January 17th, 2007:

Crude-oil futures staged a late rally and climbed above $52 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after dropping to a new 20-month low but finding support just above $50 a barrel.

Here is Wednesday’s roundup of oil and energy news:

•CHINA DEAL MAY CALM MARKETS: The International Energy Agency is close to an agreement with China that would increase the transparency of the country’s plans for its strategic petroleum reserves, the IEA’s chief said, a development that could ease volatility in global oil prices. read more

Posted on Jan 17th, 2007 with stocks: OGZPY.PK, RDS.A

Kurt Wulff (McDep Associates) submits: Buy-recommended Gazprom (OGZPY.PK)’s sales of natural gas are as large as Saudi Arabia’s sales of crude oil in heating equivalent, and superior in environmental quality. Yet Gazprom’s selling price at about $2.50 a million btu is only about one-fourth of Saudi Arabia’s at some $60 a barrel, or $10 a million btu.

In view of that price chasm one can hardly fault Russian President Putin for attempting to secure market value for a precious resource. Yet, Russia, unlike Saudi Arabia, offers ordinary investors, as well as anyone who objects to a nearer-to-market price for clean energy, the opportunity to participate in the producer profit by owning shares of what may become the “World’s Greatest Energy Company.” read more

Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:15pm ET

NEW YORK, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp. Senior Vice President Stuart McGill said on Wednesday the company expects to start up a similar number of major production projects this year as in 2006.

McGill, speaking at a Goldman Sachs energy conference, said the world’s largest oil and gas company started up seven major projects in 2006, six of which are liquids-focused. He said Exxon expects a more even distribution of oil and gas projects in 2007.

He said the company is working on a total of 30 major projects scheduled to start up in the near- to mid-term. He said most of these projects are oil. read more

Thursday, January 18, 2007

MOTORISTS have been fleeced of more than $150 million since Christmas by pumped-up fuel prices – but don’t expect petrol company bosses to explain the rip-off.

With another interest rate rise looming due to high petrol prices, The Daily Telegraph can reveal cash-strapped consumers have lined the pockets of the petrol companies with $172 million in extra revenue.

A 10c gap between local and international petrol prices emerged in the last week of December, resulting in a $50 million-a-week cash bonanza. read more

Nigel Wilson, Energy writer
January 18, 2007

ENERGY giant Shell is back in the Australian exploration business with a vengeance.

Once one of the most active of the world energy giants in seeking Australian prospects, Shell basically restricted its Australian exploration activities to Woodside Petroleum, in which it has a 34 per cent stake.

One of the reasons for Royal Dutch Shell’s aborted $10 billion takeover for Woodside six years ago was that the Australian company was taking an increasingly independent stance and seeking to expand beyond the northern coast of Australia. read more

15:43 | 17/ 01/ 2007 

MOSCOW, January 17 (RIA Novosti) – A senior Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] official said Wednesday that financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development was not critical for the current phase of the Sakhalin II hydrocarbon project off Russia’s Pacific coast.

The EBRD delayed its decision on a second loan to the oil and gas project, when the then Shell-controlled operator came under intense pressure from regulators last year, and a controlling stake was sold to the Russian energy giant. Experts say the bank’s participation could allay foreign investors’ fears in the wake of the environmental scandal surrounding the project. read more

14:10 | 17/ 01/ 2007 

MOSCOW, January 17 (RIA Novosti) – Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] does not have plans to buy assets in the United States in the near future, a top manager of the Russian energy giant said Wednesday.

“We are studying different scenarios for our work on the American market, and they will be linked to our liquefied natural gas production plans,” said Alexander Medvedev, a deputy chairman of Gazprom’s management committee.

However, Medvedev said that although there are no such plans at present, this does not mean the company is not interested in the market. read more

By Dinakar Sethuraman

Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) — Kuwait Petroleum Corp. is negotiating a service contract with Royal Dutch Shell Plc to develop 35 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves it discovered last year, the International Oil Daily said, citing Kuwaiti officials it didn’t identify.

Kuwait Petroleum may increase gas output to 600 million cubic feet per day by 2010-11, and as much as 1 billion cubic feet per day by 2015, the report said.

A Kuwaiti company is building processing facilities to produce 170 to 180 million cubic feet per day of gas from northern Kuwait between November and next January, the report said. U.S. Schlumberger Ltd. confirmed the find in a study done last year, the report said. read more

Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:27 AM GMT
By Austin Ekeinde

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) – A Dutch oil worker and a Nigerian serviceman were killed on Tuesday when armed men attacked a small ferry near a huge Nigerian oil and gas export complex, industry sources said.

The two were on a boat operated by South Korean industrial conglomerate Hyundai on their way to the Bonny Island export terminal when the gunmen struck, the latest attack in rising violence in Africa’s top oil producer.

“Militants attacked a Hyundai company boat in transit from Port Harcourt to Bonny Island. One navy rating and one Dutch expat were killed,” one source said, asking not to be named. read more

Justin Summers, Opinion Writer
Issue date: 1/17/07 Section: Opinion

Last week an article came out in the LA Times that really grabbed my attention. This particular article investigated the investments of the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation and dug up some rather striking information concerning their motivations.

The Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation is a philanthropy composed of enormous investments from Bill Gates and Warren Buffet; the second richest person in the world.

In total, they have donated over 66 billion dollars in support of global health initiatives, improving U.S. public education, and social welfare programs in the Pacific Northwest. read more

Wednesday 17 January 2007, Page 28

Industry has big need for more workers as projects boom
BY DEREK SANKEY

CALGARY • After a record year of growth and energy prices, oil and gas companies say an anticipated moderation in the pace of activity in 2007 will only give them an opportunity to focus on hiring more workers to catch up to pent- up demand.

“ We have a structural problem,” says David Fulton, vice- president of human resources at Shell Canada Ltd. “ I do not think the shortage is going to go away any time soon, and that was one of the big debates 18 months ago.” read more

Wednesday 17 January 2007

Natural gas transformed the agriculture- based economy of the Netherlands into a European powerhouse, but those closest to the wealth are not benefiting, writes FRED PALS in Groningen.

BLOOMBERG NEWS

Marga Robbes, a mother of four, stands in a food line each month in Groningen, the poorest province in the Netherlands. Beneath her feet lies Europe’s biggest deposit of natural gas, the largest source of the country’s wealth.

“ It is strange that so much money comes from this region and we don’t see the effects of it,” said the 37- yearold former chef, who lives in a tworoom apartment and hasn’t worked in a decade because of a disability. She has $ 129 a month to feed her family. read more

By Vivion Kilfeather
17 January 2007

SHELL E&P Ireland allowed five Rossport men languish in prison for several weeks after the company had agreed to cease work on its controversial onshore gas pipeline.

A cessation of work was decided upon pending the outcome of a safety review by the Minister for the Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, the High Court was told yesterday.

Documentation in that case revealed that Shell had agreed with the Minister, in early July 2006, to stop work on the pipeline, pending compliance issues and the outcome of the safety review. read more

Publication date: 17 January 2007 08:00

Fuel giant Shell is to launch a fresh retail identity for the first time since 1994, created by Conran Design Group.

CDG, which is one of Shell’s aligned partner consultancies, was handed a brief for the retail visual identity to ensure cost efficiency and to create a more customer-friendly and contemporary image.

The consultancy has created a look that features an increased use of white, clearly highlights information on prices and special offers, and enables customers to enter and exit the forecourts easily. read more

COMMENT FROM breakingviews
January 17, 2007

Dealing with a damning report on your company’s operations is hardly the best way to start life as a chief executive-in-waiting. But that is precisely the situation facing Tony Hayward, whose appointment at BP to succeed Lord Browne came on the eve of the Baker report on the oil giant’s safety record in the U.S.

Mr. Hayward’s priorities should be clear. First, improve safety. The oil giant has been sweating its assets in order to boost returns. That helps explain the problems at the Texas City Refinery and its Alaskan pipeline. In a letter leaked from BP’s intranet just before Christmas, Mr. Hayward admitted that getting 100% of the task completed with 90% of the resources doesn’t always work. BP has already upped spending on improving safety at U.S. refineries to $1.7 billion, but the figure could still rise. read more

Published: Jan 17, 2007

Motorist lobby groups say they will ”kick up a fuss” if the Canberra unleaded petrol price has not fallen to $1.10c a litre by Friday. They backed national competition watchdog Graeme Samuel yesterday after he threatened to shame oil companies into cutting fuel prices.

Mr Samuel, chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, said oil companies had not matched falling world crude prices, which have dropped 25 per cent since August. He threatened to begin publicly shaming oil companies within a week unless petrol prices drop by at least 5c. read more