U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp will not cut back on investments in new crude production, despite the collapse in oil prices, the company’s regional head of exploration said on Monday.
“The lower price environment has had no impact whatsoever on our investments,” Russell Bellis, exploration director for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa said during the IP week petroleum industry meeting in London.
By Tim Bradner, Alaska Journal of Commerce
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — Exploration and development drilling for natural gas in Cook Inlet is likely to slow in 2009 and this could worsen problems in the deliverability of gas to consumers in Southcentral Alaska during winter cold snaps, the director of the state Division of Oil and Gas says.
“We think 2009 will be a tough year for the Inlet,” said the division’s Director Kevin Banks.
BOSTON, MASS — Getting used to $1.90 gasoline after all those months last year of the $4 stuff, are you? Enjoy it while you can.
ANKARA — US Chevron company has expressed an interest in exploring oil reserves in the Black Sea with the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), told a TPAO official on 15 February.
Sources told the Anatolia Agency that TPAO has received offers from many companies for exploring oil in the Black Sea.
By Alan Wood
CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND — New Zealand’s oil exploration is being re-appraised because of lower world oil prices.
Explorers are also finding it tougher to find joint- venture partners. Top industry players say the industry is slowing down, and smaller players in particular are finding it tougher to explore.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian state energy company Petrobras will invest US$15.9 billion into international operations between 2009 and 2013. Around 79 percent of this will be allocated to international exploration and production activities, with the rest going towards refining, transportation distribution and other areas.
HOUSTON — The worldwide offshore rig fleet continues to grow with new rig deliveries even as the contracted offshore rig count continues to decline. The worldwide contracted rig count fell by four this week. With 611 rigs under contract out of 713 available, utilization now stands at 85.7 percent.
The U.S. Gulf of Mexico experienced declines of one rig each for total available offshore fleet and number of rigs under contract. With 81 of the 118 total offshore rigs deployed in the U.S. Gulf under contract, the region’s offshore rig fleet utilization rate is 68.6 percent.
LONDON — Urgent measures are needed to prevent the effects of the global recession combined with the banking crisis from dampening new investment in the recovery of the UK’s still significant oil and gas reserves, Oil & Gas UK warned this week.
The annual Oil & Gas UK 2008 Activity Survey, which summarizes planned expenditure on the UK continental shelf (UKCS) by 75 oil and gas companies, reveals that the combination of low oil prices and the freezing of capital markets will have a marked effect on exploration and development activity over the next 12 to 18 months. While the province is mature, its remaining reserves of up to 25 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent (boe) give it the potential to produce large volumes to help meet the nation’s primary energy needs for decades to come.
By Kamarul Yunus
KUALA LUMPUR — Oil support services companies are facing problems securing bank loans, said the head of its industry body, based on initial checks.
The Malaysian Oil and Gas Services Council (MOGSC) will carry out a survey to gauge the effects of the current downturn on its members, president Sofiyan Yahya said.
By Clifford Krauss and Jad Mouawad
HOUSTON — Confronted with a sharp change of priorities in Washington, international oil executives are expressing an eagerness to work with President Barack Obama to fashion new policies to tackle global warming.
At an industry conference here this week, the executives struck a conciliatory tone on how to limit the emissions that are contributing to climate change, with many of them sounding like budding conservationists as they stressed energy efficiency and the need to develop renewable fuels.