Shell Reduces Earnings by $203 Million
Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Cos. reduced its 2003 earnings by $203 million Friday, in an annual report delayed by two months due to the scandal arising from the company’s downgrading of its oil and gas reserves.
Fossil Fuels
PetroChina makes major oil discovery
PetroChina, China’s largest oil producer, has made the nation’s biggest oil discovery in a decade, bolstering its reserves by at least a third at a time when oil prices are at a record and the country’s demand is soaring, the company said Thursday.
If Oil Supplies Were Disrupted, Then …
With demand high, supplies squeezed, prices climbing and refineries already running flat out, what if something really went wrong? Something like a terror attack on crucial oil installations in Saudi Arabia or in the United States, or something less sinister but just as disruptive, like a fire or accident at a major refinery or port or a flare-up of civil or labor turmoil in Nigeria or Venezuela?
More Oil Co Reserves Shocks Unless Rules Tighten -Banker
The oil industry faces more reserves downgrade shocks unless disclosure regulations are radically overhauled, said Matthew Simmons, chief executive and chairman of investment bank Simmons & Co.
Asia’s surging energy demand
WHEN Hu Jintao, the president of China, went half way round the world in February to see President Omar Bongo of Gabon, he was not merely paying a courtesy visit to the African ruler of a population one-thousandth the size of China’s. Hu was after oil.
Spare world crude oil production capacity
A round up of various OPEC countries’ statements on their ability to increase production.
New Book Promotion: The End of the Oil Age
Promotional text about a new book on Peak Oil by From The Wilderness Energy Editor, Dale Allen Pfeiffer.
Oil becomes speculators’ market of choice
WITH heavy investment fund buying driving oil prices up 27 per cent this year to a 21-year high, opinion is divided on whether large funds are buying on the basis of solid market fundamentals or creating a bubble, the Financial Times said.
US: Rising Energy Costs Straining Farmers
The U.S. Agriculture Department’s chief economist, Keith Collins, said rising energy and fertilizer costs could add $1 billion to U.S. crop production costs.
Gas demand to soar for Canada’s oil sands – report
Natural gas volumes needed to help the oil industry unlock Canada’s vast oil sands are expected to nearly triple in the next decade, just as production is waning and prices are surging, the country’s energy regulator said Thursday.
Terrorists are now targeting Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure. How bad could things get?
NOT SO long ago, a certain well-known international figure penned a heart-felt speech he called his “Letter to the American People”. In it, he said: “You steal our wealth and oil at paltry prices because of your international influence and military threats. This theft is indeed the biggest theft ever witnessed by mankind in the history of the world.” The author was Osama bin Laden.
Saudis debate boosting oil output capacity, as OPEC weighs options
Saudi oil officials are considering when to start expanding their country’s long-term production capacity to stay ahead of the surging global demand for crude, executives at the state-run Saudi oil company said Thursday.
