April 24th, 2008:

breitbart.com: Oil prices to double by 2012: Canadian study    

Apr 24 03:05 PM US/Eastern

The price of oil is likely to hit 150 dollars (Canadian, US) a barrel by 2010 and soar to 225 dollars a barrel by 2012 as supply becomes increasingly tight, a Canadian bank said Thursday.

The CIBC report says the International Energy Agency’s current oil production estimates overstate supply by about nine percent, since it wrongly counts natural gas liquids — which are not viable for transportation fuel — in its numbers. read more

St. Clair Record IL: Shell and Premcor settle Hartford vapor claims for $16 million

4/24/2008 9:45 AM
By Steve Korris

For $16 million, Shell Oil and Premcor Refining Group have arranged to settle all claims that their refinery operations polluted the village of Hartford.

Shell and Premcor reached agreement April 3 with two teams of attorneys who had previously battled for the right to represent local residents.

Mark Goldenberg of Edwardsville leads one team and Teresa Woody of Kansas City, Mo. leads the other. read more

Reuters: UPDATE 1-Power cut at UK refinery will shut Forties – BP

Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:52am EDT

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) – Britain’s Forties oil pipeline will have to close if a power plant at the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland stops running because of a strike, a spokesman for pipeline operator BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday.

If the combined heat and power plant at Grangemouth, run by refinery operator Ineos, stops supplying BP’s Kinneil facility, it will not be able to send crude to the nearby Hound Point export site and the 700,000 barrel a day pipeline would have to close, he said. read more

Bloomberg: TNK-BP Advances Most in Two Years on Report of Gazprom Offer

By Greg Walters

April 24 (Bloomberg) — TNK-BP, BP Plc’s Russian venture, climbed the most in almost two years in Moscow trading after Vedomosti newspaper reported that OAO Gazprom may pay $20 billion for control of the company.

TNK-BP’s ordinary shares advanced 10.3 percent to $1.93 on the RTS at 11:08 a.m., heading for the biggest gain since June 2006 and the second-biggest since trading started in 2005. The advance values the Moscow-based TNK-BP at $30.6 billion. read more

Daily Telegraph: Russia claims £130m taxes from BP venture

By Russell Hotten
Last Updated: 12:33am BST 24/04/2008

Russian authorities have turned up the heat on BP’s joint venture TNK-BP, filing a claim for 6bn roubles (£130m) in back taxes.

It comes as the deputy chief executive of Gazprom, Alexander Medvedev, hinted that the state energy company might be losing patience with BP over delays in selling a huge gas field.

TNK-BP, which paid $1.4bn (£707m) in November 2006 to settle back tax claims, now faces an additional bill, according to the Russian business daily Vedomosti. The claims, confirmed by TNK-BP, relate to value added and extraction taxes. read more

SeekingAlpha.com: Big Oil Asks: Where Will Tomorrow’s Oil Come From?

posted on: April 24, 2008
By Jason Simpkins

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the world’s leading petroleum exporter. Officially, it has reserves of about 260 billion barrels of crude oil – approximately 24% of the world’s total proven petroleum reserves.

But Saudi Arabia has a problem. And it’s the same one that every oil-producing nation will face someday: Its oilwells are drying up.

Saudi Arabia’s largest and most productive field, the Ghawar field, produces about five million barrels a day – accounting for more than half of the kingdom’s total production and 6% of total world output. But Ghawar was discovered in 1948 and has required large-scale injections of seawater to artificially pressurize the well since the 1970s. There’s no telling when the last drop of oil will be purged from the biggest oil find of the 20th century, but there’s no doubt Ghawar has seen better days. read more

Shell to Sea Campaign: NEW ROUTE FOR PIPELINE

Shell have announced the new route of their production pipeline, which the company wants to pump the gas from the Corrib field to the refinery at Bellanaboy.

You can see a map of the pipeline route here:
read more

UpstreamOnline.com: Gazprom ‘to pay $20bn for TNK-BP’

By Upstream staff

Russia’s gas export monopoly Gazprom will buy control of oil producer TNK-BP, which is half owned by BP, for $20 billion by the end of the year, local media reported.

The report, in the Vedomosti daily, cited unidentified sources close to the management of both companies, Reuters reported.

Analysts have long speculated that shareholders of TNK-BP, which is half owned by both BP and a group of Russian billionaires, will be forced to sell out to a state player with close ties to the Kremlin such as Gazprom or Rosneft. read more

Bloomberg: Brazil Oil Finds May End Reliance on Middle East, Zeihan Says

By Joe Carroll

April 24 (Bloomberg) — Brazil’s discoveries of what may be two of the world’s three biggest oil finds in the past 30 years could help end the Western Hemisphere’s reliance on Middle East crude, Strategic Forecasting Inc. said.

Saudi Arabia’s influence as the biggest oil exporter would wane if the fields are as big as advertised, and China and India would become dominant buyers of Persian Gulf oil, said Peter Zeihan, vice president of analysis at Strategic Forecasting in Austin, Texas. Zeihan’s firm, which consults for companies and governments around the world, was described in a 2001 Barron’s article as “the shadow CIA.” read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: UBS Holders Score Win

Concessions Short
Of Revamp Sought;
Kurer Gets Booed
By KATHARINA BART and GORAN MIJUK
April 24, 2008; Page C2

UBS AG bowed to investor pressure by outlining plans to slim down its investment bank and strengthen its board, but it stopped short of the deep revamp demanded by some activist shareholders.

“Fundamental change is required in the way we look at risk and the implications this has on the scope of activities in which we want this bank to be engaged,” said Peter Kurer, who was elected chairman at the Swiss bank’s annual general meeting in Basel despite opposition from some shareholders. read more

Financial Times: Oil’s quest to find tomorrow’s fuels

By Sheila McNulty
Published: April 24 2008 03:00 | Last updated: April 24 2008 03:00

The world’s major oil companies are being forced to turn to the once unimaginable raw materials of chicken fat, tar and algae to make fuels and sustain their businesses into the next century.

For, in spite of massive legacy positions in oil and gas built over 100 years, gone are the days of the 1970s, when the majors controlled 85 per cent of the world’s oil reserves – the raw materials on which they built their businesses. read more

Financial Times: North Sea oil find starts Dana gushing

By Tom Burgis and Toby Shelley
Published: April 24 2008 03:00 | Last updated: April 24 2008 03:00

Shares in Dana Petroleum rose17.4 per cent after the company said it had struck oil in the North Sea, a discovery that could lift its output by about a fifth, if successfully developed.

The Aberdeen-based oil and gas exploration and production company said its West Rinnes exploration well produced high quality crude at a rate equivalent to 7,800 barrels a day during testing. read more

Financial Times: TNK-BP comes under renewed Gazprom pressure

By Catherine Belton in Moscow
Published: April 24 2008 03:00 | Last updated: April 24 2008 03:00

Gazprom has upped the pressure on TNK-BP, the Russian oil venture 50 per cent owned by BP, saying Russia could again consider revoking its licence to the Kovykta gas field if talks do not progress on selling control of the project to the state-controlled gas giant.

“We cannot wait endlessly,” Alexander Medvedev, deputy chief executive of the state-controlled gas company, said yesterday. “We received a signal from the Natural Resources Ministry that if this continues they could return to the question of annulling the licence. The ball for closing the deal is in TNK-BP’s court.” read more

The Independent: Shell to axe 180 jobs in Scotland

By Tom Bergin, Reuters
Wednesday, 23 April 2008

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said on Wednesday it is to cut 180 jobs in Aberdeen and review practices regarding contractors, as it sells oilfields in the North Sea.

The world’s second-largest private oil company by market value said in a statement the cuts in office-based positions, representing 7 percent of its workforce in the Scottish city, were needed to keep its UK operations competitive in the face of rapidly rising industry costs. read more

Daily Record: Shell To Axe 300 Scots Workers

Talks Collapse As Oil Strike Looms But ..

Thursday 24 April 2008

OIL giants Shell yesterday announced the axing of 300 Scots jobs despite record profits.

Shocked staff were given the news after arriving for work at the firm’s Tullos and Rubislaw offices in Aberdeen.

Shell say the cuts in their 2500- strong onshore workforce are needed to secure their long-term future in the North Sea.

They have already cancelled plans for a new £25million research centre in the city. read more

The Scotsman: Shell to axe 300 jobs, but small firms’ North Sea boom goes on

Published Date: 24 April 2008
By Frank Urquhart and Hamish Rutherford

EUROPE’S oil capital was yesterday reeling as energy giant Shell UK announced plans to axe 300 jobs at its Aberdeen headquarters, prompting union demands for the company to quit the North Sea.

The cuts – said to signal a continuing retreat by the major players in the North Sea – were revealed as Dana Petroleum, one of the leading small independents moving into the maturing basin, saw its shares soar to record highs. The spike follows the announcement of a new oil discovery. read more