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Nigeria: Why We Blew-Up NPDC Oil Pipeline – Suspects

Ughelli — The two suspects arrested by security agents in connection with the explosion that rocked an oil pipeline belonging to the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, NPDC at Ighwrenene community, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, have stated that they blew up the pipeline in a bid to coax NPDC into awarding them a pipeline surveillance contract. The suspects identified as Dennis Oneya aka ‘General Touch’ and Emmanuel Joseph aka Ajegunle, both of Uduere and Afiesere communities respectively, told newsmen at the 222 Battalion headquarters, Agbarha-Otor that they embarked on the mission having being promised job slots by their sponsors when awarded the contract. Speaking on their modus operandi, while Dennis Oneya admitted digging the spot on the pipeline to be bombed in company of others, Emmanuel Joseph described himself as an expert in handling of dynamites used in the explosion as well as other similar blasts. […]

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Mexico delays auction of deepwater oil assets

Newspaper + Premium online Premium online Full FT.com subscription Standard online Full news & archive Registration 3 articles per month Price Monthly Annual £76.00 £13.50 per week (52 weeks in total) £42.00 £7.35 per week (52 weeks in total) £30.00 £5.35 per week (52 weeks in total) Free FT Alphaville plus selected FT blogs FT Alphaville and more Unlimited access to Alphaville, the FT’s popular finance blog, plus many other FT blogs featuring comment and analysis from top columnists Gavyn Davies on macroeconomics, economic policy making & financial markets The Westminster blog covering the UK’s political scene Dispatches from FT experts in San Francisco, London & Taipei on Tech blog The World blog on international affairs yes yes yes yes Unlimited FT.com article access Unlimited FT.com article access Enjoy full access to FT.com’s award-winning news, comment and analysis. With over 500 journalists reporting from over 50 countries, read our […]

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Scotland woos Chinese investors to energy sector

Scottish delegation in Beijing in an effort to draw Chinese investors to North Sea oil and gas sector. Photo by James Jones Jr./Shutterstock BEIJING, July 29 (UPI) — A Scottish delegation on an official trip to Beijing said they wanted to draw Chinese investors into the North Sea oil and natural gas sector. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon led a delegation to Beijing , meeting with senior representatives from three of the largest Chinese oil companies. "I made it clear to management from the firms that Scotland wants to work with them and seize on the vast opportunities that remain in the North Sea," she said in a statement. "Scotland is open for business and investment and partnership working with firm from countries like China will further cement our industry reputation for international leadership." Data published last month by the Scottish government said the North Sea remains the largest […]

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Poor margins, plant outage make Iran condensate a hard sell in China

Malta-flagged Iranian crude oil supertanker ”Delvar” is seen anchored off Singapore March 1, 2012. Any attempt by Iran to sell to China millions of barrels of ultra light crude built up in tankers over the last 2-1/2 years of sanctions is likely to be thwarted by poor refining margins and an outage at a major importer of the oil. Traders and company officials say Iran has little choice but to target China to buy the crude known as condensate because the world’s No.2 oil consumer in the past has been quickest to raise imports when conditions were in its favor. Other Asian buyers in Japan and South Korea said their governments have yet to approve taking more crude from Iran as the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers still has to be approved by the U.S. Congress and the Islamic republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. However, China […]

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China markets regulator warns media on ‘market disturbance’

Newspaper + Premium online Premium online Full FT.com subscription Standard online Full news & archive Registration 3 articles per month Price Monthly Annual £76.00 £13.50 per week (52 weeks in total) £42.00 £7.35 per week (52 weeks in total) £30.00 £5.35 per week (52 weeks in total) Free FT Alphaville plus selected FT blogs FT Alphaville and more Unlimited access to Alphaville, the FT’s popular finance blog, plus many other FT blogs featuring comment and analysis from top columnists Gavyn Davies on macroeconomics, economic policy making & financial markets The Westminster blog covering the UK’s political scene Dispatches from FT experts in San Francisco, London & Taipei on Tech blog The World blog on international affairs yes yes yes yes Unlimited FT.com article access Unlimited FT.com article access Enjoy full access to FT.com’s award-winning news, comment and analysis. With over 500 journalists reporting from over 50 countries, read our […]

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Whiting cuts budget less than two weeks after raising it

A trader waits for the opening of Whiting Petroleum’s stock at the post where it is traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange March 24, 2015. Whiting Petroleum Corp cut its 2015 budget on Wednesday less than two weeks after raising it, a turnaround that underscores the uncertainty engulfing the energy industry while crude prices sit roughly 50 percent below last year’s levels. The company, North Dakota’s largest oil producer, tends to be seen as a key barometer of the health of the U.S. shale industry. Its spending trepidation is sure to have ripple effects on drilling contractors and other oilfield service providers. Whiting now plans to spend $2.15 billion this year, running eight drilling rigs instead of a previous plan for 11, and mulling small divestments to bolster the company’s balance sheet. Just 12 days ago the company had boosted its budget by 15 percent […]

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U.S. sets new final rule on oil, ethanol trains

An aerial view of burnt train cars after a train derailment and explosion in Lac-Megantic, Quebec July 8, 2013, in this picture provided by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. The Obama administration on Wednesday released a new regulation intended to prevent explosive rail disasters such as the 2013 oil train derailment that killed 47 people and destroyed part of Lac-Megantic, Quebec. The new rule by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) requires two qualified railroad employees to ensure that handbrakes and other safety equipment have been properly set on trains left unattended while carrying dangerous materials such as crude oil or ethanol. A series of oil train accidents in recent years led the United States and Canada in May to announce sweeping new safety regulations that require more secure tank cars and advanced braking technology to prevent moving trains from derailing and spilling their contents. The new rule is […]

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Suncor Deepens Spending Cuts for 2015 as Oil Price Languishes

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil producer, cut its spending plan for 2015 for a second time and eliminated some non-essential projects as part of cost-reduction efforts. The company now plans to spend between C$5.8 billion ($4.5 billion) and C$6.4 billion from an earlier range of C$6.2 billion and C$6.8 billion, Calgary-based Suncor said Wednesday Canadian time in a statement on Marketwired. Suncor has already cut about 1,000 jobs and previously lowered its 2015 capital budget by C$1 billion while delaying projects to weather collapsing prices. Still, it’s pressing ahead with the C$13 billion Fort Hills oil-sands mine. The move to cut spending comes after the price of West Texas Intermediate moved back into a bear market, dropping below $50 a barrel earlier this month for the first time in about a quarter. The U.S. benchmark, averaged about $58 in the second quarter compared with about $103 in the […]

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Chevron and Exxon Get the Plaudits, but Some Smaller Drillers Faring Well

Giant oil companies are weathering the oil slump better than the average shale driller, but even their famous stability is at times being surpassed by much smaller companies that own some of the choicest U.S. oil-and-gas fields. Take Cimarex Energy Co. XEC 3.33 % , which drills in Texas and Oklahoma. The oil producer’s stock price has fared better than that of Chevron Corp. CVX 0.92 % , the second largest American oil company by revenue, since crude-oil prices started crashing last June. Shares of Diamondback Energy Inc., FANG 4.09 % an eight-year-old oil producer with a $4.3 billion market value, have held up almost as well as Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM 0.80 % ’s over that stretch. And as of this week, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. COG -1.49 % , a Houston-based shale-gas specialist, had bested all the big oil companies in stock-market performance since last summer […]

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Higher-risk ‘Shallow Fracking’ More Common than Suspected: Study

Sign image via shutterstock. Reproduced at Resilience.org with permission> The fracking of oil and gas less than a mile from aquifers or the Earth’s surface now takes place across North America with few restrictions, posing increased risk for drinking water supplies, says a new Stanford study . The study examined the frequency of so-called shallow fracking, described by the researchers as occurring less than a mile underground. Shallow fracking poses a greater risk to drinking water than fracking that occurs much deeper under the Earth’s surface. Out of 44,000 wells fracked between 2010 and 2013 in the United States, researchers found that 6,900 (16 per cent) were fractured less than a mile from the surface and another 2,600 wells (six per cent) were fractured above 3,000 feet, or 900 metres. "What surprised me is how often shallow fracturing occurs with large volumes of chemicals and water," said lead researcher […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple