved into a clumsy, expensive solution to a problem the market is already solving

Oil prices tracked global debt-contagion fears throughout October, as weak US economic data and lowered demand forecasts helped to depress prices

Global oil production fell after decreased Opec output

The oilfield stretching between Lundin’s Avaldsnes and Statoil’s Aldous finds is on course to become Norway’s largest – yet the discovery lies in the North Sea’s mature Utsira High area, drilled-over for 45 years

The swift recovery of oil production defies outsiders’ expectations

The goal of achieving a global CO2 emissions-reduction target remains a distant prospect as the world gathers in Durban

Financing is flooding back into the renewable-energy sector, boosted by falling equipment prices

Kazakhstan’s KazMunaiGaz Exploration Production (KMG EP) is sitting on a large cash pile and looking for ways to spend it

UK group signs purchase agreement with Cheniere; US looks set for large-scale LNG exports

Estimates of North American oil-shale reserves keep climbing, with the US Geological Survey (USGS) claiming Wyoming’s Green River could hold as much as 1.45 trillion barrels

The US Geological Survey claim huge shale gas resources discovered in Uruguay could transform the oil dependent nation

In an effort to overcome one of the biggest obstacles facing Australia’s coal-bed methane (CBM) industry, QGC is trialling the commercial viability of converting CBM brine into saleable products

The US and Japan will head to Alaska’s North Slope this winter to test ways to develop a potentially massive source of natural gas – methane hydrates.

Strong Canadian protests against 'discriminatory' FQD expose EU member-state divisions

Mexican shale-gas fields discovered near the US border

Committee cites pollution and noise concerns as it turns down application

PKN Orlen set to spend Zl500 million ($159 million) by the end of 2013

Nebraska looks set to be the key state in the battle against the $7 billion Keystone oil-sands pipeline

Brent crude received $1 a barrel boost from a deal struck by Europe’s financial leaders to write off half of Greece’s debt and to boost the EU’s bailout fund.

Moves to reform Nigeria’s oil laws have stalled vital deep-water activity – but leading operators now hint they are warming to the new petroleum Bill

A gas discovery in disputed waters off Vietnam’s east coast has sparked interest in a new frontier play and increased diplomatic tensions with China

Vocal minority angry as shareholders vote 81% in favour of the A$700 million deal

Company buys up large swathes of agricultural land to bypass locals

China, Mongolia and Indonesia on the radar