July 10th, 2007:

Nils Pratley
Wednesday July 11, 2007

The last time oil was at $76 a barrel, which was only 11 months ago, a chorus line emerged to tell us it would not last. Speculative money was at play, political tensions would ease, and American drivers would notice a rise in pump prices. All were good points, and a reasonable explanation of why the oil price fell rapidly over the next few months; by January, Brent was close to $50 a barrel.

So why is it at $76 again? Certainly, speculative money is back. Oil, despite being a vast market with huge daily volumes, is also territory for financial players, who these days even include pension funds, who have been persuaded that modern investment portfolios need a smattering of commodities. read more

The first sentence of the executive summary of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) influential “Medium Term Oil Market Report,” released today, states the broad outlines of the problem baldly: “Despite four years of high oil prices, this report sees increasing market tightness beyond 2010, with OPEC spare capacity declining to minimal levels by 2012.”

Demand for oil products — primarily transportation fuels — is growing fast. You can blame all those developing countries whose populations are approaching the critical $3,000 per capita GDP level — that magic moment when, according to the IEA, “a middle class usually emerges, eager to purchase cars, fly in aeroplanes, install air-conditioners and, more generally, use energy-consuming appliances.” Don’t blame a lack of refinery capacity — the IEA says investment in refinery upgrades is proceeding apace, and is not likely to be a problem in the near future. But overall, supply of the raw product — oil and gas — is having a harder and harder time keeping up with demand. read more

by Macdonald Stainsby / July 10th, 2007

The primarily indigenous and mostly Cree (also ‘Chipewyan Dene’) community of Fort MacKay — just north of the internationally famous tar sand “boom” city of Fort McMurray — is said to be the “richest First Nation in Canada.” The question should be asked: How well does this reach the entire community, and does the economic benefit outweigh the cost?

Let me describe the approach to Fort MacKay from “Fort Muck.” The only official community north of McMurray on the highway is MacKay, a community of about 500 people 40-odd kilometers down the mighty Athabasca River. On a highway like this one, a person would normally see car traffic every few minutes. On this particular road, the traffic is every few seconds. At shift change — with several of these every day of the year, around the clock– the highway is bumper to bumper the entire route. Where two generations ago there was nothing but muskeg forest, there is now sandy wastelands. Where there were rivers, there are now 9 storey-deep holes, often filled with useless mounds of treated earth. Where there were lakes with fish, there are tailings ponds with cancer-causing waste. In short, where there was life there is now death. read more

Someone posts cryptic messages on Live Chat on a regular basis. Rather than just deleting them permanently, they will now be deleted from Live Chat but added to this article. Anyone who wants to read them can just do a search on “cryptic”.

Posted 10/11 July 2007

guest_735 : Dreep, VinBark +-.

guest_9872 : refidomsa

Posted 10 July 2007

guest_5466 : BV

guest_735 : Bill; Vark – sent vame. To the Bost Vark. “Bost Vark” I say . . . “Bost Vark, veek, vark!” Bill Vark, Bil Vark, Bill Vark, Bill Vark, Bill Vark, Bill Vark. # please, mmm. Bill Vark. read more

10 July 2007

The world’s biggest energy project of its kind, the $22 billion Sakhalin-2 project in Russia, has been damaged by devastating leaks and allegations over the past two years made to a non-commercial website www.royaldutchshellplc.com recently described by the Financial Times as being anti-Shell.

Shell was the majority shareholder in the company set up to manage the Sakhalin-2 project: Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (SEIC).

The so called “Kremlin attack dog”, Oleg Mitvol – the deputy head of the Russian environmental agency Rosprirodnadzor – confirmed that his threatened $30 billion lawsuit against Shell for alleged environmental violations rested on evidence provided by the website owner, John Donovan, who received leaked documents from Sakhalin-2 insiders. Shell surrendered and was forced to allow the Russian energy company Gazprom to take a majority stake in SEIC. read more

By Stephen Voss

July 10 (Bloomberg) — An OAO Gazprom and Royal Dutch Shell Plc joint venture said endangered whales were unaffected by loud noise from oil and gas construction work off the coast of Sakhalin Island, Russia. Environmental groups were unconvinced.

Construction activity has had “no discernable impact” on the Western Gray Whale population and underwater noise levels remained within agreed parameters, the venture said in a statement today.

On July 6, it handed over two weeks worth of noise- monitoring and whale-sighting data to environmental groups, including the Worldwide Fund for Nature and International Fund for Animal Welfare, who raised concern that noise had displaced some whales during their summer feeding period. read more

Tuesday July 10, 2007 02:23
 
A recent independent report by a delegation of international human rights and environmental activists has slammed the actions of the Gardai in Mayo for suppressing peaceful protest and creating civil unrest.

The report, issued by the Global Community Monitor (GCM), was compiled from evidence gathered at a public hearing as well as through interviews, emails and video footage. It does not, however, take a position in relation to the construction of Shell’s pipeline. read more

Governor sees need for commercially viable biofuels; gives support to research, $5 million to Texas A&M efforts

By BRETT CLANTON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

The state will make the development of alternative energy and biofuels a bigger priority under a new strategy outlined Monday by Gov. Rick Perry.

The initiative is focused on creating commercially viable products — especially non-corn-based ethanol — to help Texas keep pace with its rising energy needs and ensure its position as a world energy capital. read more

By Christian Schmollinger and Shigeru Sato

July 10 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil was little changed in New York after falling from a 10-month high yesterday on signs demand will ease following U.S. refinery shutdowns.

BP Plc is shutting the largest of three crude units at its refinery in Whiting, Indiana, a person familiar with the plant said. Units were shut at refineries in Texas and Kansas last week. Oil inventories are 12.5 percent higher than their five- year average, said a July 5 U.S. Energy Department report. read more

By Ed Crooks in London and Catherine Belton in Moscow
Published: July 10 2007 03:00 | Last updated: July 10 2007 03:00

Royal Dutch Shell said it is still interested in further expansion in Russia as it signed a strategic co-operation deal with Rosneft, the country’s biggest oil company by market value, in spite of its bruising experience last year over the Sakhalin-2 project.

The two companies gave no details of the specific projects they would pursue as part of the deal but said they would co-operate in both oil and gas, upstream and downstream, in Russia and internationally. read more

By 2012, Production
Is Expected to Fall
Short Of Global Demand
By BHUSHAN BAHREE
July 10, 2007; Page A12

The industrialized world’s energy watchdog added to rising concerns in some quarters that oil and natural gas production won’t keep up with the world’s growing thirst for energy in coming years, highlighting worries over supplies and prices.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency, which monitors energy markets on behalf of the world’s 26 most-advanced economies, yesterday released its annual medium-term forecast, projecting conditions through 2012. The agency expects oil supply to be tighter in coming years than it had forecast, with little prospect of relief unless world economic growth falters. read more

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 10, 2007
Filed at 2:05 a.m. ET

SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil prices inched down Tuesday in Asia, extending an overnight decline that came after the shutdown of a huge oil processing unit at a U.S. refinery raised concern of lower demand for crude.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell 9 cents to $72.10 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore. The contract fell 62 cents to settle at $72.19 a barrel Monday, after dipping as low as $71.81 a barrel. read more

By ANDREW E. KRAMER
Published: July 10, 2007

Royal Dutch Shell and Rosneft, the Russian state oil company, agreed to explore possibilities to work together to develop oil fields and market gasoline and other petroleum products worldwide.

The deal was presented as a framework to discuss future deals. While short on specifics, it suggested Shell was still seeking opportunities in Russia despite being forced last fall to sell a controlling stake in its Sakhalin II development to Gazprom, another Russian state company, at a low price. read more

· IEA attacks countries with tight grip on production
· Demand for gas and oil growing faster than ever

Terry Macalister
Tuesday July 10, 2007

A growing trend towards nationalism over resources in Russia and even Britain could backfire by cutting expenditure on oil and gas worldwide at a time when demand is likely to rise faster than expected over the next five years, the International Energy Agency warned yesterday.

At the same time, Shell signed a strategic agreement with Kremlin-controlled oil company Rosneft, weeks after BP agreed a similar deal with government-owned gas group, Gazprom. Both companies appear to be signalling that they need the influence of local operators in order to be involved in big developments in Russia. read more

Chris McGreal, Africa correspondent
Tuesday July 10, 2007

The three year-old British girl kidnapped in Nigeria, Margaret Hill, was released because the men holding her were hunted by rebel forces angered at being associated with the abduction, according to Nigerian officials.

The toddler was freed on Sunday evening, four days after she was snatched from a car on her way to school in Port Harcourt, a city at the heart of Nigeria’s oil industry.

Yesterday Margaret appeared buoyant showed few signs of her ordeal, other than numerous mosquito bites, as she played with her British father and Nigerian mother, Mike and Oluchi Hill. read more

By Tom Stevenson
Last Updated: 1:25am BST 10/07/2007

The latest report from the International Energy Agency makes scary reading. You don’t have to be a “peak oil” doom-monger to believe the world faces an energy crunch. Investors, and everyone else for that matter, need to think through the implications of a significantly higher oil price.

Oil has risen by around 50pc this year to within a whisker of the peak hit last August after Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. At $76 a barrel, the price of crude is seven times its recent low. Crucially, it is close to the inflation-adjusted levels at which the global economy has, in the past, started to squeal. read more

By Mike Pflanz in Port Harcourt
Last Updated: 2:03am BST 10/07/2007

The parents of the British girl, Margaret Hill, celebrated her release yesterday but denied having paid a ransom for her.
 
But even as Mike and Oluchi Hill rejoiced, evidence emerged that corrupt politicians and officials are involved in Nigeria’s “cottage industry” of kidnapping foreigners.

Mr Hill, who comes from Co Durham, said his three-year-old daughter had been taken to hospital for a check-up after being held for four days. read more

July 10, 2007
Steve Hawkes

Shell has struck a groundbreaking partnership in Russia seven months after it was forced to surrender control of the country’s vast $21 billion (£10.4 billion) Sakhalin-2 offshore development.

The Anglo-Dutch group said yesterday that it had entered into a broad alliance with Rosneft, the Kremlin-backed oil giant, to cooperate on oil and gas projects in the country. The agreement mirrors a separate deal being thrashed out between Gazprom, the Kremlin’s favoured gas group, and BP. read more

July 10, 2007
Patrick Hosking, Business Commentary

Jeroen van der Veer has kissed and made up with Vladimir Putin. Only seven months after he ceded control of the Sakhalin-2 offshore gasfield to a Russian company, the Shell chief executive has struck a fresh deal in the country, this time with Rosneft.

There are two ways of seeing the rapprochement. One is that a previously arrogant Shell has learnt the rules of the game in Russia. By adopting a bit of humility, it regains its position in the most important energy producing nation outside the Middle East. Like all other oil companies, Shell does not have much choice about whom it does business with. It goes where the black stuff is. The deal could significantly boost its reserves. read more

(Stormy outlook : oil producers will be unable to increase production in line with demand and prices cold soar)

By David Litterick in Chicago
Last Updated: 1:26am BST 10/07/2007
 
The International Energy Agency has predicted a supply crunch in the world’s oil markets that could send prices soaring and place a severe dent in global growth.

In a report that painted a bleak outlook for the global economy, the IEA said spare capacity in oil production would dry up over the next five years, even as demand continues to jump significantly. read more

By Javier Blas, Commodities Correspondent
Published: July 9 2007 13:25 | Last updated: July 9 2007 13:25

The world is facing an oil supply “crunch” within five years that will force up prices to record levels and increase the west’s dependence on oil cartel Opec, the industrialised countries’ energy watchdog has warned.

In its starkest warning yet on the world’s fuel outlook, the International Energy Agency said “oil looks extremely tight in five years time” and there are “prospects of even tighter natural gas markets at the turn of the decade”. read more

10 July 2007 07:41

It is a phenomenon which has alarmed scientists – grey whales showing worrying signs of malnutrition. Could this be another example of the ravages of climate change?

By Leonard Doyle
Published: 10 July 2007

When two anorexic creatures appeared from over the horizon in the waters of Laguna San Ignacio, off Mexico’s Baja California last January, William Megill was quick to identify them.

“We have Kate Moss and we have Twiggy,” said Dr Megill, with a wry smile, of the female grey whales he saw struggling down the coast as he was speeding around in the University of Bath’s research vessel. read more

By Thair Shaikh
Published: 10 July 2007

A British oil worker has been kidnapped by an armed gang in southern Nigeria, the Foreign Office said last night.

His capture from an oil production barge in the oil-rich Niger Delta region came just hours after the parents of three-year-old Margaret Hill were celebrating her release after four days in captivity.

The Briton was captured alongside a Bulgarian colleague. Both are consultants working for Exprotech (Nigeria), part of the UK-based Expro Group. They were on the Agbani barge in Calabar, near Cross River State, when gunmen on speedboats attacked them at 8pm local time. read more

Christopher Helman, 07.09.07, 4:40 PM ET

HOUSTON – The strategic alliance announced Monday between Royal Dutch Shell and Rosneft represents a thinly veiled kowtow by a Western oil giant of yesteryear to the fast-rising Russian champion of today.

The deal, signed by Shell (nyse: RDSA – news – people ) Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer and Rosneft chief Sergey Bogdanchikov, did not involve any specific projects and mentioned no dollar values. Ultimately it is little more than a vague agreement that Shell is willing to put up its billions to buy into Rosneft’s big new projects, everything from drilling oilfields to building refineries and operating gas stations. read more

By Estelle Shirbon
Reuters
Monday, July 9, 2007; 5:03 PM

ABUJA (Reuters) – Four more people have been abducted in the Niger Delta, authorities said on Monday, underscoring insecurity in Nigeria’s oil-producing region hours after a 3-year-old British girl was freed by her kidnappers.

Margaret Hill was released on Sunday night after four days in the hands of unknown ransom seekers who snatched her from the car in which she was being driven to school on July 5 in Port Harcourt, the delta’s main city. read more