The two companies also intend to create a joint commercial interest to purchase, transport and market natural gas, which is increasingly important for the Indian economy following over 8 percent growth last year. India currently imports most of its oil and has opened considerable regions of territory to oil and natural gas development in recent years.
The Trans Alaska Pipeline was shut down on Saturday following the discover of a leak at an intake pump station at Prudhoe Bay, constricting supply in one of the United States' key oil arteries.
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.
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.
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.
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