ODAC News

 

Wednesday 26 Sept

 

The Oil Depletion Analysis Centre

 

 

Global Oil Production Summary Report

1/   Oilwatch Monthly - September 2007   (The Oil Drum: Europe [ASPO Netherlands], Mon 17 Sep)

 

Big Oil – BP’s Performance

2/   BP faces shake-up as boss warns of ‘dreadful’ results (The Times, Tue 25 Sep)

 

Economy - UK

3a/  '10% chance' of house price crash [in the UK]            (BBC News, Tue 18 Sep)

3b/  IMF fears over Britain's sub-prime market       (The Telegraph, Wed 26 Sep)

 

Nuclear Energy – New Build

4/   Yemen nuclear deal sparks security fears [five new nuclear reactors]    (Arabian Business, Tue 25 Sep)

 

Oil Production - UAE

5/   UAE forced to slash oil output by a quarter     (Arabian Business, Sun 23 Sep) 

 

Dubai – Tower MegaProjects

6/   Samsung lines up next tower megaproject      (Arabian Business, Sat 15 Sep)

 

Natural Gas – Nabucco/ Turkmenistan/ Iran

7a/  Turkey defends energy ties with Iran despite U.S. opposition   (Tehran Times, Tue 25 Sep)

7b/  U.S. officials woo Turkmenistan's president    (International Herald Tribune, Tue 25 Sep)

7c/  EU initiates Nabucco gas pipeline planning    (Oil and Gas Journal, Thu 20 Sep)

 

Energy Intelligence – various

8a/  Oil Price Forecasts from Goldman Sachs      (Energy Intelligence, Tue 18 Sep)

8b/  Demand Runs Ahead Of Supply As Oil Inventories Fall           (Energy Intelligence [Energy Intelligence Briefing], Tue 18 Sep)

8c/  New Taxes May Hit Tar Sands Production     (Energy Intelligence, Thu 20 Sep)

8d/  Venezuela Outlines Plans to Build Petrochemical Industry      (Energy Intelligence [Oil Daily], Tue 25 Sep)

 

 

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1/         Oilwatch Monthly - September 2007     (The Oil Drum: Europe [ASPO Netherlands], Mon 17 Sep)

 

http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/2973#more

 

Comment:    September’s issue of Oilwatch Monthly. The main file is a PDF, 1.5 Mb available from the above link.

 

Article:    1) OPEC Demand - In 2002 OPEC-11 (excluding Iraq) consumed 4.63 million b/d according to the JODI database. Since then, demand has increased by 1.1 million b/d to 5.69 million b/d in 2006. The increase was mainly caused by higher consumption in Iran and Saudi Arabia, which increased by 234,000 and 418,000 b/d between 2002 and 2006 respectively. 2007 shows an acceleration of this trend in both countries. In Saudi Arabia, liquids consumption in the first half of 2007 reached 1.46 million b/d. An increase of 128,000 b/d compared to the consumption level of 1.33 million b/d in the first half of 2006. In Iran consumption increased by 100,000 b/d to 1.57 million b/d in the first half of 2007, compared to 1.47 million b/d in the first half of 2006.

 

2) Crude oil - As of the time of writing the latest numbers from the EIA's International Petroleum Monthly were not yet available.

 

3) Total Liquids - In August world production of total liquids decreased by 430,000 barrels per day from July according to the latest figures of the International Energy Agency (IEA). Resulting in total world liquids production of 84.60 million b/d, which is 854,000 b/d lower year on year from August 2006 to August 2007 and 1.53 million b/d lower than all time maximum liquids production of 86.13 million b/d reached in July 2006. The average production in 2007 up to August has been 85.05 million b/d, comparable to the average 2006 production of 85.00 million b/d.

 

4) OPEC - Total crude oil production of the OPEC cartel decreased by 80,000 b/d to a level of 30.16 million b/d, from July to August, according to the latest estimates of the IEA. Natural Gas Liquids production increased with 20.000 b/d to 4.82 million b/d, from June to July, according to the IEA. The average total liquids production in 2007 up to August has been 35.12 million b/d, which is 593,000 b/d lower than average 2006 production of 35.71 million b/d.

 

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2/         BP faces shake-up as boss warns of ‘dreadful’ results      (The Times, Tue 25 Sep)

 

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article2526429.ece?EMC-Bltn

 

Comment:    An alternative viewpoint of BP’s current production/revenue problems is that depletion / the end of easy oil / Peak Oil is beginning to bite. It is not just BP that is having problems. Platforms and refineries are aging the world over, and all the major independent oil and gas companies have problems accessing new provinces/fields.

 

Article:    BP’s new chief executive, Tony Hayward, has signalled to staff that he is preparing for a major internal shake-up of the business, to be announced next month, and gave warning that the oil giant’s third quarter results would be “dreadful”.

 

Mr Hayward, who made the remarks in a “town hall” meeting with middle management in Houston, Texas, before they were circulated in a confidential memo to staff, also said that the company’s performance was at its worst since the early 1990s.

 

He said BP planned to simplify the business by cutting the number of layers of management between workers and the chief executive from 11 to seven. “There is massive duplication and lack of clarity of who does what,” Mr Hayward was quoted as saying. “We will reduce the number of organisation units.”

 

He added that BP needed to change its internal culture and become less risk-averse. “Assurance is killing us,” he said.

 

The memo added that, while the group’s third-quarter revenues would be hard-hit, in the fourth quarter they would pick up because of the addition of 250,000 barrels per day of production from the start of Atlantis, as well as other projects in Angola, Trinidad and the Gulf of Mexico.

 

BP declined to comment on the memo. However, it is clear that Britain’s biggest company is facing pressure on earnings and cashflow caused by continuing troubles at its US refineries and delayed upstream projects.

 

At the group’s interim results, the first since he was appointed chief executive, Mr Hayward blamed weak engineering skills for delays at the Thunder Horse and Atlantis oil production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Mr Hayward, who recently took over from Lord Browne of Madingley, has been scrambling to restore confidence in the group’s operational record following the deaths of 15 workers at its Texas City refinery and an oil spill in Alaska in 2006.

 

The company has also faced problems in Russia, where, in June, the Kremlin tightened its grip on the country’s energy resources by forcing BP to sell Kovykta, one of the world’s largest undeveloped gasfields, to Gazprom.

 

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3a/        '10% chance' of house price crash [in the UK]          (BBC News, Tue 18 Sep)

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7000598.stm

 

Article:    There is a one in 10 chance of a 1990s-style housing market crash in the UK, according the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

 

Rics has lowered its expectations for house prices over the next 12 to 15 months to no change from 3% growth.

 

Its chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said that talk of a looming crash was legitimate and not irresponsible.

 

In the last housing market crash, average prices fell by 35%, adjusted for inflation, from their peak in 1989.

 

Mr Rubinsohn also said that there was a 20% chance of a 10% fall in London house prices over the next 12 months.

 

However, Peter Damesick, head of UK property research at CB Richard Ellis, said the chances of a housing market crash were still "pretty small" because there was no obvious trigger such as the economic downturn or sharp interest rate rises seen in the early 1990s.

 

... On Monday, the former head of the US central bank. Alan Greenspan, said that the UK housing market was particularly vulnerable to current market problems because of the large proportion of variable-rate mortgage holders.

 

 

3b/        IMF fears over Britain's sub-prime market      (The Telegraph, Wed 26 Sep)

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/09/25/cnimf125.xml&DCMP=EMC-mcn_25092007

 

Article:    The International Monetary Fund has warned that Britain's sub-prime mortgage system is comparable to the United States, sparking fears about the stability of the housing market.

 

The Washington-based institution singled out the UK's low-income mortgage market as a key area of risk for the financial system.

 

It came alongside a warning that the credit crunch and its aftermath will last longer, and be more painful, than many people expect.

 

... "The rapid deterioration in the US non-prime mortgage sector has also led to concerns about dislocations in non-US mortgage markets, especially in the UK non-conforming mortgage sector," the report said. "The UK non-conforming mortgage market is somewhat comparable to the US sub-prime market, though about one-half the outstandings [loans]."

 

It added that Britain's market looked less precarious than America's with, for example, the average combined loan-to-value ratio in the UK at 76pc, compared with 85pc in the US.

 

Although measured, the comparison will cause major jitters in the UK, which many have assumed for some time to be less vulnerable to a housing slowdown than the US. Although Britain's sub-prime sector is thought to represent only 5pc of the market, compared with 10pc in the US, house prices are estimated to be significantly more overvalued in the UK.

 

Significantly, the report previously provided an early warning about the possibility of knock-on effects of a US mortgage market slump.

 

Yesterday's publication said that the credit crunch would be followed by a protracted slowdown, which would force credit markets to change forever.

 

The downbeat assessment spoke of further shocks to the system in the months ahead...

 

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4/         Yemen nuclear deal sparks security fears [five new nuclear reactors]   (Arabian Business, Tue 25 Sep)

 

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=500877%3Ayemen-nuclear-deal-sparks-security-fears&Itemid=1

 

Comment:    Many countries, including several in the Middle East, are considering going nuclear. Perhaps Yemen ordering five new nukes is the trigger needed for all the others to follow. The problem is do we have enough uranium to supply these power stations (see Energy Security and Uranium Reserves). In his talk at ASPO-6, Pierre-Rene Bauquis in his talk suggested that we would need breeder reactors by 2050. Presumably he meant commercial breeder reactors up and running by 2050.

 

Article:    Yemen has signed a deal with a US-based energy firm to build nuclear power plants over the next 10 years for electricity generation.

 

Under the agreement, Powered Corporation is set to build five nuclear reactors in the country that will generate 5,000 megawatts of energy, newswire AFP reported on Tuesday, quoting Yemen’s Energy and Electricity Minister Mustafa Bahran...

 

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5/         UAE forced to slash oil output by a quarter    (Arabian Business, Sun 23 Sep) 

 

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=500772%3Auae-oil-output-slashed-by-a-quarter&Itemid=1

 

Article:    Scheduled maintenance at three of the UAE's largest oilfields will cut oil output by 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) said in a statement on Sunday.

 

Adnoc's statement confirmed work widely expected by the industry and reported by Reuters in August. At its peak, the maintenance would cut 810,000 bpd of output from the world's sixth-largest oil exporter, oil traders said last month.

 

The output reduction as detailed by Adnoc was about a quarter of the UAE's output. The Opec member produced about 2.56 million bpd in August, according to a Reuters survey.

 

Adnoc will also do work at the 415,000 bpd Ruwais refinery from December 22 to February 25, cutting crude processing by a total of 5 million barrels during the maintenance period, Adnoc said.

 

... ADNOC gave no details on the length of the oilfield maintenance. Industry sources said last month the work would last for two to three weeks and start in late October.

 

The state oil firm also gave no details on the units to undergo work at Ruwais, the UAE's largest refinery. An industry source in August said Adnoc's refining arm Takreer would undertake work on a crude distillation unit and a diesel-making hydrocracking unit, shutting in around 150,000 bpd.

 

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6/         Samsung lines up next tower megaproject    (Arabian Business, Sat 15 Sep) 

 

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=500288%3Aas-burj-dubai-breaks-record-samsung-looks-for-next-job&Itemid=1

 

Comment:    Insanity in Middle East construction developments as peak energy looms. On the other hand, is there an industrialised country that is not building/planning more motorways/ expanding airports? According to this article Emaar Launches Tower 2 at 29, Burj Dubai is costing $20B. Dubai has serious energy supply issues at the moment, in particular electricity, with no clear strategy that ODAC is aware of for sorting the problems out. Note that while the final height of Burj Dubai although unknown is speculated to be 700m+, this article suggests a new tower with height of 1000m+ may be in the pipeline. A hill that high in Scotland is what we call a mountain. How are these super-sized buildings going to operate/be evacuated in the event of a power cut, with outside temperatures of 40-50 degrees celcius? How hot would the buildings get inside?

 

Article:    Samsung Engineering & Construction is looking to build a new tower in the region whose height will top the Burj Dubai.

 

The South Korean construction giant is currently working in collaboration with Belgium's Besix and local firm Arabtec on the Burj Dubai, for which it signed a US $875 million (AED3.2 billion) construction contract with Emaar Properties in December 2004.

 

It is now in talks with a number of developers across the Middle East over plans to build a skyscraper that will set a new record in tall building.

 

"We have been approached by a number of clients," said Beejay Kim, senior manager, Samsung Engineering & Construction. "Many have tall building plans, not only Nakheel. Kuwait has a project for a kilometer-tall building, Saudi also has some tall tower plans, so do Bahrain and Qatar - everybody has tall building plans, the difference is whose can materialise quicker."

 

Samsung is no stranger to the construction of tall towers, having been involved in the construction of three of the world's tallest skyscrapers - Tapei 101, Malaysia's Petronas Towers and now the Burj Dubai, which recently became the world's tallest building when it surpassed the height of Tapei 101 at 508m. The final height of the Burj Dubai is being kept a secret but upon completion in 2008 it will be well over 700m tall...

 

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7a/        Turkey defends energy ties with Iran despite U.S. opposition      (Tehran Times, Tue 25 Sep)

 

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=153655

 

Article:    Turkey once again defended energy ties with Iran and Russia, despite U.S. official calls on Turkey to seek alternatives such as agreeing with other regional suppliers including Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

 

The U.S. opposition to Iran-Turkey gas deal was once again voiced during the recent visit of U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns to Ankara.

 

After a meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Burns answered questions of reporters where he called for UN Security Council members and U.S. allies to help push for a third round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear work.

 

Burns said United States' allies and friends like Turkey, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and India should consider new sanctions on Iran.

 

Furthermore, Burns pointed out that an energy deal signed between Iran and Turkey in July was not helpful. The preliminary deal foresees the construction of two separate pipelines to ship natural gas from the fields in Iran and neighboring Turkmenistan via Turkish territory.

 

""We don't think that it makes sense to announce long-term oil and gas deals with Iran,"" he said. ""But again we are not singling out Turkey for criticism or attention, this is general U.S. and West European message to many other countries.""

 

However, responding Burns, Erdogan said, ""Russia and Iran are Turkey’s most important sources in terms of natural gas. Currently, our people consume natural gas in 47 out of 81 provinces. We aim at making use of natural gas nationwide.""

 

Before leaving for the U.S., Erdogan said Turkey’s natural gas demand was increasing because of domestic industrial growth and the growing requirements for heating. “It is impossible for us to say, we are cutting natural gas cooperation with these countries.”

 

Following Erdogan’s remarks, Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said he would meet his Iranian counterpart next month to sign a major energy deal.

 

Answer to Turkey came quick and over the weekend U.S. Undersecretary of Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs Reuben Jeffery who told a news conference, ""There is no shortage of gas in the region. The question is developing it in a responsible way with states that are politically stable and responsible to the international community.""

 

Jeffery attended a conference of around 20 states to discuss how West Asian, Caspian and Central Asian countries could diversify their energy export routes.

 

Iran is Turkey’s second biggest supplier of natural gas after Russia. Turkey and Iran signed a preliminary agreement on July 24, which revolved around the construction of two pipelines.

 

Turkey plans to invest 3.5 billion dollars in Iran for gas production. The first pipeline would originate from Iran’s South Pars gas field and second from Turkmenistan, Iran’s Central Asian neighbor. Analysts say Turkey can use part of this gas for its own consumption. The rest can be transferred further into Europe along the upcoming Nabucco pipeline.

 

From the first day the United States has opposed the agreement.

 

Some media circles even claim that the growth in bilateral trade between Turkey and Iran appears to be part of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s strategy of trying to strengthen economic ties with other Muslim countries.

 

 

7b/        U.S. officials woo Turkmenistan's president  (International Herald Tribune, Tue 25 Sep)

 

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/25/business/turkmen.php

 

Comment:   As usual, Jonathan Stern of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, hits the nail on the head: “People are getting too far ahead of themselves. We need to see what Turkmenistan's reserves are and where they are. Then we can start talking about projects.“ In other words, does Turkmenistan actually have enough gas to be committing to more gas export contracts? As the article states: “Some analysts are cautious. They say that at three trillion cubic meters, Turkmenistan would have just enough to fulfill its Russian and Chinese contracts.”

 

Article:    American officials, striving to weaken the grip of Gazprom, Russia's state-owned energy monopoly, in energy-rich Central Asia, are forcefully wooing the president of Turkmenistan on his first visit to the United States.

 

The president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, in the first trip by a Turkmen leader to the United States since 1998, went to New York to attend activities Wednesday related to the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. He met Tuesday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the United Nations.

 

U.S. officials say they want Berdymukhammedov to come away with the understanding that he has other options for developing extensive natural gas deposits and for shipping the fuel to market.

 

... Russia and, more recently, China have received the bulk of natural gas exports from Turkmenistan, a former Soviet republic.

 

Russia buys 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year at below-market prices.

 

Russia also controls all export routes for Turkmen natural gas and it plans to expand its main northern pipeline in order to double its purchases.

 

China has signed a development agreement for one of Turkmenistan's most promising gas fields and has agreed to shipment of 30 billion cubic meters, or 1.7 trillion cubic feet, annually over 30 years.

 

... The [U.S.] official said he expected that Russia would still end up with the lion's share of Turkmen natural gas. Nevertheless, potentially rich fields in Turkmenistan's sector of the Caspian Sea could yield sufficient reserves to ship westward through an undersea pipeline to Turkey.

 

From there it could enter Europe's proposed Nabucco pipeline to Eastern Europe or another gas pipeline through Greece.

 

The size of Turkmenistan's natural gas reserves is a closely guarded secret. Analysts and Western government officials believe, however, that the country may possess at least three trillion cubic meters.

 

Some analysts are cautious. They say that at three trillion cubic meters, Turkmenistan would have just enough to fulfill its Russian and Chinese contracts. Moreover, the legal and economic obstacles facing the trans-Caspian pipeline make it a project for the medium term to the distant future.

 

"People are getting too far ahead of themselves," said Jonathan Stern, an analyst at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies in England. "We need to see what Turkmenistan's reserves are and where they are. Then we can start talking about projects."...

 

 

7c/        EU initiates Nabucco gas pipeline planning   (Oil and Gas Journal, Thu 20 Sep)

 

http://www.ogj.com/display_article/306558/7/ARTCL/none/none/EU-initiates-Nabucco-gas-pipeline-planning/?dcmp=OGJ.Daily.Update

 

Comment:    Login required after one week. Interesting, if not bizarre, list of sources for Nabucco gas - Iran, the Middle East [i.e. Qatar, there is a gas shortage in most other ME countries. Maybe Iraq, but …], Turkey [Turkey is an importer of gas from Iran and Russia], Russia [the Nabucco pipeline is being promoted as an alternative to Russian gas supplies], and the Caspian region.

 

Article:    To forward energy supply security in the European Union, a high-level conference was held in Budapest Sept. 13 to discuss the proposed 3,300-km strategic Nabucco gas pipeline. The €5 billion pipeline has been proposed to deliver gas to Europe from a variety of sources including Iran, the Middle East, Turkey, Russia, and the Caspian region by 2012 (OGJ Online, July 23, 2007). Construction is expected to start in 2009.

 

At the meeting, attended by ministers from Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, and Turkey; and representatives of industry, international financial institutions, and the specialized press, EU Energy Commissioner Andris Pielbalgs asked newly appointed Nabucco project coordinator Jozias Van Aarsten "to take an active role in developing the route" of the pipeline.

 

Van Aarsten was asked to look at coordination in the countries that will host the pipeline and evaluate additional and urgent political and regulatory actions needed "to elaborate a plan to tackle them."

 

Led by Austria's OMV, the pipeline's partners include MOL of Hungary, Botas of Turkey, Bulgargaz of Bulgaria, and Transgas of Romania, each company holding a 20% share. Gaz de France's Chief Operating Officer Jean-Marie Daugier said Gaz de France also is in line to join the Nabucco project.

 

Gazprom is planning a rival gas pipeline, South Stream, which would extend from southern Russia to southern Italy. Nabucco would offer an alternative to the EU's dependence on Russian gas and its Russian-controlled routes and would challenge Russia's control over Caspian gas exports to Europe.

 

However, 50% of Nabucco's proposed 30 billion cu m/year capacity is available to any gas source along its route from Ankara, Turkey, to Baumgarten, Austria, an EU official involved in the project told OGJ. And legally that could open Nabucco to Iranian gas, which the US would oppose. This possibility was discussed at the Gas Congress in Paris Sept. 11-13, sponsored by Association Francaise du Gaz.

 

Daugier pointed out that, although the US favors gas routes in Europe that would bypass Russia's predominant supply systems, it would not condone Iranian participation in Nabucco, "thus creating a serious political problem," he warned.

 

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8/         Energy Intelligence – various

 

No links – all from newsletter.

 

 

8a/        Oil Price Forecasts from Goldman Sachs       (Energy Intelligence, Tue 18 Sep)

 

Comment:    From the commentary section, ‘World Watch -- Comment & Interpretation on Today's News’, of the daily newsletter.

 

Article:    Oil prices continue to charge ahead, despite Opec's best efforts to check the rise. With New York crude oil futures settling at a new record high on Monday [17 Sept], forecasters are adjusting their projections upward too. Goldman Sachs raised its predicted price for West Texas Intermediate to $85 a barrel for the end of the year -- that's up more than $10 from $72. It also warns that there is a high risk of a spike to over $90 before the end of the year. Looking further forward, the Wall Street investment bank sees no let up in the bull market in crude oil. It is projecting an average price of WTI of $85/bbl in 2008 and an end-2008 price of $95. It argues that the lack of inventory building globally has set the stage for a contra-seasonal inventory draw in the third quarter that could lead to significant winter price spikes. Tom Wallin, New York

 

 

8b/        Demand Runs Ahead Of Supply As Oil Inventories Fall      (Energy Intelligence [Energy Intelligence Briefing], Tue 18 Sep)

 

Article:    Instead of generating a surplus of supply and allowing for a normal stockbuild ahead of the winter, global oil demand again ran ahead of supply in August, counter to the usual seasonal trend. The third quarter balance is showing signs of repeating a shallow draw in stocks, as happened in the second quarter, and with the Northern Hemisphere winter coming up fast, markets appears relatively tight.

 

 

8c/        New Taxes May Hit Tar Sands Production     (Energy Intelligence, Thu 20 Sep)

 

Comment:    From the commentary section, ‘World Watch -- Comment & Interpretation on Today's News’, of the daily newsletter.

 

Article:    As if cost escalation wasn't burden enough, prospective Canadian oil sands producers are now confronting a revenue grab by the province of Alberta. A government-appointed panel recommended higher royalty rates and a new oil sands tax that would raise the Alberta government's tax over the life of a project from 47% currently to 64%. The six-person panel has been working over the last nearly seven months to assemble input from the various stakeholders in the oil sands development from the producers to the local residents. With the industry's nervousness focused on an environment-base tax onslaught from Ottawa, it was blindsided by the home-grown tax initiative, which quickly hammered oil sands company's share prices. Conventional oil and natural gas would also be hit with government takes increasing from 44% from 49% and from to 58% from 63% respectively, but this would have far less impact on future supplies than the oil sands rise. Jeff Gosmano, Houston.

 

 

8d/        Venezuela Outlines Plans to Build Petrochemical Industry           (Energy Intelligence [Oil Daily], Tue 25 Sep)

 

Comment:    For ‘Venezuela’, read Iran, except that Iran does in fact have huge natural gas reserves, it just can’t get them out of the ground. According to the BP Statistical Review, 2007 – Natural Gas, Venezuela’s proved reserves are actually pretty good (bcm):

 

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

 

Venezuela

4.12

4.15

4.15

4.15

4.18

4.18

4.22

4.29

4.32

4.32

Iran

23.00

24.10

22.37

26.60

26.60

26.69

27.57

26.74

27.58

28.13

 

For comparison:

UK (whose gas reserves will be zero shortly after 2015, on current trends):

0.77

0.76

0.76

0.74

0.66

0.63

0.59

0.53

0.48

0.48

Norway

3.65

3.79

3.81

3.84

3.83

3.67

3.19

3.16

3.01

2.89

 

Coincidentally, an article from Friday’s FC Novosti newsletter states, of Venezuela: “Venezuela ranks first in South America with its proven natural gas reserves of 4,300 bcm…The country annually produces 70 bcm of natural gas, all of which is consumed domestically, and neither exports, nor imports it.”

 

Article:    Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez announced plans at the weekend to invest $20 billion through 2013 to jump start his country's petrochemical industry. However, critics say his plans to use natural gas as a feedstock for petrochemicals will not be easy to put into practice, given that Venezuela's consumption of gas currently exceeds its production.

 

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