Hydro takes $462M hit on Gulf field 03/11/2007
Norsk Hydro, whose exploration and production assets are being acquired by fellow Norwegian-based Statoil in a $30 billion stock deal, said it planned to write down the value of its Gulf of Mexico Fro...

MMS begins study for eastern Gulf lease sale 03/11/2007
The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service has begun the planning process to gather information and conduct an environmental review of a small portion of the federal waters in t...

Oil price No. 1 concern 03/11/2007
Oil execs rank Gulf, Rockies, then Alaska as having best discovery potential
The top concern among U.S. energy executives is the uncertainty of natural gas and oil prices in the near future, according to a survey conducted by accounting, tax and business advisory firm Gra...

EIA lowers WTI projection to $59.50 02/18/2007
In January agency said 2007 price expected to average $64.42, down from $66 per barrel in '06; Henry Hub up slightly at $7.10
The Energy Information Administration has lowered its 2007 price projection for West Texas Intermediate to $59.50 per barrel. In January the EIA, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, was projecting...

Oil Patch Insider 02/18/2007
TAPS starts first new electric pumps; Agrium writes off Nikiski; Palin slams Exxon; Petro-Canada not going to operate in NPR-A
The startup of the new electric pump system at pump station 9 of the trans-Alaska pipeline has started to bring to fruition the years of work involved in the strategic reconfiguration of the pipeline...

BP names Andy Inglis head of EandP 02/11/2007
BP said Feb. 1 that Andy Inglis has been named a managing director of BP Group and will succeed Tony Hayward as chief executive of BP's Exploration and Production business, effective immediately. Ingli...

Atlantis project hit with delay 02/11/2007
BP defers 150,000 barrels per day of U.S. Gulf production in 2007, 100,000 bpd in 2008
BP continues to fall behind on major deepwater oil projects in the Gulf of Mexico, causing production delays of around 150,000 barrels a day in 2007 and roughly 100,000 barrels a day in 2008, with som...

Feeling the gas crunch 02/11/2007
North American producers chase deeper targets, forego shallow drilling in bid to combat costs; Western Canada headed for decline in activity through 2014
EOG Resources is transferring its Canadian natural gas focus from shallow vertical prospects to horizontal shale gas and Apache is moving from shallow conventional and unconventional projects to deepe...

Anadarko continues to pare down assets 02/04/2007
Company raises $8 billion from property divestitures, with more sales to come, more debt to repay from major acquisitions
Anadarko Petroleum is orchestrating a property sales spree that so far has netted after-tax $8 billion to pay down a hefty $24.3 billion debt the big Houston-based exploration and production independe...

House OKs taxes on oil companies 01/28/2007
Body plans to use money from fees and taxes, an estimated $15B, for renewable fuels; bill faces less certain future in Senate
The House rolled back billions of dollars in oil industry subsidies Jan. 18 in what supporters hailed as a new direction in energy policy toward more renewable fuels. Critics said the action would red...

Return to normal cited for sagging oil prices 01/28/2007
The drop in Alaska oil prices represents a return to a more accurate reflection of the value of the crude, not a significant decline, state analysts said. Oil prices hit a 20-month low when a barrel...

Noble plans fast-track development 01/28/2007
Raton startup expected in 2008 from subsea development of natural gas interval, Pony sidetrack recovers record drilling core
Exploration and production independent Noble Energy is currently planning a fast-track subsea development of a natural gas interval discovered at the company's Raton prospect on Mississippi Canyon blo...

Herrera: Oil price drop temporary 01/28/2007
Alaska-based energy consultant sees oil price average in 2007 similar to 2006 with gradual annual increase in years to come; conservation, oil sands won't fill gap as oil output declines
In June 2006, Petroleum News asked its favorite oil price guru, energy consultant Roger Herrera, if crude oil would plummet to $40 a barrel in the foreseeable future as predicted by BP's CEO Lord John...

KUPARUK ANNIVERSARY: Production begins 3 months early 01/21/2007
Kuparuk comes online in December '81 from 5 gravel drill sites in 20-mile square ARCO-owned area
Production began at the Kuparuk River oil field on Dec. 13, 1981, three months ahead of schedule. When the board gave the go-ahead in 1979 to spend $450 million for initial field development, it was...

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...

MEET ALASKA 2007: Meet Alaska 2007 speakers 01/21/2007
Richard F. Guerrant Richard F. Guerrant, vice president-Americas for ExxonMobil Gas and Power Marketing Co., is located in Houston, Texas, and is responsible for the marketing of ExxonMobil's natural g...

BP CEO Browne to retire at end of July 01/21/2007
Departure spells 'end of an era' for London-based oil and gas giant; Browne joined BP in 1966 as an apprentice, took top job in 1995
BP's chief executive is stepping down by the end of July - more than a year ahead of schedule - after a series of high-profile mishaps including a deadly refinery blast in Texas that tarnished the ima...

U.S. imports of LNG drop for 2nd year 01/21/2007
EIA analysts expect rebound this year, but shortages of feedstock gas and European competition for supplies are potential roadblocks
Imports of liquefied natural gas into the United States declined in 2006 for the second straight year, as European customers outbid U.S. firms for the fuel. Those findings come in a new report from th...

Oil, gas prices down on warmer weather 01/21/2007
EIA projects WTI average of $64.42 in '07, compared to $66.02 in '06; Henry Hub expected to rise, from $6.94 in '06 to $7.06
Warmer U.S. December weather led to a decline in crude oil and natural gas prices, the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration said Jan. 9 in its short-term energy outlook. Duri...

Forest buys Houston Exploration in $1.5B deal 01/14/2007
Company antes up cash and stock, making fifth acquisition in three years, securing onshore natural gas in Texas and Rockies
Denver-based exploration and production independent Forest Oil, for the fifth time since changing its growth strategy three years ago, has gone to the acquisition well to secure and expand its U.S. on...

BP: 4Q production unlikely to change 01/14/2007
Company expects final figures to mirror third quarter; problems include reduced Prudhoe output, delays at Gulf's Thunder Horse
BP, Europe's second-largest oil company by market value, said Jan. 9 that production in the fourth quarter is unlikely to change compared with the previous three months, following more than a year of...

Bush lifts moratorium 01/14/2007
Bristol Bay will probably be part of MMS 2007-2012 lease sale schedule
In a not entirely unexpected move on Jan. 9 President Bush lifted the moratorium on oil and gas leasing in the North Aleutian planning area, an area that includes the outer continental shelf of Alaska...

Shifting boundary line for Gulf sales 01/07/2007
Minerals Management Service to include former some or all of 2 million acres of Eastern Gulf of Mexico tracts in fall lease sale
The U.S. Minerals Management Service has carved out the first 2 million acres of 8.3 million acres that Congress set aside for future oil and gas lease sales in the Eastern and Central Gulf of Mexico....

Oil firms try to 'speed up' recruiting 12/24/2006
On your mark! Get set! ... "Have you ever searched for oil under the ocean floor, or helped create products to improve fuels and lubricants? Hurry now, the clock's ticking." Not your typical job inte...

EIA sees $66 oil in 2006, $65 in '07 12/24/2006
Henry Hub natural gas spot prices expected to average $7.06 per mcf this year, increase to an average of $7.87 in 2007
West Texas Intermediate crude oil is expected to average $66 per barrel this year and $65 per barrel in 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration said in its Dec. 12 shor...