June 13th, 2007:

06/13/2007 05:44:37 AM EDT

Colorado and Utah have as much oil as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Nigeria, Kuwait, Libya, Angola, Algeria, Indonesia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates combined.

That’s not science fiction. Trapped in limestone up to 200 feet thick in the two Rocky Mountain states is enough so-called shale oil to rival OPEC and supply the U.S. for a century.

Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., the two biggest U.S. energy companies, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are spending $100 million a year testing new methods to separate the oil from the stone for as little as $30 a barrel. A growing number of industry executives and analysts say new technology and persistently high prices make the idea feasible. read more

Kevin Zeese
June 11, 2007

Oil Law Brings Theft of Resources Out in the Open, Oil Workers Strike Forces Maliki to Choose Between Iraqis and the Occupiers.

The situation in Iraq is coming to a head. Oil workers have been on strike for three days and are being threatened by the Iraqi government and surrounded by the Iraqi military. The Parliament passed a resolution urging an end to the U.S. occupation and has refused to act on the oil law the U.S. is demanding. Both the Democrats in Congress and the Bush Administration have united around the passage of the oil law as the top benchmark for the Iraqi government. read more

13 June 2007

By John Donovan

Shell dealers in the USA have found it necessary to set up a gripe website – www.gotshelled.com – to exchange information and promote their fight against the predatory practices of the oil giant Shell.

This is all seems very reminiscent of Shell’s ruthless exploitation of Shell dealers in the UK several years ago. After being embroiled in bouts of litigation with Shell UK Limited, we set up The Shell Corporate Consience Pressure Group.

1400 Shell UK retailers participated in our “business ethic” surveys about Shell. We published the results in successive monthly whole page notices in the forecourt trade press. All responses were opened under the supervision of an independent solicitor who provided an Affidavit verifying the results, which were devastatingly bad for Shell. read more

NUOS INT’L. USA ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2007
 
To Ogoni Students resident in the USA

– We invite you to a one day encompassing conference with talented speakers on-

THEME: RESOLVING NIGERIA’S NIGER DELTA CONFLICT

DATE: SATURDAY, July 07, 2007
VENUE: UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI, KANSAS CITY
(EDUCATION DEPT. RM. 115) Holmes
TIME: 10.AM Prompt

SPEAKERS:

1. DR. CLEMENT ADIBE – GUEST SPEAKER (PROFESSOR OF    POLITICAL    SCIENCE, DEPAUL UNIVERSITY, CHICAGO.)- Role of Nigerian Government in resolving the Niger Delta crisis. read more

EXTRACT: Washington has also approached major energy companies — notably Royal Dutch/Shell — pointing out that they may come in for penalties on the U.S. market if they continue to be involved in big oil or gas development projects in Iran.

THE ARTICLE

By Breffni O’Rourke
 
June 13, 2007 (RFE/RL) — A senior U.S. diplomat warned Iran that it is facing the prospects of tough new sanctions “in the next week or two” unless it comes to the negotiating table on its nuclear program. read more

13 June 2007: Fraud jeopardizes Dominican consumers

SANTO DOMINGO. – The Dominican Government’s representatives in the Dominican Petroleum Refinery’s (Refidomsa) Governing Board said “alterations of invoices” fuel purchase have been committed and that executives of the company Shell committed “swindle” and “fraudulent maneuvers.”

The Dominican State and Shell own equal stake in Refidomsa, though the multinational manages the facility and designates the administrative personnel; the State designates the president and 3 members of the Governing Board, whereas Shell designates the other 4. read more

They are taking the bet they can extract oil lying 30,000 feet below the sea floor

By BRETT CLANTON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
June 13, 2007, 12:56AM

Last fall, a team led by Chevron Corp. became the toast of the oil industry when it demonstrated that an alluring deepwater region of the Gulf of Mexico could deliver on its promise.

Now, oil companies are taking concrete steps to unlock the area’s potential, with an eye toward extracting oil from there in as little as two years.

Devon Energy Corp., an Oklahoma City-based firm with about 2,000 employees in Houston, is planning to drill what could be the first commercially producing oil field in the region by late 2009. Chevron has assembled a 60-person team to explore how it will develop the offshore frontier. Shell Oil has ordered a floating platform and plucked 200 employees to work on a project planned to come online by the turn of the decade. Others are also studying ways to turn prospects and discoveries into producing oil fields. read more

Limited Capacity
Could Lift Prices
At Pump for Years
By ANA CAMPOY and RUSSELL GOLD
June 12, 2007; Page A12

The cost of building or expanding oil refineries is rising rapidly, contributing to delays in increasing the U.S. gasoline supply at a time of near-record prices.

Under Scrutiny: Refiners, flush with profits, face political pressure to add capacity.The oil industry is blaming cost escalation — driven by shortages of skilled labor and construction services, along with higher materials prices — for a spate of pushed-back or scrapped expansion projects. Valero Energy Corp., the U.S.’s largest refiner in terms of the amount of crude it can refine, has delayed expansions in Quebec, Canada, and in Texas. ConocoPhillips has put off projects at refineries in Texas and in Louisiana, while Tesoro Corp. canceled the installation of new equipment to process cheaper crude at a facility in Anacortes, Wash. read more

EXTRACT: European energy giants – including Shell, Spain’s Repsol and Total of France – are eyeing up big up Iranian deals, as are Chinese and Malaysian oil firms. But in so doing, they all risk alienating the US, the world’s only super-power.

By Mark Gregory
International business reporter, BBC World Service 

The United States is waging an undeclared financial war on Iran as part of efforts to persuade the Tehran government to abandon alleged plans to acquire nuclear weapons. read more

EXTRACT: In separate U.S. activities under the Iran Sanctions Act, U.S. officials have recently talked to some energy companies that have expressed interest in investing in Iran, including Shell Oil and the Chinese National Oil company, McCormack said. U.S. officials have discussed with these companies whether or not this was the right time to make “big bets on the Iranian energy sector when you have a country that is already under Chapter VII resolution … and has the prospect of falling under numerous other Chapter VII resolutions”. read more

By Upstream staff

The Athabasca Oil Sands Project could eventually produce 1 million barrels of synthetic crude per day, more than six times today’s nameplate capacity, one partner in the northern Alberta project said today.

“That’s a target number that all three owners have described. We still have to do the necessary technical evaluations on the northern leases to determine if that potential is there,” said Jim Houck, chief executive of Western Oil Sands Inc, which has a 20 percent stake. read more

By Ed Crooks
Published: June 12 2007 13:27 | Last updated: June 12 2007 13:27

World oil demand is rising faster than previously expected while non-Opec supply is growing more slowly, the International Energy Agency has said in its latest monthly assessment of the market.

The rich countries’ energy watchdog warned on Tuesday of growing tightness in oil supplies in the second half of the year, and urged the Organisation of the Petrolem Exporting Countries to raise its output.

David Fyfe, an analyst at the IEA, said: “We would very much hope that Opec production is at its seasonal low at the moment… We definitely do need more crude oil.” read more

The US could penalise major oil and gas firms

By Mark Gregory
BBC News, Washington 

The US is threatening to get much tougher with international energy companies that do business with Iran.

Oil firms may face fines and other penalties if they sign deals to develop Iranian reserves of oil and gas, a State Department source told the BBC.

The statement marks an escalation of US financial pressure aimed at persuading Tehran to abandon alleged plans to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran insists its nuclear programme has no military application. read more

NORVAL SCOTT

The consortium behind Alberta’s Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP) is targeting more expansion stages of the giant facility that could see its production reach around 1 million barrels a day in 15 to 20 years’ time, according to one of the consortium partners.

While the AOSP consortium has yet to evaluate fully whether its resources would support six to seven expansions of the facility, the 1 million b/d – a figure close to what the oil sands as a whole currently produce – is a possibility if all the developments proceed as hoped, said Western Oil Sands Inc.  [WTO-T]CEO Jim Houck. read more

This Day (Lagos)
13 June 2007

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has denied an alleged plan by it to stop oil exploration in the Niger delta.

SPDC’s Acting Manager (Media), Mr Precious Okolobo, told heads of media organisations yesterday in Port Harcourt that the company would retain its headquarters in the city.
 
Okolobo, who was reacting to an alleged plan by the company to relocate and halt oil exploration in the Niger Delta said that despite the challenges it was facing, it would remain in the region. read more

Wednesday June 13 2007

EIGHT alternative routes for the Corrib Gas pipeline were outlined yesterday.

The move is intended to break the deadlock in the dispute about the routing of the controversial pipeline.

Yesterday consultants RPS, employed by the partners behind the pipeline, outlined the eight new routes for the line, four of which are in the Rossport area and four from different start points.

The new routes will go to public consultation with a more defined shortlist to be drawn up next month. read more