January 11th, 2008:

Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:51pm GMT 
By Bruce Nichols

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A proposed LNG terminal in Long Island Sound off New York took a big step forward Friday with release of a favorable U.S. environmental impact statement.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff released the 2,220-page report approving the project as long as builders take certain measures to mitigate environmental impacts.

Proponent Broadwater Energy LLC, a partnership of Shell U.S. Gas and Power and TransCanada Corp, said it was studying the document but called it a major milestone. read more

Published: January 11, 2008 11:34 AM 
 
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- The head of Russia’s environmental regulating agency, Sergey Sai, has tendered his resignation, a person close to the government said Friday.

Sai, who ran the Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency, or Rosprirodnadzor, submitted his resignation to the minister of natural resources on Dec. 26, with his notice filed to the prime minister’s office the following day, the person familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires. read more

Iain Thomson, vnunet.com 11 Jan 2008

Shell is to offshore over 3,000 UK IT jobs and retain only a small core of staff in its UK offices.

Unite, the union previously known as Amicus, is now threatening Shell with legal action over the redundancy terms offered by the company.

IT staff are being offered a maximum payoff of £50,000, a quarter of the £200,000 offered to Shell’s oil rig workers.

David Fleming, national officer at Unite, said: “We will take a zero-tolerance approach to any company that makes compulsory redundancies as a result of offshoring. read more

Jan 11, 2008 04:30 AM
Tyler Hamilton
Energy Reporter

Maverick economist Jeff Rubin, who is at the top of his game these days, says Canadians shouldn’t be surprised to see gasoline at $1.50 a litre and oil at $150 (U.S.) a barrel within the next four years – possibly much sooner.

Oil depletion from existing fields is outpacing new supply, argues the chief economist of CIBC World Markets, and what supply the International Energy Agency and other tracking bodies are optimistically counting on involves complex and costly “mega-projects” that are likely to see major delays. read more

Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:13am GMT

By Chris Baltimore

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Crude oil at $100 a barrel would still be “pretty cheap” because global oil demand shows no signs of abating and new energy sources are in short supply, a prominent U.S. oil analyst said on Thursday.

Matt Simmons, founder of Houston-based Simmons and Co International, dismissed the idea that a looming U.S. recession will tame crude oil prices, which have tumbled since they peaked above $100 a barrel on January 3. read more

By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, May 12, 2007; Page D01

CARACAS, Venezuela — When the state oil company recently took over the last privately run oil fields in Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez declared it a victory against Washington and a giant leap toward a new energy policy that would diversify the market for Venezuelan crude to include rising powers like China.

“Down with the American Empire!” shouted Chávez, who often warns that he’ll shut off the oil spigot to the United States if the Bush administration invades Venezuela or hatches an assassination plot against him. read more

By Anthony DiPaola

Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) — Eni SpA fell in Milan trading after a news report said the Kazakh government may cancel the contract to develop the Kashagan oil field, held by a group the Italian company represents.

Kazakhstan may annul the production-sharing agreement with the Eni-led group, Russian news agency Interfax reported, citing a person close to negotiations between the parties. Eni fell as much as 0.9 percent, erasing earlier gains of as much as 0.7 percent.

The Italian company and its Kashagan partners are in dispute with Kazakhstan over delays and rising costs at the field. Kazakhstan in July rejected the group’s development plan that imposed a second delay on the start of production and an increase in costs, which the government says more than doubled the price for developing and running the field to $136 billion. read more

(ANSA) – Moscow, January 11 – Italian energy giant Eni’s huge Kazakh oil project faced a fresh threat Friday after a report that Kazakhstan authorities may try to ditch the consortium led by Eni’s oil subsidiary Agip.

According to a source cited by the Russian Interfax news agency, the Kazakh energy ministry ”is examining the possibility and drafting the necessary documents to dissolve the North Caspian project with the Agip Kso consortium”.

”I think the government will tackle the issue next week,” the source added. read more

By RUSSELL GOLD and OLIVER KLAUS
January 11, 2008

ConocoPhillips has emerged as the front-runner to participate in a $10 billion, multiyear project to develop the Shah natural-gas field in Abu Dhabi, according to several people familiar with negotiations.

Separately, the Houston company’s effort to build a gas pipeline in Alaska was rejected by the state’s governor, the Associated Press reported, dealing a blow to efforts to tap large supplies there.

In Abu Dhabi, ConocoPhillips is competing against Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC which as of late last year were widely perceived as finalists for the project. read more

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: January 11, 2008

RIO DE JANEIRO — While some of the world’s largest oil producers, including Mexico and Iran, are struggling to remain exporters, Brazil is moving in the opposite direction. A huge underwater oil field discovered late last year has the potential to transform South America’s largest country into a sizable exporter and win it a seat at the table of the world’s oil cartel.

The Petrobras 54 platform was in Niteroi, Brazil, last August, before its deployment.
The new oil, along with refining projects under way by Petrobras, the national oil company, could eventually make Brazil a larger exporter of gasoline as well, adding to supplies in the United States and other countries where it is all but impossible to build new refineries. read more

Inventive and dynamic risk-takers who changed the face of Britain

January 10, 2008
Compiled by Our Business Staff

Does Sir Win Bischoff wield the most power and influence in British business? Does the dire trading statement of Wednesday mean that Sir Stuart Rose is far too generously rated? Does Alistair Darling deserve the relatively lowly rating of number 11? Or is it precisely right that a politician hovers in the wings rather than stealing the limelight? Is there no other number at which a Chancellor of the Exchequer would be at home? Why are there so few women on the list? Is it for nothing that we talk about one-upmanship and not one-up-womanship? Are women working at their jobs while men are working at their job titles? Are investment bankers and other professional advisers such as lawyers and accountants, no more than parasites that live off the hard work of corporations, and the hard-earned savings of the Great British public? No one can suggest this is a definitive list. Future lists, as well as day-to-day business coverage, will be influenced by readers’ comments. read more

Reuters Thursday January 10 2008
By Jeffrey Jones

CALGARY, Alberta, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Canadian oil sands mining projects, seen as a key source of North American energy supply for decades to come, have been given poor environmental marks in a report released on Thursday, with even the best performer barely garnering a passing grade.

Environmental groups Pembina Institute and World Wildlife Fund surveyed 10 Alberta oil sands ventures, including seven yet to start producing, for attention to land, air emissions, water, climate change and overall environmental management. read more

Jan 11, 2008

Oil giant Shell plans to offshore more than 3,000 IT jobs worldwide following a financial review of its business.

Redundancy packages of £50,000 are being offered to the company’s IT staff, dwarfing the £200,000 packages it has pledged to its offshore oil rig workers.

Amicus is threatening to take legal action due to IT workers’ lower value redundancy packages, which are a quarter of the pay settlement Shell will give to its oil rig staff.

Experts fear the two-tier redundancy packages could undermine IT’s role within the company, which includes six ICT divisions dedicated to its specific business areas. read more

VLADIVOSTOK, January 10: Second tanker for liquefied natural gas transportation “Grand Aniva” is given to Sakhalin Energy company.

As it was reported in the company’s press-service it is the second of three tankers chartered by Sakhalin Energy for long period. These ships will deliver LNG to consumers in countries of Asia-Pacific region from the first plant in Russia producing LNG. Construction is being conducted near Prigorodnoe settlement in the south of Sakhalin.

The first tanker “Grand Elena” was given to Sakhalin Energy in October 2007. read more