October 19th, 2007:

By  Elizabeth Cowley     
Dow Jones Newswires     
Friday, October 19, 2007 

OSLO Oct. 19, 2007 (Dow Jones Newswire)

Norway’s ministry for oil and energy Friday told the stakeholders of giant oil and gas field Troll that it won’t approve a plan to accelerate Troll gas production because it would result in a direct loss of 65 million barrels of oil.

The decision, which follows months of wrangling between stakeholders and Norway’s authorities, won’t affect the quantity of gas recovered from Troll over the field’s lifetime. It will however reduce the speed at which gas will be produced in the short-term, putting paid to plans to build an associated new gas export pipeline between Norway and Europe. read more

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 19 — Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, building on an earlier agreement, will jointly develop plants aimed at boosting oil production by injecting wells with carbon dioxide emitted from electric power plants.

The plants will collect and compress CO2 and inject it into an oil reservoir about 1,000 m deep. The first contract is expected as early as 2008.

The technology reportedly can increase oil output by 4 bbl for each ton of CO2 injected. The two firms plan to build facilities capable of collecting 10,000 tons of CO2 and raising oil production by 40,000 b/d. read more

Giuliani Leaps Past $500,000 Mark in Big Oil Contributions; He and Other Presidential Candidates Should Return Oil Industry’s ‘Dirty Money,’ Says Watchdog Group

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Rudy Giuliani is far ahead of the rest of the presidential pack in contributions from the oil and gas industry, netting $536,708 to date, more than the total of the next two top recipients, Mitt Romney at $291,033 and Hillary Clinton at $211,043.

“With the price oil heading toward $100 a barrel and prices at the pump headed back to $3.00 a gallon, politicians should be treating Big Oil’s contributions as dirty money,” said Judy Dugan, research director of OilWatchdog.org and its parent organization, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. “Americans can’t afford politicians, especially a president, indebted to the oil industry.” read more

19/10/07

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Canadian unit said it is closing 21 bulk fuel stations in Manitoba after it failed to find a buyer for the businesses.

Shell Canada said the 21 agency locations in the western Canadian province sell bulk fuel and lubricants, and have cardlock operations, unattended fuel stations used by transport trucks and others.

The company said it had tried to sell the businesses but the only interested buyer couldn’t come up with a viable offer. read more

Iran has issued an apparent ultimatum to Total and Shell to arrive at decisions on two big liquefied natural gas projects by mid-2008 or face losing the schemes, writes Vahe Petrossian.

If final investment decisions by the two are not made by June 2008, Iran will go ahead with the projects without them, Pars Oil&Gas Company (POGC) head Ali Vakili said.

A similar warning was issued by acting oil minister Gholamhossain Nozari.

The ultimatums reflect Iranian anger at delays by the companies in agreeing deals in the face of political pressure from Western governments and soaring costs. read more

Supermajor brings in new rig off Australia as part of LNG scheme

RUSSELL SEARANCKE, Wellington

Shell is bringing another deep-water drilling rig into Australia as it steps up its hunt for liquefied natural gas-size discoveries off the north-west coast.

The 2000-foot water depth drillship Frontier Discoverer is on its way to Western Australia where it is earmarked to complete Shell’s 12-well exploration commitment in Block WA-371-P in the Browse basin.

A Shell spokesman confirmed the rig was moving into Australia, but said no final decisions have been made on where the rig will work. read more

Shell’s Brazilian unit has extended the deadline for data room consultations for a proposed farm-out on Block BM-C31, in Brazil’s Campos basin.

IndigoPool, which is handling the asset sale, said the data room will close on 15 February 2008, and the offer deadline is 14 March 2008.

The deadline was extended after several companies requested more time because of resource constraints and extra workloads before Brazil’s November licensing round.

Shell is searching for a partner on what was described as a “major Campos basin exploration prospect”. read more

ADRIAN COTTRILL, London

The first example of a new concept of deep-water and Arctic drillship is due to appear in the Gulf of Mexico early in 2010.

The unit is smaller-than-normal in size yet offers top-of-the-range drilling capabilities

Its appearance follows a joint venture agreement signed this week between Shell Offshore Ventures and Frontier Drilling.

Known as the Bully rig, the design puts a strong but not exclusive emphasis on the so-called surface blow-out preventer (SBOP) approach.

It has been developed by Frontier in co-operation with Shell and rig designers Gusto MSC, along with Huisman-Itrec for drilling systems. read more

Oslo has blocked plans by StatoilHydro to accelerate gas production at Troll and build a new gas export pipeline to Europe, the government said today.

StatoilHydro-operated Troll holds about 10% of the total discovered oil and gas on the Norwegian shelf.

The government, taking a long-term view of how to best monetise the value of resources in its biggest field, believes that boosting gas supply now – at the expense of lowering future oil output from Troll – was not in its interest.

“Such accelerated gas production would reduce the possibility to recover large volumes of oil from the field,” the Petroleum & Energy Ministry said in a statement. read more

Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:37 AM BST
By Tom Bergin

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil majors Royal Dutch Shell and BP are expected to report sharp falls in third-quarter profits in the coming week, despite record oil prices, due to lower production, tighter refining margins and higher costs.

A Reuters poll of 10 analysts gave an average forecast of $4.06 billion (1.98 billion pounds) for third-quarter replacement cost net profits at BP — a 10 percent drop compared to the same period last year.

Shell was forecast to report a 21 percent drop in current cost of supply net profits to $5.52 billion in the period. read more

LAGOS (AFP) — Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell has reopened a 300-million-standard cubit feet gas plant in southern Nigeria that was shut down last week because of a fire on its supply pipeline.

“Utorogu Gas Plant which was shut in a bit to starve the fire has reopened and gas supply is ramping up,” the company said in a statement late Thursday.

It said production resumed at the plant after temporary repairs on the 10-inch Utorogu-Ughelli pumping station condensate trunkline that was set on fire on October 12 by suspected vandals. read more

October 19, 2007: 06:02 AM EST

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC ( RDSB.LN) are studying strategic alternatives for their lubricants additives joint-venture Infineum International Ltd, ExxonMobil said.

Two people familiar with the process said one of the options considered could be a sale.

“ExxonMobil and Shell are undertaking a study of strategic alternatives for the Infineum additives joint venture,” an ExxonMobil spokeswoman said in an e- mail late Thursday. read more

October 19 2007 at 12:34AM 
 
Lagos – Royal Dutch Shell has put out the last of six fires that blazed for four months on a major oil export pipeline in Nigeria, the company said on Thursday.

The fires, started after holes were drilled into a section of the pipeline in the Ogoni area of the southern state of Rivers between June 18 and 27, were extinguished on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the company said there was no significant impact on production and exports by the fires, but declined to explain why. read more

Pollutant poses a huge problem, conference told

By Joe Carroll, Bloomberg News
October 19, 2007

Oil shale projects in the western U.S. by Exxon Mobil Corp. and other producers would spew as much carbon dioxide as all the factories and vehicles in Taiwan or Brazil, according to the Colorado Energy Research Institute.

Exxon, Europe’s Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron Corp. are spending $100 million a year to find ways to convert organic material buried beneath the Rocky Mountains into oil. Power plants and chemical reactions will generate as much as 350 million tons of carbon dioxide a year once production commences, said Jeremy Boak, director of the institute. read more

Crewmen of the icebreaker Healy found a marked reduction in summer ice when they sailed north of Alaska this year.
 
By MATTHEW L. WALD and ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: October 19, 2007

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 — For most of human history, the Arctic Ocean has been an ice-locked frontier. But now, in one of the most concrete signs of the effect of a warming climate on government operations, the Coast Guard is planning its first operating base there as a way of dealing with the cruise ships and the tankers that are already beginning to ply Arctic waters.
 
The pullback in summer ice has caused the Coast Guard, led by Adm. Thad W. Allen, to plan its first Arctic operating base, probably near Barrow. read more

By Ed Crooks
Published: October 19 2007 02:50 | Last updated: October 19 2007 02:50

There is a new runner-up for the title of the world’s biggest company. Soon, there may be a new winner too.

PetroChina, the state-controlled Chinese oil and gas group, this week overtook General Electric to become the world’s second-biggest company by market capitalisation. After it lists on the Shanghai stock exchange, which it is expected to do next month, it could even surpass ExxonMobil to become the world’s most valuable quoted business. read more

By Javier Blas
Published: October 19 2007 07:49 | Last updated: October 19 2007 07:49

Crude oil prices on Friday rose to a fresh all-time high above $90 a barrel as the US dollar sunk to a new low against the euro.

Persistent worries about tight supplies ahead of the winter peak season and fresh geopolitical tensions also helped to push prices higher.

Nymex November West Texas Intermediate hit $90.02 a barrel in overnight trading. It closed $2.07 higher in New York at $89.47, a sixth straight trading day that oil set a record high. In Europe, the WTI contract opened 10 cents higher at $89.57. read more

By JOHN WILEN, AP Business Writer
Thu Oct 18, 7:00 PM ET

NEW YORK – Oil prices surpassed $90 a barrel for the first time Thursday as the falling dollar drew new foreign investors and speculators to dollar-denominated energy futures.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery hit $90.02 in electronic trading Thursday evening before returning to around $89.60. Earlier, prices had risen $2.07 to settle at a record $89.47 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

While oil prices have risen sharply in dollar terms in recent days, the steadily weakening dollar means oil futures are seen as a bargain overseas. Data released in recent weeks shows speculative buying of oil futures is on the rise. Buying by foreign investors sends prices up, which draws more speculators into the market. read more

By STEPHEN BELL
October 19, 2007

Woodside Petroleum Ltd. cut its full-year production forecast by as much as 10%, feeling the impact of asset sales and a surprise field shutdown.

Perth-based Woodside, which is 34%-owned by Royal Dutch Shell PLC, said it expects to produce between 70 million and 71 million barrels of oil equivalent this year, down from an August forecast of between 72 million and 78 million barrels. The company produced 67.9 million barrels last year.

Woodside has experienced a series of oil-production problems. But analysts said investors are focused on the company’s plan to significantly increase production of liquefied natural gas in the face of strong Asian demand. read more

IMPRESSED: Water Minister Tim Holding, front, tours the Shell Refinery yesterday with Shell general manager Huck Poh, left, MP Michael Crutchfield and Shell Australia chairman Russell Caplan.

Rainie Fraser
19 October 2007 

The State Government is urging industry to follow Shell Refinery’s lead and boost water saving efforts. RAINIE FRASER reports

THE Shell Refinery’s $55 million investment into environmental projects, including a water treatment plant, is saving more than 100 million litres of water each year. read more