Iran says gas pump resumption to Turkey likely by next 10 days

2010-08-30 - TEHRAN (ISNA)-Iran is likely to resume gas pump to Turkey by next 10 days, said the Managing Director of National Iranian Gas Company Mohammad Javad Owji on Saturday. "Gas export to Turkey has been halted since Wednesday following explosion in part of the pipeline which lies in Turkish soil," he said. "The pipeline is being repaired and it is predicted that gas export to Turkey will be resumed by next 10 days," Owji noted. Examinations showed that Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were behind the vandalism. Owji also said Iran is ready to send experts to Turkey to repair the damages. This is the second time in a month that Iran's gas pump to Turkey is halted. Turkish officials declared that fixing the pipeline takes at least 6-7 days. Iran has already stopped gas export to Turkey on July 21 following Turkish officials' request due to technical problems in gas facilities. Iran has sent 2.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey since late March.

Putin launches strategic oil pipeline to China

2010-08-30 - Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Sunday formally opened the Russian section of an oil pipeline to China, hailing it as an important step in diversifying energy exports away from Europe. The new pipeline is a 64-km spur from the strategic 4,800-km Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline, whose first 2,700-km section Mr. Putin inaugurated in December. The ESPO pipeline will initially carry 30 million tonnes of crude a year, half of which will go to China. Russia plans to eventually increase the pipeline's capacity to 50 million tonnes a year. Diversifying sales “This is an important project for us as we diversify sales of our energy resources. Today our main deliveries are to European partners, who get around 120-130 million tonnes of our oil,” Mr. Putin said in televised remarks, adding that the ESPO pipeline created “noticeable competition to the European route.”

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Reuters factbox-Ecuador's oil industry and contract talks

2010-08-30 - Ecuador started long-awaited contract talks with oil companies on Wednesday as the government tries to negotiate a new round of pacts aimed at increasing state revenue from the key sector. Petroleum is Ecuador's main export. The government is giving big oil companies until November to sign the new deals or risk having to leave the country. Reversing a decade-long slide in output is a key challenge for President Rafael Correa, who started his second term in office last year. Below are some facts about Ecuador's oil output and the foreign companies operating in the smallest member of OPEC. * The government will take at least 85 percent of revenue under the new deals. Companies currently hand over an average of 65 percent of revenues. * Ecuador, which has the rotating presidency of the Organization of the

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KBR to Execute Two Refinery Contracts for Iraq's Oil Ministry, an Industrial Info News Alert

2010-08-30 - BANGALORE, INDIA, Aug 27, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) -- Iraq's Oil Ministry has awarded two contracts to global engineering services company KBR Incorporated /quotes/comstock/13*!kbr/quotes/nls/kbr (KBR 23.37, +0.73, +3.22%) (Houston, Texas) for the proposed 150,000-barrel-per-day Maysan refining complex. The ministry signed the contracts with KBR through Southern Refineries Company (SRC) (Basra, Iraq). For details, view the entire article by subscribing to Industrial Info's Premium Industry News at http://www.industrialinfo.com/showNews.jsp?newsitemID=165217, or browse other breaking industrial news stories at www.industrialinfo.com.

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Should Iraq increase its oil production to 12-million barrels per day?

2010-08-30 - The production targets of international oil companies in Iraq are currently the subject of much debate in the industry. Claire Pallen, programme director of Iraq Future Energy 2010, a top meeting of oil executives and Iraqi energy regulators in Istanbul from 27-28 September, says “with current production levels fluctuating under 2.5 million barrels per day, it is officially stated that by 2017, Iraq will be producing 12 million barrels per day. Some believe the timetable for Iraq’s expansion plans are highly ambitious whilst others believe it to be a realistic and accurate assessment of the country’s capabilities. Of course, with the anticipated expansion come the implications of Iraq’s OPEC quota and a possible shift in regional balances.” Armchair Debate The Armchair Debate between two Iraqi oil industry stalwarts, Dr Ali Hussain and Mr Ahmed Mousa Jiyad, on the issue of increasing Iraq’s oil production to 12-million bpd promises to be a highlight of Iraq Future Energy 2010. Dr Ali Hussain, an independent oil consultant, is in favour of an increase while Mr Ahmed Mousa Jiyad, an Iraq development consultant, is a challenger.

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Some Aspects of Iraq and Oil

2010-08-30 - Recently the Swedish Oil and Gas Network graciously invited me to attend one of their seminars, and perhaps share with guests from abroad some of my thoughts on Iraqi oil, which was the subject of the meeting. The only drawback was that I don’t really know anything about the energy resources of that country. Saudi Arabia and the Emirates maybe, and perhaps Kuwait and Qatar, but absolutely nothing on Iraq, and so I turned to the leading expert in the world on Middle East oil, Dr Mamdouh G. Salameh. In a short paper that I received almost immediately, he told me everything about that subject that I or anybody else needs to know in order to hold their own in any seminar on the face of the earth. Among other comments, his paper features the following: “If Saudi Arabia is floating on a sea of oil, Iraq is floating on a Pacific Ocean of that commodity.” This is a very important piece of information, and I consider it amazing that it escaped my attention for so many years, or perhaps decades, because my book on oil was published in l980, and it contained no mention of that state of affairs. Dr Salameh also provided some statistics which brought up to date the materials in his very informative book ‘Over a Barrel’ (2004).

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Consider the true costs of waging war for imported oil

2010-08-30 - In a recent speech about energy, President Barack Obama said: "If we refuse to take into account the full costs of our fossil fuel addiction - if we don't factor in the environmental costs and the national security costs and the true economic costs - we will have missed our best chance to seize a clean energy future." Now, two professors at the University of Nebraska have come forward with some of the facts that the president wants "to take into account" - "the full costs of our fossil fuel addiction." In a groundbreaking article in Environment magazine, "Securing foreign oil: A case for including military operations in the climate change impact of fuels," Professors Adam J. Liska and Richard K. Perrin try to put a price tag on U.S. oil imports. Yes, it's well known that the United States imports nearly 60 percent of the nation's total oil consumption - at least 12.9 million barrels per day - at a direct cost of roughly $300 billion a year. But that's just a small part of the total cost of our dependency on imported oil.

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Pipeline blast halts Iran gas exports to Turkey

2010-08-28 - TEHRAN -- An explosion hit a pipeline carrying natural gas from Iran to Turkey Tuesday night, causing a halt in natural gas flow. It could take up to a week to resume after repairs are completed, officials at the Turkish pipeline operator Botas said on Wednesday. ""The fire has been extinguished, and repair work is ongoing,"" one official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Another Botas official said the blast, the cause of which was not immediately clear, occurred late on Tuesday. Repairs could take six to seven days to be completed, he said.

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