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  •          The Middle East’s LNG capacity will rise to 100 million tons a year by 2015 from the current 20 million tons a year according to Khalid Sultan al Kuwari, marketing executive at Qatar’s RasGas. (5/28, #8)
  •          Saudi Arabia raised its oil production by nearly 300,000 b/d in March 2009 in spite of a collective agreement by OPEC to cut crude supplies to support prices, official figures revealed. (5/26, #11)
  •          Russia‘s crude oil output will be at least stable in 2009 compared to the previous year, according to the country’s oil minister. This contrasts with earlier statements that it would fall. (5/25, #18)
  •          Exxon Mobil said the transition away from oil-derived fuels is probably 100 years away.  Petroleum-based fuels including gasoline and diesel, as well as hydrocarbons such as coal and natural gas, will remain the dominant sources of energy for factories, offices, homes and cars for decades because there are no viable alternatives, said CEO Rex Tillerson. (5/28, #7)
  •          PetroChina briefly overtook Exxon Mobil as the world’s most valuable company after China’s stimulus plan caused a surge in the nation’s stock market this year…The company also agreed to pay as much as $2.2 billion to buy Singapore Petroleum to gain a foothold in Asia’s largest oil trading centre in an acquisition that may extend China’s influence over global resources pricing. (5/25, #14-15)
  •          Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. will spend almost a quarter less than planned to develop the Shah sour-gas project with ConocoPhillips as project costs declined amid the global financial crisis. (5/25, #11)
  •          Continuous spats between Ukraine and Russia over natural gas contracts are leading to a reevaluation of supplies to Western Europe, according to the head of the International Energy Agency. (5/25, #19)
  •          Deutsche Bank economist Adam Sieminski said that one of the few explanations for the bullish move they find compelling is that the replacement cost of crude is at least $60 and perhaps as high as $80 a barrel. (5/30, #4)
  •          Oil prices could spike to beyond the $150 record high of 2008 within two to three years unless the industry invests in new projects to expand capacity, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said last week. (5/26, #8)
  •          Iran’s news agency says the country has completed a major gas pipeline deal with Pakistan that could be extended in the future to take Iranian gas to India.  (5/26, #12)
  •          Russia cannot guarantee that there will be no halts in gas supplies to Europe, President Medvedev warned at a news conference closing an EU-Russia summit in Khabarovsk. Further raising the specter of a new gas shut-off, Prime Minister Putin separately indicated that the country would not extend any loans to Ukraine. (5/26, #23)
  •          The IEA repeated its warning that reduced investment in energy could result in future supply shortages and a new oil price spike in a few years’ time. In a report prepared for last weekend’s meeting of G8 energy ministers in Rome, the IEA said it saw “clear evidence” that energy investment across the world would drop sharply this year, with global upstream oil and gas investment budgets already cut by around 21% from 2008 levels.  (5/27, #6)
  •          Supplies of liquefied natural gas from proposed plants in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia may exceed demand in the Asian region by at least 57 percent by 2015 according to data from Wood Mackenzie Consultants. (5/27, #13)
  •          Iraq started exporting oil from its largely autonomous Kurdistan region for the first time on Wednesday, after years of deadlock over disputed Kurdish oil contracts. (5/29, #9)
  •          The gap between Professor Kjell Aleklett’s work (with ASPO, and the University of Upsalla in Sweden) and that of the Paris-based International Energy Agency is huge. IEA projections of liquids supply puts total output at 101.5 million b/d by 2030. Aleklett’s research sees it at 75 million b/d or less (5/29, #6)
  •          Roughly one-third of the world’s gas reserves and 13 percent of its oil reserves lie north of the Arctic Circle, estimate US Geological Survey researchers who suggest most of the gas is in Russian territory.  Researchers cautioned that their team did not take into account the cost and difficulty of getting to these reserves. The researchers also expressed concerns about the potential environmental impact of removing gas and oil from the Arctic. (5/30, #16)
  •          For the first time, Alberta and OPEC have established an official relationship. It’s a new strategy with big implications, including potential investment by OPEC members in Canada’s oil sands. (5/26, #20)
  •          Russia is no longer a welcome guest at OPEC meetings after boosting its production to levels far above those pumped by the group’s biggest exporter, Saudi Arabia, and snatching away market share. While OPEC has cut output by over 3 million b/d since last fall, Russia has increased the supply by 6.4 percent, or 0.45 million b/d. In other words, Russia has compensated for close to 15 percent of the cuts made by OPEC.  (5/29, #16)
  •          Opponents of natural gas drilling in the US northeast welcomed new restrictions by an interstate regulator requiring prior approval for any new projects in the Delaware River basin. There is no current gas development in the area covered by the measure, though the basin drains areas above the Marcellus Shale formation. (5/30, #11)
  •          The U.S. Geological Survey said it has proof that the U.S. Gulf of Mexico has a rich concentration of gas hydrate reservoirs, a potential source of natural gas. (5/30, #21)
  •          ConocoPhillips expects oil supply to exceed consumption during 2009 and for the next several years because of the global recession. (5/26, #5)
  •          Reduced spending on energy threatens to slow the economic rebound, trigger a surge in prices, and hurt future prosperity, the Group of Eight industrialized nations said at the close of their meeting in Rome. (5/26, #3)
  •          The EIA said Thursday that over the four weeks that ended May 22, US demand for motor gasoline averaged about 9.2 million b/d, down 0.4 percent from the same period last year. Distillate fuel demand, largely for use in trucking, dropped 9.9 percent from the same period last year. Jet fuel demand fell 9.1 percent. (5/29, #5)
  •          The declining air cargo market seems to have hit bottom, according to the head of the International Air Transport Association. Air cargo, a key barometer of world trade, has slumped amid the global economic downturn. Global air freight volumes in January saw a record 23 percent year-on-year drop. (5/25, #8)
  •          Steven Chu, US Secretary of Energy, said that it would not be politically feasible for the country to lower its reliance on oil by raising petrol prices to Europe’s levels through higher taxes or regulation. (5/28, #15)
  •          China views global warming as more serious than the world financial crisis, President Hu Jintao’s special representative on climate change wrote in an editorial. (5/27, #10)
  •          China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, said it will play a “positive and constructive” role to help the world fight climate change, according to US Senator John Kerry.  (5/28, #13)
  •          Chinese officials worried about heavy reliance on imported oil have drafted automotive fuel economy standards that are even more stringent than those outlined by President Obama last week. (5/28, #14)
  •          Edison International, owner of California’s largest electric utility, said it will be difficult to keep increasing its use of renewable energy as the latest goal (33% by 2020) set by Governor Schwarzenegger stretches limits on the ability to manage such power sources. (5/30, #12)
  •          Solar power stations that concentrate sunlight could generate up to one-quarter of the world’s electricity needs by 2050, according to a study by environmental and solar industry groups. (5/27, #19)