September 17th, 2007:

Filed from Houston
9/17/2007 1:42:54 PM GMT

USA/ALASKA:  Following the Ninth Circuit Court’s recent stay of Shell’s 2007 Beaufort Sea drilling plan, the company has started staged layoffs of contract personnel, including workers from drillship Frontier Discoverer.  Shell’s seismic program continues and staff involved in these operations, including Marine Mammals Observation, the Call Center and the Communication Center, remain employed.

Shell said that while it remains committed to Alaska, it regrets that it must release some personnel.  The company said if the court reverses the injunction quickly, then Shell could proceed with its drilling program, either by reactivating the drillship or utilizing the Kulluk, a drilling rig specifically built for Arctic conditions and anchored in the Canadian sector of the Beaufort Sea. read more

September 17, 2007, 11:05

The Russian government is working on a bill to limit foreign investment in some of the country’s most lucrative strategic sectors, including oil and gas, and aviation.
 
Russia’s effort to formalise how it regulates its strategic sectors comes at a time when several of the world’s major economies are doing the same, and economic protectionism is on the rise across the globe.

National governments from the U.S. to the UK are increasingly making it clear that foreign investment must be regulated in strategic industries, such as defence, aviation and energy. read more

EXTRACT: Besides killing 15 people, the explosion injured hundreds. It led to more than 3,000 lawsuits, a record fine of $21 million by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and a finding by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board that the company endangered workers by cutting costs.

THE ARTICLE 

By Laurel Brubaker Calkins and Margaret Cronin Fisk
Bloomberg News
Published: September 17, 2007

GALVESTON, Texas: An executive from BP told jurors Friday that careless workers caused the explosion at the company’s refinery in Texas that killed 15 people, and said that no amount of increased spending or maintenance would have prevented the accident. read more

GWYN MORGAN
September 17, 2007

CALGARY — The Southern family’s Spruce Meadows equestrian centre near Calgary is ranked as the world’s top show-jumping venue. Each September, its flagship Masters Tournament brings together the sport’s best horses and riders.

While competition goes on in the tournament ring, private and public sector leaders from around the globe gather at this magnificent venue for the Changing Fortunes Round Table. Hosted by Ron Southern, who built Atco Ltd. into one of Canada’s most successful enterprises, invitations to the Round Table are much sought after. The session revolves around one or more internationally known marquee speakers, followed by plenary discussion among delegates. One example of Mr. Southern’s global reach is the recent presence of the head of the national bank of China alongside a former U.S. Federal Reserve Bank chairman and Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge. read more

Published: Sep 17, 2007

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) – Shares in Australian-listed oil and gas company, Oil Search Ltd, closed sharply higher Monday after a Hong Kong newspaper reported that state-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and its Hong Kong-listed subsidiary PetroChina Co Ltd are considering bidding up to 5 billion US dollars for the company.

Oil Search, which has long been touted as a takeover target, is based on the Pacific Island of Papua New Guinea. CNPC is China’s largest oil and gas producer. read more

By Dino Mahtani in London
Published: September 17 2007 03:00 | Last updated: September 17 2007 03:00

Libya announced recently that it had approved more than 50 companies, including the world’s biggest multinationals, to make commercial bids to develop its gas reserves.

International oil companies are facing spiralling industry costs.

They are locked out of some of the world’s most prolific hydrocarbons deposits in the Middle East and they face a rising tide of resource nationalism elsewhere. read more

By Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran
Published: September 17 2007 03:00 | Last updated: September 17 2007 03:00

Iran’s acting oil minister said on Sunday that the multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas agreement with Total of France to develop part of South Pars, the world’s biggest field, needed ‘reconsideration’ because of differences over the price Tehran would be paid for its gas.

Gholam-Hossein Nozari said the rate quoted by the French energy group on marketing LNG was high, which would force Iran to “study the feasibility of this plan once again”. read more

Telegraph.co.uk: Bush setting America up for war with Iran

By Philip Sherwell in New York and Tim Shipman in Washington
Last Updated: 2:29am BST 17/09/2007

Senior American intelligence and defence officials believe that President George W Bush and his inner circle are taking steps to place America on the path to war with Iran, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.
  
Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, amid growing fears among serving officers that diplomatic efforts to slow Iran’s nuclear weapons programme are doomed to fail. read more

EXTRACT: The foreign minister also said leading French companies such as Total and Gaz de France had been urged not to undertake new work or contracts in Iran.

THE ARTICLE

The world should brace for a possible war over the Iranian nuclear crisis but seeking a solution through talks should take priority, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Sunday.

“We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war,” he said in an interview broadcast on French television and radio.

“We must negotiate right to the end,” with Iran, he said, but underlined that if Tehran possessed an atomic weapon, it would represent “a real danger for the whole world.” read more

By KADYR TOKTOGULOV and LIAM MOLONEY
September 17, 2007

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — A proposed law that would allow the Kazakh government to annul natural-resources contracts appears aimed at pressuring Kashagan oil developers led by the Eni SpA amid tense negotiations, rather than as a broad-based threat to energy and mining companies, analysts and a person familiar with the matter said.

The proposed amendment, which would give the Kazakh government the right to pull out of natural-resources contracts if there is a threat to national security and economic interests, is expected to be adopted in the next two weeks, lawmaker Valeriy Kotovich said. read more

Anita Roddick outside a Body Shop branch in 1989

Dame Anita Roddick – environmentalist, human rights campaigner and founder of The Body Shop – died suddenly last week, aged 64. At her Sussex home shortly before her death, she gave this poignant interview to Elspeth Thompson, looking back over an eventful life and discussing her plans for the future

By Elspeth Thompson
Last Updated: 2:29am BST 17/09/2007
 
What struck me first was how small she was. That famous untamed mane of hair, not to mention her outspoken views and public persona, had led me to think of Anita Roddick as a tall, even Amazonian presence – yet the woman walking to meet me was only just over five feet, with a tiny, bird-like frame. And I hadn’t expected her kindness. read more

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) — Oil Search Ltd., the biggest holder of natural gas resources in Papua New Guinea, rose the most in five years after the South China Morning Post said the company may be a takeover target for China National Petroleum Corp.

China National Petroleum and its unit PetroChina Co. are studying a bid of as much as $5 billion for the Port Moresby- based company, the newspaper reported today, citing people it didn’t name. Oil Search has held talks with China National Petroleum on potential natural gas sales, not on any takeover offer, said Ann Diamant, a spokeswoman. read more

BARRON’S: Where Is Oil Headed? A Contrarian Says $45 — Part II

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2007
Interview — Part I

So what are people missing?

I have never seen the gap between reality and the perception of reality as big as it is right now. The perception of what I call Chindia, the idea that demand growth globally is robust and is going to be led by the emerging-market economies of China and India, is still strong. It is a great idea. But when you look at the data, you will see it doesn’t match, and when you talk about peak oil and see what is happening to non-OPEC supply, there is a problem because supply growth this year is going to be one of the largest in almost 30 years, and next year looks like it is going to be similar to this year. Guys like me care about the totality of non-OPEC supply growth, even biofuels, or non-oil fuel, which are a subset of the non-OPEC supply curve. Biofuel supplies, which include soybeans for diesel fuel and corn for ethanol, will be up this year roughly 350,000 a day versus last year. That’s a big number, about 40% in terms of its volume. It is going to be up by a similar volume in 2008. This is in response to higher average oil prices and concerns about availability. read more