The latest developments underscore a general theme from the subcontinent as it has been looking at other areas to acquire oil and gas assets overseas to meet its growing energy demand. As Asia’s third-largest oil consumer, India has been aggressively scouting for overseas gas and oil assets to meet its supply deficit and is competing with China for fields from Africa to Venezuela.
Although there are more than 40,000 oil and gas fields of all sizes in the world, slightly less than 80 percent of the proven reserves are concentrated in eight countries, of which only Canada and Russia are not OPEC members.
Japanese and South Korean refiners have increased oil purchases from Russia, eroding the dominance of Middle Eastern suppliers and electing for a more competitive crude source that is three weeks closer by ship. While Russian exports have surged over the last 6 months, the Middle East remains dominant, with total Middle East output in June around 19.9 million barrels, while Russia’s output was 10.3 million barrels, peaking at 330,000 barrels a day in June.
Moving away from more traditional supply and demand side fundamentals, gas prices and the costs of production may increasingly be leveraged by oversight, share holder accountability, and seasonal meteorology.
Encana, Canada’s largest natural gas producer is seeking project partnerships that could facilitate the development of unconventional gas fields, with expectations to double its production of natural gas over the next five years.
Oil prices gained as much as 1 percent with analysts offering further support; expecting a decline of 1 million barrels of U.S. oil supplies from 363.2 million last week. Oil inventories have not fallen nationwide for two consecutive weeks since January.
Prices are expected to rise, initially pushed higher by increased gas demand for cooling, as Senior Meteorologist Joe Bastardi of AccuWeather.com predicted this summer to be the “hottest summer since 2005 for much of the nation” and later from increased demand in industrial and power generation.
The oil spill liability could extend well beyond British Petroleum as Transocean Ltd., Halliburton Co. and Cameron International Corp. all had some exposure to this series of current events.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has confirmed Russia’s great interest in the oil and gas projects in Syria.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Sultanov told the official Syrian Arab News Agency, “A main trend in the economic cooperation is currently reflected in the oil and gas projects, including transportation of energy resources, electric power, water and irrigation [...]
The Interior Department has ceased oil and gas lease sale off the Virginia coastline due to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The said spill has raised questions about the safety of offshore drilling. This was decided as the department search for answers from reports after the explosion and sinking of the [...]
Thursday, July 22, 2010