Archive for January, 2008
Marathon Oil 4Q Net Down 38%, Revenue Up 31%
Marathon Oil Corp.’s net income dropped 38% in a “difficult” fourth quarter marked by record crude-oil prices and delays in a key North Sea project, the company said Thursday.
Profit for Houston-based Marathon declined to $668 million, or 94 cents a share, from $1.08 billion, or $1.53 a share, earned in the final three months of [...]
Oil Prices Gyrate After Fed Rate Cut
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil futures fluctuated Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate less than many investors had hoped, and the government reported larger than expected increases in crude oil and gasoline inventories last week.
Many investors had anticipated the half percentage point rate cut and were hoping for more, analysts said.
“A [...]
Canada’s Suncor plans C$20 bln oil sands expansion
Suncor Energy, Inc. said on Wednesday it will spend C$20.6 billion ($20.8 billion) on an expansion scheme that will make it the biggest producer in the oil sands of northern Alberta.
Suncor’s board of directors gave the go-ahead for the Voyageur project, a 200,000 barrel-a-day expansion of the company’s already massive oil sands operations near Fort [...]
OPEC policies will ensure oil price volatility
Oil prices in 2008 could fluctuate widely as in 2007 when Brent traded between $50 and $100.
Opec officials meeting this week in Vienna blame speculators for most of this volatility. But growing price volatility stems directly from Opec’s increased importance in balancing markets. Speculative flows accentuate price movements, but the producer group is their prime [...]
EIA sees U.S. oil over $85 per barrel through June
WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil prices are expected to stay above $85 a barrel, on a monthly basis, through June, even if OPEC keeps output close to current levels when it meets this week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
“While prices have declined from their peak, crude oil prices do [...]
NEWSFLASH: Shell’s CEO sends grim energy futures email
Below is the full text of an email sent by Jeroen van der Veer, the CEO of Shell, to all Shell employees, and explicitly meant for wider distribution. (Update: an almost identical version is now available on Shell’s website)
It is a clear acknowledgment of the reality of peak oil, climate change and of the need [...]
Exxon tries for new all-time profit record
Surging crude prices could help the oil giant post the biggest bottom line ever for a U.S. firm; refining margins, rising costs could get in the way.
NEW YORK — Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, is within striking distance of setting an all-time profit record - again.
Analysts are expecting the company to [...]
Not “Peak Oil” but Lots More Oil
There was an interesting news item out of Moscow in late September, to which most people probably paid little heed. “Russia is one of several countries that have rushed to lay claims to the area where a U.S. Study suggests as much as 25 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas could be hidden.”
Earlier, [...]
Iran resumes gas supplies to Turkey: report
ANKARA (AFP) - Iran began pumping natural gas to Turkey on Sunday after cutting supplies for three weeks, but the flow was far less than normal, the Anatolia news agency reported.
The gas began flowing at around 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) at a rate of between 1.5 and 2.0 million cubic metres a day, far bellow [...]
Survey shows gas prices down 9 cents
CAMARILLO, Calif. - The national average price for gasoline dropped about 9 cents over the last two weeks, according to a survey released Sunday.
The average price of regular gasoline on Friday was $2.98 a gallon, mid-grade was $3.10, and premium was $3.22, oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said.
Of cities surveyed, the nation’s lowest price was [...]
