January 17th, 2008:

Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:47pm GMT 

CALGARY, Alberta, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Completing the Broadwater LNG terminal in Long Island Sound will help smooth out natural gas price spikes in New York City, one of the project’s backers said on Thursday.

Hal Kvisle, chief executive of TransCanada Corp (TRP.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), said the regasification facility will bring badly needed natural gas to Manhattan and Long Island, relieving a supply bottleneck that pushed prices above $21 per million British thermal units during a cold snap last month. read more

Shell Shelled Out $80,000 in Second Half of 2007, Matching First Half’s Bill, on Exploration

January 17, 2008: 04:44 PM EST

NEW YORK (Associated Press) – Shell Exploration & Production Co., part of Royal Dutch Shell, paid Van Scoyoc Associates $80,000 in the second half of 2007 to lobby the federal government, according to a disclosure form.

The firm lobbied on legislation and issues related to oil and gas exploration, according to the form posted online Wednesday by the Senate’s public records office. read more

London, 17 January: The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has been urged to withdraw a loan that was used to finance Gazprom’s purchase of a majority share in the controversial Sakhalin II oil and gas project.

Nineteen environmental campaign groups and NGOs have written to Fred Goodwin, chief executive of the bank, asking him to rescind the loan, which was made by ABN Amro before it was acquired by a consortium of banks led by RBS (see ABN Amro slammed for $1 billion Sakhalin deal).

They argue that the project – on the Russian island of Sakhalin – endangers the survival of the rare Western Grey Whale, while work inland damages wild salmon runs. They say the project breaches the Equator Principles, which set sustainability criteria for project finance deals by private banks. read more

Angela Macdonald-Smith
January 18, 2008

WOODSIDE Petroleum, the country’s second-largest oil and gas producer, said fourth-quarter sales rose 7 per cent as prices climbed and the Stybarrow field started producing crude.

Sales rose to $1.17 billion in the quarter to December 31, from $1.1 billion a year earlier, the group said yesterday. Overall production fell 5 per cent to 18 million barrels of oil and gas.

Woodside’s full-year sales grew 5 per cent to $4 billion, as output climbed 4 per cent. read more

The Nation (Nairobi)
17 January 2008
Nairobi

Three multinational oil firms are finally dumping shareholding in the local refinery, statements from Nairobi and New Delhi confirmed on Wednesday. An Indian firm, Essar Energy Overseas Limited, is to buy half the stake in the only refinery in the region.

The other half of the Kenya Petroleum Refineries Ltd (KPRL), which is in dire need of upgrading, is owned by the Kenya Government.
 
“Shell, BP and Chevron have signed a share purchase agreement to sell their shareholding in Kenya Petroleum Refineries Ltd to Essar Energy Overseas Ltd,” said Shell external affairs manager, Ngaari Mwaura in a brief statement on Wednesday. “The sale is subject to certain conditions precedent. The transaction is expected to close in 2008.” Shell last year took over BP downstream operations in Kenya as the British oil giant set off a process where it would disengage with the rapidly competitive local market. read more

Gilbert Boyefio
17/01/2008
 
A group of petroleum dealers in Accra and Kumasi have filed an interlocutory injunction at the Fast Track High Court restraining oil giant, Shell Ghana Limited or their agents from going ahead with its intention to terminate the dealership agreement they have with the company, pending the determination of a suit before the court.

According to them the unilateral action by Shell will seriously undermine their business.

The dealers are seeking among other things a declaration that they are entitled to reasonable notices for the termination of the agreement and that the action of the company is unreasonably short, unconscionable, unfair and unlawful. read more

© 2008 The Associated Press
Jan. 17, 2008, 7:14PM

BERWICK, La. — Residents from 79 homes were allowed to return Thursday, a day after a pipeline at a pumping station leaked, spilling oil into a ditch system designed to contain spills.

The leak was discovered after mobile home park residents complained of a strong odor shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday, Police Chief James Richard said.

The leak occured near a pumping station along Shell Pipeline Co.’s line between Houma and Houston, said Shell spokesman Mike Smith. The leak was stopped by shutting down the pipeline, he said. read more

By George H. Wittman
Published 1/17/2008 12:08:07 AM

Russia wants to expand its role in global energy operations, and it has selected the gas deposits of Nigeria as a main target. Politics and the petroleum business in Nigeria begins and ends with payoffs, and the Russians are now in it up to their state-owned Gazprom’s neck. Effectively it is one government cartel dealing with another — with plenty of private deals in between.

“Dash,” as the practice of offering a special economic inducement is known in West Africa, can be as simple as a cash gratuity or as complex as an economic aid program set in a politically important region. The Russians have shown that they know the game and now are in full scale negotiations with officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). read more

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

 Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) — Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, said fourth-quarter sales rose 7 percent as prices climbed and the Stybarrow field started crude output.

Sales rose to A$1.17 billion ($1 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31, from A$1.1 billion a year earlier, the Perth-based company said in a statement today. Production fell 5 percent to 18 million barrels of oil and gas.

Woodside, 34 percent owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, in November cut its output forecast for 2008 by as much as 20 percent because of slower start-ups of new projects and the sale of fields in Mauritania. Output in 2007 was 70.6 million barrels, within a reduced forecast given in October. read more

By NEIL KING JR.
January 17, 2008; Page A4

Output from the world’s existing oil fields is declining at a rate of about 4.5% annually, a new study concludes, depriving the world of the same amount of oil that No. 4 producer Iran supplies in a year.

Yet the study’s authors, Boston-based Cambridge Energy Research Associates, argue that their assessment supports a generally rosy view of the industry’s future, given that new projects in the works will make up for the decline.

Set for release today, the study, based on data from 811 fields around the world, takes aim at a growing school of thought that the world’s oil production may soon hit its peak just as demand is surging in Asia and the Middle East. read more

Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:41am EST 

SINGAPORE, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) has shut down several key processing units at its 333,000 barrel per day, joint-venture refinery in Deer Park, Texas for scheduled maintenance, the company said in a filing on Thursday.

The fluid catalytic cracker, cat cracked gasoline hydrotreater, alkylation unit, girbotol unit, and sulfur recovery units 3, 4 and 5 have been shut down and were expected to resume operations on Feb. 4, Shell said in a filing with the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality. read more