Click on the headline (link) for the full text.
Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage
Galileo challenges sat-nav firms
Jonathan Fildes , BBC
Entrepreneurs are being urged to look to the future of satellite navigation.
A competition, which aims to find novel ideas that exploit the pin-point accuracy of Europe’s soon-to-launch Galileo system, is calling for entries.
…The system could also help oil companies keep track of their reserves and improve prospecting for gas, water or even archaeological ruins.
“The background to this is seismology,” explained Conor Keegan, director of Genesys Consultancy.
Seismology is an established technique, often used in the oil industry, which allows scientists to peer beneath the surface of the Earth.
By studying how sound waves produced by earthquakes or artificial sources, such as explosions, are reflected by different subsurface layers, seismologists can build up a picture of the structures beneath their feet.
The technique can be expensive and time consuming. However, GeoSynch should reduce this cost.
…”One of the main users we see for this is oil and gas prospecting companies,” said Mr Keegan.
Galileo is expected to become fully operational in 2012 But rather than helping them to find new reserves, GeoSynch may allow them to work out when to stop pumping oil.
“Today there is no way of accurately measuring the depletion in an oil field,” he said.
“If the oil reserves drop down below a certain level it is no longer commercially viable for them to continue working it.” By mapping tiny subsurface changes, GeoSynch should have the accuracy to tell them when to stop.
(17 July 2007)
Contributor Al Macmillan writes:
Europe is soon to start launching a network of satellites called ‘Galileo’ to compete with the US GPS system. The satellites employ some of the very latest technology, some of it derived from seismic technology. A potential application is the ability to ‘spy’ on oil fields from space to see where oil is within a reservoir, how much is left and to measure depletion. It will probably become impossible in a few years for OPEC countries to keep their reserves secrets any longer.
ConocoPhillips Chief Urges Cooperation on Energy Policies
Kristen Hays, Houston Chronicle
The sometimes adversarial relationship between the U.S. government and oil industry should become more collaborative to hammer out an energy policy, the head of Houston-based ConocoPhillips told business leaders Thursday.
“If we want to retain our world leadership, we must have sound energy policy that enhances our competitiveness and economic strength,” Chairman and CEO James Mulva, 61, said in a sharply worded speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The industry faces global tight supply, increasing demand and diminishing access to many resource-rich areas, he said.
Mulva noted that some recent congressional proposals would hike taxes on oil companies, remove some tax breaks or open the door to lawsuits against exporting countries that the U.S. relies upon for imports.
But he said such action won’t help craft meaningful energy policy that promotes efficiency, protects the environment and addresses the need to find resources — including increased access to potential domestic sources now off-limits.
(20 July 2007)
It’s hard to imagine a more friendly relationship between oil companies and a government than the current Bush administration. The only countries with a closer relationship are those with national (government-owned) oil companies. -BA
President of Shell Oil urges more oil drilling
Vic Kolenc, El Paso Times
The United States is living on the “knife’s edge of a (energy) shortage,” but the country has plenty of energy sources for the future if Congress and other policymakers open more areas to oil drilling and provide incentives for developing other forms of energy.
That’s what John Hofmeister, 59, president of Houston-based Shell Oil Co., the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell, told a group of El Paso business people Friday. Forbes ranks Royal Dutch Shell as the world’s third-largest company by revenues.
“Are we running out of energy? Not at all. That’s the good news,” Hofmeister said during a luncheon speech. “Why is it not more available? That’s the bad news,” and is tied to the lack of proper public policy for energy development, he said.
…Steve Thomson, an advanced engineering manager at the Delphi Mexico Technical Center in Juárez, said he agreed that plenty of energy was available, “but it’s always a matter of how much you’re willing to pay to process that energy.” Thomson said he had been unaware of the amount of oil and gas available “right off our coasts.” He agreed that more offshore areas should be opened to drilling.
El Paso Electric CEO Ershel Redd Jr. said he was disappointed that Hofmeister didn’t talk about the need for energy conservation to help solve the nation’s energy problems.
“He wants to change public policy to open new lands for exploration,” Redd said. “But those supplies also are finite. We need to figure out how to use less (oil and natural gas), and take cars off the street and (use) more mass transit.”
Redd agreed with Hofmeister that the United States should do more to use its plentiful coal supply. “We have 250 years of coal reserves in this country,” Redd said. It will cost more to use it, “but we have to do it.”
(21 July 2007)
Petroleos de Venezuela May Make Shoes, Build Ships, Grow Beans
Steven Bodzin and Jose Enrique Arrioja, Bloomberg
Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company that controls the biggest reserves in South America, may begin making shoes, building ships and farming soybeans as President Hugo Chavez widens the government role in the economy.
Chavez has approved the creation of seven subsidiaries that range from oil services to agriculture, according to a written report to the company’s management. The plan would make Petroleos de Venezuela an even bigger force in the country’s daily life and put it in competition against companies from around the world.
Petroleos de Venezuela already controls the oil production that accounts for 90 percent of Venezuelan foreign trade and about half of government revenue. The effort to expand into other businesses may siphon off managers and capital, hobbling efforts to reverse a slide in energy production.
… The report offers details on Chavez’s plan, announced earlier this year, for the company to provide oilfield services, industrial machines and farm aid. The new industrial unit will make oil rigs, valves, pumps, tubes, industrial chemicals and telecommunications equipment.
(19 July 2007)
