THE EXPLORERS 2007: XTO more than doubles oil reserves 11/18/2007
XTO Energy, operator of the Middle Ground Shoal field in Alaska's Cook Inlet basin, is a good example of what an independent oil company can achieve in prolonging the life of an aging oil field. Midd...

Numbers will hurt proposal to lock up ANWR 11/11/2007
The latest bid by Congressional Democrats to permanently block energy development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge stands no better chance of success than earlier efforts to open the refuge's co...

ARCTIC ENERGY SUMMIT: High Arctic: industry's last oil and gas frontier 10/14/2007
There's one thing industry hopefully can look to when the Earth's offshore oil and gas resources south of the giant Arctic icecap are exhausted. Many geologists now believe this vast and frigid region...

30 STRONG: UERD for offshore development 10/14/2007
Ultra extended reach drilling enables Liberty offshore development without gravel island
Directional drilling of wells that deviate far from the vertical has proved a key technology in accessing much of the North Slope's vast oil reserves. But drilling to horizontal departures of tens of...

Canada 'not for sale,' says Prentice 10/14/2007
Federal government ponders national security test for foreign takeovers of firms by state-owned enterprises, welcomes outside investment
After less than two years in office, the Canadian government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, while preaching the importance of foreign investment, is being forced to follow the lead of other develop...

Middle East looks west for security 10/07/2007
It's not just the United States that seems anxious to hedge its energy security bets outside the Middle East. Companies based in the Middle East itself are looking for alternatives to their home terri...

South NPR-A planning formally ended 09/23/2007
A notice published Sept. 17 in the Federal Register restates a decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management, announced in May, to formally discontinue preparation of the...

Oil sands to the rescue 09/09/2007
Northern Alberta resource props up growth in world oil reserves, despite 45% hike in upstream spending; Asia-Pacific gas gains
Take the Alberta oil sands out of the mix and a bleak year of global additions to oil reserves in 2006 would have been much worse, according to the 40th annual Global Upstream Performance Review by th...

EandP companies have reserve worries 09/02/2007
Just-released John S. Herold upstream survey confirms finding of earlier surveys: worry over ability to replace spent oil reserves
The latest upstream survey reflects what other independent surveys released earlier this year discovered: the ability to replace spent oil reserves, despite record capital investment, has evolved into...

Margonelli's Oil on the Brain: A good start 09/02/2007
Oil on the Brain by Lisa Margonelli strives to demystify the "life" of oil as it moves along its journey from deep underground to our local gasoline station. The author follows the customary divisions...

Feasting on Canada 08/26/2007
Abu Dhabi's TAQA swallows Pioneer assets for $540 million as part of $3 billion expansion plan, adding 10,000 boe per day
Canada has leapt to the top of the shopping list for Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. (better known as TAQA). Having already locked up its acquisition of Northrock Resources from Pogo Producing earlier t...

NPR-A in limbo 08/26/2007
Draft EIS for Northeast NPR-A out, earliest lease sale after 2008 election
The federal government's plan to open the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to oil and gas development has officially been derailed for at least two years, starting with a September 2006 court order t...

Shell group chooses subsea pipelines over FPSO for offshore Perdido development 08/12/2007
Shell and partners Chevron and BP have opted for subsea pipelines, rather than what might have been the Gulf of Mexico's first-ever floating, production, storage and offloading system or FPSO, to tran...

Alberta's oil sands refuse to wilt 06/24/2007
Latest news involves Kuwait Oil's scouting trip, Western Oil Sands takeover rumors, Teck Cominco's oil sands output projections
Regardless of how much they come under attack, the Alberta oil sands show no signs of taking a time out. In the latest flurry of developments: • Kuwait Oil Co. made a scouting trip to Canada, looking...

BP's statistical review shows slow down in energy growth 06/24/2007
Eni's review shows 1.9 percent growth in world oil reserves last year, while natural gas reserves hold steady; Russia leads in gas reserves; Qatar world' s leading LNG exporter
While economic growth remained strong last year, high energy prices slowed the increase in global energy consumption, BP said in its Statistical Review of World Energy, released in mid-June. "Last ye...

EandP spending up by 13% 06/10/2007
Lehman forecasts increased worldwide spending in '07, beyond despite high costs
Exploration and production companies worldwide are expected to boost capital spending by 13 percent on average in 2007 compared to 2006, a 4 percent increase from a prior forecast of a 9 percent incre...

Surveys say world's oil reserves in 'irreversible, worsening' decline 05/27/2007
Major surveys conducted separately by Energy Intelligence and KPMG this spring confirm some of industry's worst fears, most notably the fact company executives now overwhelmingly believe the world oil...

BLM stops work on South NPR-A 05/20/2007
DOI Assistant Secretary Stephen Allred says energy development 'not appropriate at this time in the South NPR-A'
The Department of the Interior has stopped its planning work for the southern area of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. DOI Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Stephen Allred sa...

MEET ALASKA 2007: ANWR drilling hopes dim in new Congress 01/21/2007
Weak numbers, lack of imagination will hamper Democrats in efforts to pass legislation for or against Arctic drilling legislation
Forces amassing to push legislation through Congress that would open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling likely will encounter the same roadblocks in the...

Oilpatch Insider 12/24/2006
Coastal tundra travel open; Chavez comes to Alberta's rescue; Hite joins Benchmark; Interior picks Nageak; Katz stays
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources opened the eastern and western coastal areas of state land on Alaska's North Slope for winter tundra travel effective 8 a.m. Dec. 19. The department said the...

BP, Rosneft sign for JV in Russian Arctic 12/10/2006
Russian state-controlled oil company OAO Rosneft said Nov. 30 it had signed an agreement with BP PLC to work together in developing energy projects in Russia's Arctic region. The companies will work...

State revenue forecast: prices up 12/10/2006
Production decline will turn around briefly, but state revenues currently bolstered by new PPT, worldwide high oil prices
Oil prices are higher, but production rates are lower in the state's fall 2006 revenue forecast than in the spring 2006 revenue. The Revenue team of former Gov. Frank Murkowski, led by outgoing Commi...

Carbon dioxide capture elusive 12/03/2006
Governments slow to embrace overtures for incentives to store worst of greenhouse gases, despite warnings burying CO2 essential
It seems like a no-brainer. You capture carbon dioxide - rated the greatest culprit among greenhouse gas emissions - from production, upgrading or refining operations and ship it by pipeline to be eit...

Sands producers taking in their dirty laundry 11/26/2006
Two new oil sands technologies report solid results from trials to lower natural gas, water while developing bitumen resources
Taking heat for its token efforts to tackle greenhouse gas emissions, Canada's petroleum industry - particularly its oil sands sector - is making quiet progress toward cleaning up its operations. But...

THE EXPLORERS 2006 - Rutter and Wilbanks: Back to Glennallen 11/12/2006
Independent's Alaska acreage hits 125,000; not giving up on Copper River basin gas exploration well
It was Henry Jamison's refusal to give up on Alaska's North Slope in the 1960s that resulted in the discovery of Prudhoe Bay. If the same persistence pays off in southern Alaska's undeveloped Copper R...