Click on the headline (link) for the full text.
Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage
Chávez Backs Off Threats to Halt Oil Exports to U.S.
Simon Romero, New York Times
President Hugo Chávez said on Sunday that Venezuela was not planning to halt oil exports to the United States. The statement may ease fears in energy markets over fallout from Venezuela’s legal battle with Exxon Mobil over compensation for the nationalization of a large oil project.
Mr. Chávez’s conciliatory tone stands in contrast to recent comments made by him and other officials here in which they threatened to stop exporting oil to the United States. They said the Bush administration and Exxon Mobil were conspiring to wreak economic havoc in Venezuela.
(18 February 2008)
Iran Opens First Oil Products, Petrochemicals Bourse
AFP
OPEC’s number two crude oil producer, Sunday inaugurated its first exchange for oil products and petrochemicals, in a bid to become a major player in the global downstream industry.
Iran hopes that its oil goods exchange can lead the way for a domestic downstream industry to match its upstream crude oil production, the country’s main foreign currency revenue winner.
“We have been a good seller (of crude oil) and now we have a higher objective to have a share in the oil trade,” Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari told reporters.
… The idea of establishing a market for oil and its byproducts was first mooted a decade ago, and practical steps to prepare its creation were first taken in 2001.
But its opening has lagged over administrative procedures and long-delayed moves to liberalize the price of petrochemicals which have been under the government’s control.
The opening ceremony was held in Tehran via a video conference to the southern island of Kish where the new bourse is based.
(17 February 2008)
Comments at The Oil Drum today.
Iran launches oil products bourse with petrochemical deal
Associated Press
Iran established its first oil products bourse Sunday in a free trade zone on the Persian Gulf Island of Kish, the country’s oil ministry said.
A statement posted on the ministry’s Web site said 100 tons of polyethylene consignment was traded at the market’s opening on the island, which houses the offices of about 100 Iranian and foreign oil companies.
Oil and petrochemical products will be traded in Iranian Rials, as well as all other hard currencies, the statement quoted Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari as saying. About 20 brokers are already active in the market, it said
(17 February 2008)
As Mexico’s oil reserves drop, Calderon thinks the unthinkable
Dudley Althaus, Houston Chronicle
The political showdown over the future of Pemex, the Mexican government’s crucial oil monopoly, appears to loom at last.
At stake, people on both sides of the clash say, is the viability of Mexico’s petroleum industry, which ranks as the third-largest source of imported U.S. oil and supplies nearly 40 percent of the Mexican government’s budget.
Pemex – which exports about 1.4 million barrels of crude a day to the United States, most of it through Houston and its environs – has acknowledged that its oil production and reserves are dropping fast.
Many across the political spectrum here agree something must be done, and quickly, to reverse the tide, but the showdown isn’t expected to come for several months. The argument involves whether to invite in American and other foreign oil companies, which have the advanced technology and resources to find more petroleum, and on what terms to do so.
Critics contend that, regardless of what they’re saying publicly, President Felipe Calderon and his allies intend to privatize all or part of Pemex, which since its founding nearly 68 years ago has been both a patriotic symbol and a cash cow for the Mexican government.
“The capacity of Mexico to produce petroleum is declining because our proven reserves are running out,” Calderon said last week in Los Angeles, where he ended a five-day tour of the U.S. “They probably will last nine more years.”
(16 February 2008)
Gulf must curb its oil demand
Kamel Al-Harami, Arab Times (Kuwait)
The Middle East Gulf oil producers should do something about their increasing oil and gas demand. The demand of seven Gulf States, including Iran, is going to exceed six million barrels per day over the next few years.
At such a rate, our own refining capacity may not cope with our rate of consumption which will reach nearly 30 per cent in the next two years. Today most Gulf States are net importers of oils, particularly of motor gasoline. Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Iraq are importing almost all finished petroleum products. Bearing in mind that Iraq is still not stable, its demand for oil in times of prosperity will be far more than that of Saudi Arabia and Iran.
We all know that China is the main factor behind the growing demand for oil but no one is publicly commenting on the growing demand of the Middle East Gulf countries whose annual demand is as big as that of China. China’s demand is growing at 6 per cent while our Gulf states are very close behind with 5 percent growth.
There is no doubt that cheap and subsidized prices are contributing towards the fast growing demand of oil and gas which is mainly used for power and water generation and for driving cars. Cheap oil prices and cheap or free water and electricity in all of our Gulf countries are adding to billions of dollars but no body is paying attention to our energy bills and there is no customer awareness. The picture is certainly bleak in the years to come. But again who is paying any attention.
Kamel Al-Harami is an Independent Oil Analyst
(no date)
