Oil and Gas News

Oil News from around the web,US crude for August delivery fell $1.58 to $65.15 a barrel by 0018 GMT. London Brent crude fell 74 cents to $64.87

Posted on July 6, 2009 – 10:41 am | by oilandgaspress.com

France’s Total and China National Petroleum Corporation plan to bid for two large oil blocks being auctioned in Venezuela, instead of one in which they had already shown interest.

The sources put the cost of developing just one of the two blocks plus building a processing unit to clean up the sludge-like oil from it at $7 billion to $10 billion or more, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The blocks are in the Carabobo region of Venezuela’s Orinoco oil belt.

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Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras expects exploration of an Iranian block will yield disappointing results, a company director said, adding another Iranian block has shown similarly dim prospects.

Petrobras International director Jorge Zelada said in an interview that the offshore Tusan Block in the Gulf that the company won rights to in a 2003 bidding round was geologically unappealing. -www.upstreamonline.com/live

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Argentine oil tycoon Carlos Bulgheroni is behind a bid for London-listed oil company Sterling Energy.

Bulgheroni, who is understood to have made an offer in the last few weeks, wants to take over the company in order to get a foothold in Iraqi Kurdistan, where Sterling holds an oil field licence, The Sunday Times reported.

His approach, which valued Sterling at below its £50 million ($82 million) market value, did not impress shareholders, The Sunday Times said.

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World stocks fell on Friday after a disappointing US jobs report and a sluggish euro zone services sector survey reinforced expectations the process of recovery in the global economy would be long and slow.

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Nigeria’s main militant group said today that it had sabotaged one of Chevron’s crude pipeline junction points in the Niger Delta, the second attack in as many days.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it blew up Chevron’s Okan manifold late yesterday in the southern Delta state, hours after it attacked an oil well head operated by Shell.

“The strategic Okan manifold, which controls about 80% of Chevron Nigeria Limited offshore crude oil to its BOP crude loading platform, was blown up at about 2045 hours on Sunday,” MEND said in an emailed statement.

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Norwegian offshore engineering contractor Subsea 7 is primed to start a $150 million pipeline engineering, construction and installation project off Angola.

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Perenco Ecuador Limited (”Perenco Ecuador”) announced that it is prepared to take legal action against any company that purchases or transports crude oil the Ecuadorian Government has unlawfully seized.

Perenco Ecuador is the Operator of Blocks 7 and 21 in Ecuador. On February 19, 2009, the Republic of Ecuador and its oil company, Empresa Estatal Petroleos del Ecuador (”Petroecuador”), commenced a coercive process to collect from Perenco approximately $327 million they claimed were due under a 2006 Ecuadorian law (”Law 42″) by which the Government asserts a right to 99% of the oil revenues above an arbitrary “reference price.” In March 2009, Petroecuador began seizing crude oil produced by Perenco and its consortium partner, Burlington Resources Oriente Ltd. (”Burlington”), from Blocks 7 and 21 in Ecuador to satisfy the alleged Law 42 debt.

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Abu Dhabi Holding (ADH) announced on Sunday that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a European technology partner to assess, in cooperation with Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corporation (ADBIC), the establishment of a production plant for non-woven fibre fabrics in Abu Dhabi Polymers Park.
Otaiba Said Al Otaiba, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Holding, said, “This MoU is in line with ADH’s strategy to pursue industrial investments, with a focus on downstream petrochemical industries.” – Gulf News

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Plans to generate energy via solar power from the Sahara could create 240,000 jobs for Germans and generate €2 trillion worth of power by 2050, according to a German survey.
The report by Germany’s Wuppertal Institute for Climate for Greenpeace and the Club of Rome also said more than 580,000 jobs in concentrated solar power (CSP) could be created worldwide by the middle of the century with the right political framework.
“Renewable energy could become Germany’s leading industry in the 21st century,” Greenpeace energy expert Andree Boehling told a news conference. “And concentrated solar power could become Germany’s next export hit after photovoltaic and wind energy.”

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Oman’s national economy ministry has said the Sultanate’s crude exports during the first four months of 2009 reached 79.68 million barrels compared to 71.365 million during the same period in 2008, KUNA has reported. Total crude production, at the end of April 2009, had reached 94.335 million barrels compared to 89.936 million during the same period in 2008. Crude average daily production by the end of April was 786,100 barrels compared to 743,300 barrels during the same period of 2008. China led the list of importers of Omani oil, followed by Korea and Thailand.

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In a bid to seek parliamentary approval for the multi-billion dollar Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has asked the country’s petroleum ministry to prepare a feasibility report on the viability of bringing the gas pipeline through a sea route.

During a presentation on energy securitisation Gilani’s Adviser on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain recommended him to first sensitise the parliamentarians on the IP gas pricing issue, The News reports.

According to sources, Gilani was informed that the sea route was comparatively more secure and also cost effective as it would not only save two billion dollars, but also reduce the pipeline stretch by 150 kilometres.

Gilani said the option of India joining the project at any later stage remained open.

He directed the ministry to maintain transparency at all levels in the implementation of energy-related plans and that all the integrated energy plans should be brought to the cabinet before they were presented in parliament for final approval.

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Analysts say it is the Asian appetite — not market speculators — that is driving oil prices upwards.

Paul Ting, energy analyst and president of New Jersey’s Paul Ting Energy Vision LLC, told Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail that it is Chinese consumption, not market speculation, that is driving the surge in oil prices.

“People trying to explain rising prices look at the West and see high inventory and low demand, so they blame speculators,” he said. “They are looking in the wrong place — demand is coming from China. And demand has been robust.”

China has pumped billions of dollars into its foreign investment strategy in an effort to secure access to oil as its economy expands even during the global recession.

In a move to gain a foothold in the global energy market, Chinese refiner Sinopec snatched Calgary’s Addax Petroleum for $8.3 billion, securing a position in the Middle East, including Iraq. Similar deals were reached with Verenex Energy to clinch a hold on Libyan resources.

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Nigerian Federal Government has signed a $10 billion Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA)… on the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline Project (TSGP) with the governments of Algeria and Niger Republic.

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, at the signing ceremony yesterday in Abuja, said the TSGP will improve the living standards of the people of the region.

According to Lukman, “the implementation of the project will facilitate the development of the economies of the transit countries and provide another platform for a sustainable and reliable energy supply to Europe, thus ensuring security of supply.”

He noted that the concept of the TSGP to link Nigeria through Niger Republic, Mali and Algeria en-route European markets was first muted over 30 years ago and several studies to establish the techno-economic viability of the project were carried out and market opportunity of about 15-20bcm of gas exist for TSGP as from 2015.

Niger Republic’s Minister of Mines and Energy, Mohammed Abdullai, noted that adequate security was in place for the project.

According to him, “the issue of security is a wide-spread one, and the project has helped us to evaluate our capacity to really face any eventuality we may have. But, we have security measures put in place and the project won’t suffer anything especially with the interest and involvement of the European Union.”

Also, his Algeria counterpart, Chakib Khelil, corroborated Abdullai, adding that “the pipelines will be coated with optic fibres and they will be one metre beneath the earth. We also have a system through helicopter surveillance to ensure full security, and if there is any supply disruption, Algeria will definitely bridge the gap and supply the market before the fixing of the problem.”

Meanwhile, as a significant milestone in its effort to jump-start a sustainable domestic gas market, the Federal Government, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has founded a Strategic Aggregator (SA) Company to mid-wife the successful implementation of the Nigerian Gas Master Plan (NGMP).

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Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) yesterday said it would intensify its attacks… on the oil sector until the government bows to true federalism and fair share of the nation’s oil wealth derived from the Niger Delta.

The declaration came a day after the group upgraded its attack mode from Hurricane Piper Alpha to Hurricane Moses, hitting another Anglo- Dutch oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)’s facility: Shell Well head 20, located in Cawthorn Channel 1, in Rivers State.

The facility, which transmits the Bonny loading terminal, was attacked about 3:00 am yesterday.

MEND said newly launched Hurricane Moses, “will combine dialogue in tandem with phased attacks that increase in intensity until its goal has been achieved.”

Also yesterday, the group disowned the Niger Delta elders – including the Ijaw national leader and former Information Minister, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark.

MEND told the Niger Delta elders who had volunteered to set up a contact group to mediate on their behalf in the new peace initiative: “At the appropriate time, we will be putting together a team of notable Nigerians drawn from every tribe in the Niger Delta and some others outside the region to represent the group.”

The rejection of the Niger Delta elders came few days after wanted militant leader, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, (aka Tompolo), described President Yar’Adua’s amnesty as a sham.

MEND’s spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, said Tompolo dismissed the report credited to Chief E. K. Clark that he (Tompolo) was willing to accept the Federal Government’s amnesty.

“Tompolo has requested that we refute the story which claimed he was requesting for the amnesty being proposed by the government to criminals through Chief E. K. Clark.

“Prof J. P. Clark’s suggestion on armistice as against amnesty for freedom fighters is what MEND and Tompolo are favourably disposed to for adoption as the next step to take towards resolving the crisis.

“(MEND) hereby warns the investors to the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline project that unless the Niger Delta root issues have been addressed and resolved, any money put into the project will go down the drain as we will ensure that it faces the same fate other pipelines are facing today.

“We want to use this opportunity to warn the remaining companies still operating in the region: namely, Agip, Total, Shell and ExxonMobil to leave while there is still time, because within the next 72 hours, Hurricane Piper Alpha will be upgraded to Hurricane Moses,” Gbomo said.

Gbomo claimed through an email message yesterday that Hurricane Piper Alpha which was upgraded to Hurricane Moses lashed out at the Shell Well Head 20, located at Cawthorn Channel “leaving total destruction in its wake.” -compassnews

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Militants in the Niger Delta yesterday launched yet another attack on a Shell oil well head in the Cawthorne Channel around Bonny in Rivers state thereby dashing the hope that the amnesty offer by the Federal Government would bring normalcy to the troubled oil-rich region.
The attack on the Shell oil well coincided with yesterday’s statement by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) in which it disowned a frontline Ijaw leader and ardent supporter of Niger Delta militants, Chief Edwin Clarke, and said the elder statesman no longer had the mandate of MEND to speak on its behalf.
MEND) also claimed responsibility for the attack on the Shell facility and vowed to continue its offensive on oil and gas facilities in the region.
The latest incident was the third attack on Royal Dutch Shell facility since President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua made the amnesty offer about two weeks ago.
In an emailed statement to Reuters, MEND said it had attacked a Shell oil well head in the Cawthorne Channel.

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