January 1 The EU launches the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the first greenhouse gas emissions trading market in Europe (the other is the Chicago Climate Exchange), which links energy-intensive industries to carbon dioxide emissions limits. Four EU countries are not participating, as they are still in the process of agreeing on their national carbon dioxide targets. The market allows firms to sell any unused carbon allowances or to buy extra allowances if needed. The firms participating encompass 50% of total European carbon dioxide emissions. (WMRC)

January 3 Sinopec, a Chinese oil company, finds a sizeable oil and gas field in the remote province of Xinjiang in northwest China. The company estimates the Tahe field in the Tarim Basin contains almost 8 billion barrels of oil and over 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Experts estimate that crude oil reserves from the new find could reach as high as 19 billion barrels. Based on the lower estimate of 8 billion barrels, the new find could represent over one-third of China's proven oil reserves. The beginning of gas production in the Kela-2 field in late 2004 is already expected to turn the Tarim Basin into the country’s largest gas producing region in 2005. (Reuters, WMRC).

January 7 India Oil Company (IOC) and Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) sign a deal with the National Iranian Gas Export Corporation to buy 7.5 million metric tons per year of liquefied natural gas (equivalent to approximately 365 billion cubic feet of natural gas) beginning in 2009 and to participate in three oil and natural gas blocks. The IOC and GAIL will participate in Iran’s Yadavaran and Jufeyr oil fields. (Reuters).

January 9 A peace agreement is signed between the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army based in the south and the Khartoum-based government after 21 years of fighting. Analysts predict that oil and gas companies will be eager to expand Sudan 's oil production from 2004’s average level of 342,500 barrels per day. The country has proven reserves of 635 million barrels, much of which could not be accessed during the war. The agreement gives the south political and religious autonomy and a share of the country's oil assets. It does not cover an unrelated conflict in Sudan's western region of Darfur. (WP, Reuters)

January 11 The Nigerian government revokes development rights for 24 undeveloped oil blocks and will offer them again in the country's next major oil licensing round. The blocks had been awarded to oil majors including Royal Dutch/Shell, and ChevronTexaco, as well as to smaller oil companies. The companies are asking the Nigerian government to reconsider its decision. Under Nigerian law, the government may withdraw blocks that remain undeveloped for more than ten years from the time of award, though it is unclear whether all of the companies had held all of the blocks for at least ten years. (WMRC, DJ)

January 12 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez replaces most of the directors of the state oil firm PdVSA in a major shake-up of the company's board. The PdVSA president announced plans late last year to align the company more strongly with the political and social policies of President Chavez. The previous board had served since March 2004. Venezuela is the world’s fifth largest crude oil exporter, and produced approximately 2.5 million barrels of crude oil per day during 2004. (AP)

January 14 Venezuela 's Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez announces the suspension of a number of oil projects with neighboring Colombia . This includes a new oil pipeline and projects to expand refineries and petrochemical production. The move follows a dispute over Colombia ’s arrest of a member of the country’s main guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who was allegedly seized on Venezuelan soil. This incidence had already prompted Venezuela to recall its ambassador to Colombia . Despite these moves, Venezuela decides not to indefinitely suspend the oil pipeline project that will allow it to export oil to China via Colombia . (DJ, WMRC)

January 20 Egypt exports its first-ever shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The shipment was sent to Spain from the Mediterranean port of Damietta . The SEGAS plant in Damietta , a joint venture of Spain 's Union Fenosa and Italy 's ENI, can produce the equivalent of approximately 214 billion cubic feet of natural gas (4.4 million metric tons of LNG) per year. The operators expect the first shipments of LNG to the United States in March of this year. (Reuters)

January 24 Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority gives Norwegian company Statoil the requisite approval to resume partial output at its Snorre oilfield in the North Sea, fully shut-in since a gas leak two months ago. The 130,000-bbl/d Snorre field and linked 75,000-bbl/d Vigdis field closed on November 28, 2004, after a gas leak below the Snorre A platform forced a helicopter evacuation of the platform amid fears of a blowout. Statoil must now provide confirmation that the oilfield’s existing production (approximately 100,000 bbl/d) is stable before it can resume full output. (WMRC)

January 27 Yukos, Russia’s top oil exporter last year, is left off of Transneft’s export schedule for February, leaving newly enlarged state oil firm Rosneft to fill the export shortfall. Yukos will ship its entire oil output of around 600,000 bbl/d to domestic refineries and will have no spare crude oil for exports. Yukos shipped approximately 680,000 bbl/d in December 2004, a 30% decline from its November export level. (Reuters)

January 30 OPEC decides to leave its crude oil production quotas unchanged at 27 million bbl/d after a meeting in Vienna. The current OPEC president, Sheik Ahmad Fahd Al-Sabah of Kuwait indicates that the producers will reduce their production levels before the next meeting, scheduled for March 26, if prices fall. OPEC also temporarily suspends its price band of $22 - $28 per barrel, which had been in effect since March 2000. (NYT, AP)

January 30 Millions of Iraqis defy threats and suicide bombers to cast ballots in their country’s first democratic national election. Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission estimates that approximately 60%, or about eight million, of the nearly 14 million registered voters actually vote. Another quarter of a million Iraqi exiles also vote, or 90% of those who had registered. (WP, NYT)

February 1 The U.S. Senate confirms Samuel Bodman as the new Secretary of Energy, replacing Spencer Abraham. (Reuters, NYT)

February 4 Royal Dutch/Shell Group again sharply cuts its estimate of energy reserves and says it replaced only about half as much crude oil and natural gas as it pumped last year. The company’s news overshadows a surge in fourth-quarter profit to $4.48 billion. The world's third-largest publicly traded oil company by market capitalization says it reduced reserves by an additional 1.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent, significantly more than the 900 million additional barrels it had previously warned it might have to write off. The move marks the company’s fifth such cut and brings its cumulative reserves reduction to about one-third since it first disclosed early last year that it had drastically overstated its reserves numbers. (WSJ)

February 10 Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude oil producer, holds its first elections in more than 40 years. The election drew more than 1,800 candidates for half of the seats on 38 municipal councils in the greater Riyadh region. The elections are an experiment by the ruling Saud family in opening the political system to more public participation. The government will appoint the remaining seats. Women are not permitted to participate in the election. (NYT, AP, WP)

February 11 Russia’s natural resources ministry announces that foreign companies without at least a 51% Russian share will be barred from bidding in several upcoming key auctions for large mineral deposits during 2005. Large deposits open for bidding this year include crude oil and natural gas fields around Sakhalin Island, the Barents Sea, and the Arctic. The Natural Resources Ministry clarifies that international oil companies (IOCs) will still be allowed to participate in the development of these projects, but that the government will require that they be controlled from Russian territory. (WMRC, NYT)

February 11 ConocoPhillips reaches a deal with Venezuela on developing the Corocoro oil field, which it discovered in 1999, and plans to produce 75,000 bbl/d there by 2007 according to state oil company PDVSA. ConocoPhillips planned to begin drilling 14 offshore wells on the oil and gas field, located just off Venezuela's eastern coast in December but the energy ministry halted activities shortly before drilling began. The agreed spending plan and other terms of the deal are not made publicly available after the parties sign the agreement. (Platts)

February 14 BP launches the first commercial crude oil production from its ‘Azeri’ field off the Caspian Sea coast of Azerbaijan. The field will be a major contributor to the Baku-T’bilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline that will run through the Caucasus region to the Mediterranean sea port of Ceyhan, Turkey. Since the BTC pipeline has been delayed until September 2005, BP will reroute the field’s 2005 average production of 93,000 barrels per day to the Georgian port of Supsa and the Russian port of Novorossiysk. (Reuters, WMRC)

February 14 Australia offers its first new type of major crude oil cargo in four years. The new crude oil type being produced, Mutineer-Exeter, will increase Australia’s crude oil production by 100,000 bbl/d at its peak (an increase of around 20% from current production levels). At least one 600,000-barrel crude oil cargo from the field will be available for export each month. (Reuters)

February 15 After extensive repair work on Iraq’s export pipeline from the Kirkuk oil fields, crude oil exports to the Turkish port of Ceyhan resume at a rate of 250,000 bbl/d. Plans are in place to increase the flows to 400,000 bbl/d by the end of the month, as long as further attacks do not continue. However, at the end of the month, after more sabotage to the pipeline, the Iraqi government shuts down the pipeline until further notice. (Bloomberg)

February 16 Norway's government says it will trim its majority stake in the country's energy group, Statoil, by 4.6 percentage points by selling 100 million shares worth about $1.7 billion. The sale will cut the state’s stake to about 71.7 % from 76.3%. Under a parliamentary mandate, the government must retain two-thirds control. The energy ministry says that, in line with previous practice, another 17.65 million shares will be subsequently available for retail investors, at the same price as in the main sale. (Platts)

February 16 Eight years after it was first negotiated, the Kyoto Protocol on climate change goes into affect. Following Russia ’s approval of the treaty in November 2004, the treaty’s signatories comprised the requisite 55% of world greenhouse gas emissions in order for it to take effect. One of the Protocol’s main goals is to achieve a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of the six designated greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2012. A total of 140 countries have ratified the pact, the first major international effort to reduce industrial emissions. The Bush Administration announced three years ago that the United States would not join the accord, but it would instead pursue other voluntary reduction programs. (Reuters, NYT, LATimes)

February 22 NYMEX WTI prompt month crude oil prices surge nearly 6 percent, or $2.80, to a 16-week high of $51.15 per barrel. The price increase is attributed in part to cold winter weather, which has kept heating fuel demand high in the United States and Europe. NYMEX WTI prompt month crude oil prices have risen more than $5 per barrel in the last two weeks to within reach of the record $55.67 per barrel hit during October 2004. (Reuters).

February 22 Libya plans to adjust terms for its next oil exploration bidding round, to be held in coming months. The government will make changes to the so-called EPSA-4 (Exploration and Production Sharing Agreements), including increased Libyan employment and stronger linkages between downstream and upstream activities. Because of the changes, Libya postpones the next exploration tender by up to three months. (Reuters)

February 25 An affiliate of ChevronTexaco signs a $1.1 billion deal with South Korea's Daewoo Shipping and Marine Engineering to build a giant floating platform at the Agbami field, 45 miles off of Nigeria’s coast. ChevronTexaco hopes to produce 250,000 bbl/d from the field. Other partners in the project include Petroleo Brasileiro Nigeria Limited, Statoil Nigeria Limited, Famfa Oil Limited, and the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. (AFP)

March 1 Electricity demand in France reaches a record high of 86,027 MW, and the country must import 3% of its required generation from Spain and Germany. This marks the first time in more than 20 years that France is forced to rely on imported power generation. The peak demand is mainly due to an exceptionally cold weather front that is keeping temperatures around 10 degrees Fahrenheit lower than they normally are at this time of year. (WMRC, Reuters)

March 1 A $700 million natural gas pipeline between southern Thailand and northern Malaysia starts commercial operations on Tuesday after five years of delays. The 227-mile pipeline began a trial delivery period in January with a flow of 5.3-7.0 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d). Environmental groups, fishermen, and villagers, who lobbied for a change in the pipeline route, stalled approval of the pipeline for three years. (Reuters)

March 1 Mexican state-owned oil monopoly Pemex expects capital expenditures of $11.2 billion in 2005, up from $10.1 billion in 2004. Pemex says that 85% of its 2005 investment budget would go toward exploration and production. (Reuters)

March 2 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approves the restarting and reversal of a Canadian oil pipeline that will link Canada ’s western oil sands reserves to refineries in Oklahoma , Kansas and Texas . The $160 million Spearhead project will be operated by a subsidiary of Enbridge, a Canadian company, and is expected to be completed in January 2006. According to FERC, the project will help augment the United States ’ existing oil supply and will help ensure refineries have sufficient supplies of crude oil. (Reuters)

March 3 Men in eastern and southern Saudi Arabia go to the polls to choose municipal councils in the second stage of the kingdom's first nationwide elections. The election is for about half of the council memberships, the rest of which will be appointed. The third stage of elections next month will cover the western and northern regions of Saudi Arabia , including the holy cities of Mecca and Medina . (AP)

March 7 After five previous downward revisions to its oil and gas reserves estimates, Royal/Dutch Shell reports that its controversial 2002 figure was overstated by 41%. The amended report shows proven oil and gas reserves equivalent to 13.72 billion barrels, as opposed to 19.35 billion barrels. The United States Department of Justice is conducting a criminal inquiry into Shell’s statements of its oil and gas reserves. (NYT)

March 16 OPEC meets in Isfahan , Iran , and agrees to lift oil production limits by 500,000 barrels per day (from 27 million bbl/d to 27.5 million bbl/d), effective immediately. OPEC also announces that it is prepared to add a further 500,000 barrels per day if prices stay high. In the days leading up to the OPEC meeting, Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi says that his country is willing to increase crude oil production by about 500,000 bbl/d or to its maximum capacity. EIA estimates that Saudi’s maximum oil production capacity is around 10.5 million bbl/d. (OPEC website, Reuters, EIA)

March 16 Brazil’s Supreme Court upholds the 1998 Petroleum Law that paved the way for foreign oil and gas exploration. Several large foreign oil companies froze investments as they waited for the decision, which could have declared the ownership rights held by foreign companies unconstitutional. Now, those companies are able to move into the development phase on a number of projects. Out of 11 judges in the court's plenary session, eight vote against the unconstitutionality motion. (Reuters)

March 17 The United States receives a shipment of LNG from a $200 million floating LNG terminal. This is the first new LNG terminal built in the U.S. in over 20 years. The LNG facility, known as the ‘EnergyBridge’, is located 116 miles off the coast of Louisiana and is connected to the shore via a subsea pipeline. LNG carried on a specially designed tanker is re-gasified on board and is then fed into the pipeline. The company plans to launch a second tanker in April 2005 and a third in October 2006, bringing the total capacity of the terminal to about 500 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. ChevronTexaco will market the re-gasified LNG. ( Houston Chronicle, WMRC)

March 28 PdVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company, announces it has increased its proven reserves by 192 million barrels, or 0.3%, after drilling successes at two fields in the eastern part of the country. Also, the company will change the pricing system for its crude oil exports. Until now, PdVSA calculated export prices according to the physical and chemical characteristics of Venezuelan crude, but the company says that a new formula will link prices to 'public indicators' such as published prices in trade publications.Earlier in the month, Venezuela announced a five-year plan to invest almost $40 billion to increase its production capacity by over 2 million bbl/d, to 5 million bbl/d. PdVSA will invest $5 billion during 2005. EIA estimates that current crude oil production in Venezuela is approximately 2.6 million bbl/d. (EIA, Reuters, WMRC)

March 28 Sudan signs a $400 million deal to develop its southern Thar Jath oil fields. The country expects an initial capacity of 80,000 bbl/d by the end of March 2006. The deal is signed with the Sudanese White Nile Petroleum company, a consortium of Malaysian state oil firm Petronas (68%), India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (24%), and Sudan's state oil company Sudapet (7%). The crude oil reserves of the Thar Jath oil fields, in Block 5a in the southern Unity state, are estimated at a minimum of 250 million barrels. White Nile Petroleum is expected to drill 45 wells in the coming year. (Reuters)

March 29 After over a year of uncertainty about the status of the Kashagan oilfield in Kazakhstan , KazMunaiGaz, the National Oil and Gas Company of Kazakhstan and Agip KCO sign an agreement for KazMunaiGaz to obtain an 8.33% share in the North Caspian Project, which includes Kashagan. The Agip KCO consortium purchased the entire BG stake of 16.67% for $1.8 billion. The field is the world’s largest oil find in the past 30 years, with estimated reserves of 9-13 billion barrels of oil. (APS Review, Reuters)

April 1 Algeria’s legislature approves a draft hydrocarbon law that will pave the way for easier foreign investment in the country’s oil sector. The bill is expected to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of state energy company Sonatrach and will transform the tendering process for international oil and gas contracts. Currently, Sonatrach is responsible for tendering oil and gas projects and automatically becomes a partner in any operating consortium. Under the new bill, concessions will be tendered by an independent body, and Sonatrach will have to compete for licenses with international oil companies. (DJ, Platts)

April 4 In the largest oil-sector acquisition since 2001, Chevron agrees to buy Unocal for $16.7 billion ($4.4 billion of which will be in cash). According to Chevron, the deal will create a combined company with daily production of three million barrels of oil equivalent. Chevron already has the fourth largest non-state-owned oil reserves in the world, and the addition of Unocal augments its asset base in the Caspian Sea region and in Southeast Asia. The deal increases Chevron’s reserves by 1.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or about 15%. (WSJ)

April 4 After two years of negotiations, Norway and the U.K. sign a long-awaited treaty on cross-border cooperation in the offshore oil and gas sector, intended to increase development of resources in the North Sea. As the U.K. becomes a natural gas net importer, the new agreement will help the country obtain secure supplies of natural gas. The treaty also aids in the cooperation on future construction and operation of pipelines carrying oil and natural gas from Norway to the U.K., provides for the joint utilization of hydrocarbon reservoirs and infrastructure straddling the border, and accelerates the approval process for new cross-border oil and natural gas projects in each country’s regulatory system. (Reuters)

April 7 The International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) in London converts its open-outcry trading format to a fully screen-based system. Initially, the transition to the new system is smooth. However, some operational errors scare traders away from the IPE and cause higher volumes at the competing NYMEX commodities market. (FT)

April 11 TNK-BP, a 50%-50% joint venture of British Petroleum and a Russian oil company, announces the government has issued it a back-tax bill of almost $1 billion for 2001, over six times higher than the company’s previous bill for the same time period. For context, Russian oil company Yukos’ tax bill was for almost $27.5 billion. Although BP will pay the tax bill, Lord Brown, the BP chairman, later meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin to seek reassurances that the Russian energy sector will remain open to foreign involvement. (WSJ, Reuters)

April 12 Iran’s parliament passes a proposal that will help the OPEC country to increase its crude oil production capacity from 4 million bbl/d to 5 million bbl/d over the next 5 years. Although the new plan does not provide any provisions to change Iran 's current buyback scheme, the method under which international firms can now participate in Iran 's hydrocarbon projects, the initiative does offer a number of financial incentives for those companies that want to invest in the country. (DJ)

April 12 China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) acquires a 16.69% stake in Canadian oil sands developer MEG Energy for approximately $120 million. This is the first oil sands deal in Canada by a Chinese oil company. Later during the month, Enbridge , Canada ’s second largest pipeline company, announces an agreement with PetroChina on the development of a $2 billion pipeline project to move petroleum from northern Alberta to Canada ’s West Coast. (EI Energy Compass)

April 14Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PdVSA announces that oil firms in 32 oil production areas in Venezuela have six months to switch their contracts to comply with a new law that calls for an increased 30% tax rate and the majority participation of PdVSA. Later in the same week, the administration calls for a second increase (from 30% to 50%) in the tax rate paid by private oil companies in Venezuela . The Chavez administration has been pressuring oil firms to migrate to the new law for more than a year. The operating contracts are associated with approximately 500,000 bbl/d (or about 20%) of crude oil production in Venezuela . (DJ)

April 25 U.S. president George Bush meets with Crown Prince Abdullah, of Saudi Arabia, about rising oil prices and Saudi plans to increase oil production capacity over the next decade. President Bush and other administration officials are seeking commitments from Saudi Arabia to supply more oil to world markets in the short-run. Saudi Arabia's long-term plan, which it began discussing publicly weeks ago, calls for spending up to $50 billion to increase its maximum sustainable production capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day by 2009, and to 15 million in the subsequent decade, from about 10.5 million barrels now. Saudi Arabia currently produces approximately 9.6 million bbl/d of crude oil. Later during the week, President Bush announces new proposals to ease high oil prices including opening closed military bases to new refinery construction, renewing tax incentives for customers purchasing hybrid vehicles, and giving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ultimate siting authority for LNG terminals. (EIA, NYT)

April 26 Valero Energy Corp. agrees to acquire refiner Premcor Inc. for $6.9 billion in cash and stock plus the assumption of about $1.8 billion of debt. The merger will create the largest refiner of crude oil in North America and marks a major step in the U.S. refinery industry's rapid consolidation. The deal between Valero and Premcor will give Valero total refining capacity of 3.3 million bbl/d and will raise it above Exxon Mobil Corp.’s North American refinery capacity. Valero will then claim about 13% of the U.S. market for refined products. (WSJ)

April 26 Indonesia offers incentives for oilfield operators to continue development of marginal reserves, in an attempt to stop further declines in the country's oil output. Eight operators who surrendered rights to 30 marginal fields will be offered the chance to take advantage of a 120% cost recovery for development work in the marginal areas, and a 20% rise on cost recovery available under regular production-sharing contracts (PSCs). The 120%-cost-of-recovery incentive will be withdrawn if the rate of return improves to 30% (currently under 15%). BP Migas, the Indonesian upstream regulatory agency, expects the incentives to quickly help improve petroleum production by 100,000 bbl/d and to restore petroleum production to around 1.3 million bbl/d by 2009. Indonesia currently produces approximately 950,000 bbl/d of crude oil. (Platts, WMRC)

April 28 The price for the NYMEX WTI June crude oil contract declines $2.59 (or 4.8%) to $51.61 per barrel, the largest percentage drop this year. The price falls in part due to EIA’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report, which says that commercial crude oil stocks rose 5.4 million barrels during the week ending April 22 to 324.4 million barrels. This is the highest level of commercial stocks since May 2002. (NYT)

May 4 Fausto Cordovez is named the new energy minister of Ecuador . The announcement is part of the formation of a new government following the ouster of former president Lucio Gutierrez last month. Cordovez will implement Ecuador ’s plans to increase its crude oil exports. Ecuador is the second-largest South American supplier of crude oil to the United States , sending 226,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) to the United States in 2004. (DJ)

May 5 The Libyan National Oil Company opens a new round of bidding for oil and gas blocks. This is only the second international tender for exploration in the country since 2000. Libya is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), but the country was closed to U.S. oil companies for many years due to United States sanctions. (DJ)

May 9 Algeria’s Sonatrach and Italy’s Eni agree to increase the capacity of the Transmed natural gas pipeline between the two countries. Currently, Transmed, also called the Enrico Mattei pipeline, has a capacity of 27 billion cubic feet per year (Bcf/y), and the agreed expansion will increase that capacity to 33.5 Bcf/y by 2012. Algeria is one of the largest suppliers of natural gas to Europe, exporting 2.5 trillion cubic feet to the European Union (EU) in 2002. (DJ, AFP)

May 10 Germany ceases operations of the 340-megawatt Obrigheim nuclear power plant. The Obrigheim facility is the second nuclear power plant closed in the country since 2003. The ruling Social Democrats (SPD) have pledged to close the remaining 17 nuclear plants in the country by 2021. (Reuters, DW)

May 11 The Bolivian Congress approves a new hydrocarbons law that increases taxes on oil and gas operators in the country. President Carlos Mesa originally vetoed the bill earlier in the month, but later acquiesced after facing strong popular resistance and demonstrations in the capital. The hydrocarbons issue has divided Bolivian society between rural farmers who want the resource completely nationalized and local leaders in resource-rich provinces that want to allow foreign investment in the sector. Bolivia has the second-largest natural gas reserves in South America.

May 12 Indonesia’s energy ministry announces that the country will likely not develop the Donggi liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal. The country originally planned to bring the project onstream in 2008, but a combination of increased domestic natural gas demand and disappointing reserve finds in the Donggi block have raised doubts about the project. Indonesia is the world’s largest LNG exporter. (DJ)

May 16 The American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers, two oil industry groups, agree to formulate an industry standard for the estimation of oil reserves. Currently, most companies report reserves based on accounting principles specified by government securities regulators, with those companies publicly traded in the United States following the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The two groups hope that a global, professional certification will increase confidence in company reserves data and reassure investors. Financial scandals have plagued several international oil companies in recent years, because they overestimated the quantity of their proven reserves in their audited financial statements. (Reuters)

May 16 Taking advantage of strong crude oil prices, Russia repays early some $15 billion in debt owed to the Paris Club. The repayment is the single-largest in history to the group, which includes 18 of the world’s largest economies. The Russian government also establishes a budget-stabilization fund financed by oil revenues, with an initial deposit of $30 billion. Russia is the world’s second-largest crude oil producer, after Saudi Arabia, and rising oil prices during the last year have dramatically increased the size of the state treasury. (WSJ)

May 18 The Kazakh parliament passes a law concerning production-sharing agreements (PSA) for new, offshore oil projects. The law stipulates that foreign participation in any project will be limited to 50 percent and requires all projects to provide a certain amount of oil to domestic refineries. The new PSA framework will govern a planned licensing round that will offer up to 200 blocks in the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan produces about 1.1 million bbl/d of crude oil, and the government hopes that it can triple this amount by 2015 through aggressive exploration of its offshore resources. (DJ)

May 31 A joint commission of the governments of Sao Tome and Nigeria awards five exploration licenses to international oil companies. Companies winning licenses included ERHC Energy, Devon, Noble, and Anadarko. The exploration blocks are located in the Gulf of Guinea, an area that had been the subject of a long-running territorial dispute between the two countries until a compromise resolution in 2000. (Reuters)

June 1 Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former chief of Russian oil company Yukos, is sentenced to nine years in jail on charges of corruption and tax evasion. Khodorkovsky was arrested in October 2003, and his trial has been closely followed by the oil and gas industry. Yukos was once Russia ’s largest oil company. However, its largest oil-producing asset, Yuganskneftegaz, is now owned by state-controlled Rosneft. (FT)

June 6 Robert Pinzon, the recently-appointed president of Ecuador ’s state-owned oil company Petroecuador, resigns. Pinzon had been appointed by Ecuador ’s new president, Alfredo Palacio. Following his appointment, Ecuadorian media reported that Pinzon has unpaid debts to several government agencies, forbidden under Ecuadorian law. Ecuador is the second-largest South American crude oil exporter to the United States , behind Venezuela. (Reuters)

June 8 Bolivian President Carlos Mesa resigns, replaced by Eduardo Rodriquez, the head of Bolivia’s supreme court. Mesa, who served for 19 months following the resignation of his predecessor, had become the target of nationwide protests over the issue of Bolivia’s natural gas reserves. Rodriquez announces that he will hold new elections by September. Bolivia has South America’s second-largest natural gas reserves, after Venezuela. (AP)

June 13 India and Iran announce a $22 billion, 25-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) deal between the two countries. Under the terms of the deal, Iran will send four million metric tons of LNG (250 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of regasified natural gas) per year to India starting in 2009, with an option to later increase that amount to five million metric tons (375 Bcf). The two countries also signed a memorandum of understanding over the construction of a natural gas pipeline from Iran to India, via Pakistan. India consumed 957 Bcf of natural gas in 2003, and according to EIA’s International Energy Outlook, India’s natural gas consumption is forecasted to grow an average of 4.8 percent per year until 2025. (AFP)

June 14 Nigerian oil officials offer an additional 14 oil exploration blocs as part of this year’s licensing round. The new offerings increase the number of available blocs to 75. However, government officials comment that they will give preferential access to these blocks to companies that agree to tie production at the blocks to domestic energy projects such as power plants and oil refineries. Even though Nigeria is a major oil exporter and a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), it suffers from chronic power shortages and must import petroleum products due to a lack of operable domestic refining capacity. (Reuters)

June 15 At a meeting in Vienna, OPEC announces that it will increase its production quota by 500,000 bbl/d, to 28 million bbl/d. OPEC states that it will consider further quota increases later this year. (FT)

June 23 The French government begins the sale of a 22 percent stake of Gaz de France (GdF) in an initial public offering (IPO). The IPO could net some $5 billion in proceeds, split between the French government and GdF. France’s labor unions oppose the IPO and threaten to hold retaliatory, nationwide strikes this fall. The GdF IPO is a precursor to the partial privatization of Electricite de France (EdF) this October in an IPO that could raise double the amount of the GdF offer. GdF, the third-largest natural gas distributor in Europe, holds a virtual monopoly on the natural gas sector in France and has also sought to aggressively expand in foreign markets. (Reuters)

June 24 Chinese oil company Cnooc Ltd. bids $18.5 billion, or $67 per share, for U.S.-based Unocal. The all-cash offer comes after international oil major Chevron had offered $60 per share in a stock-cash offer. The bid is the largest attempted Chinese acquisition of a U.S. company. Cnooc wants to gain control of Unocal’s sizable production assets and reserves in Asia. However, Cnooc could face difficulties getting approval of its bid from Unocal’s shareholders or U.S. regulators. (DJ, WSJ)

June 25 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is elected president of Iran. Ahmadinejad, the former mayor of Tehran, called repeatedly during his campaign for reform of the country’s oil sector, especially a crackdown on inefficiency and corruption at the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). While Ahmadinejad is viewed as conservative, there is no clear consensus on how his election will affect Iran’s oil and gas sectors. Iran is the second-largest oil producer in OPEC, with June 2005 crude oil production of four million bbl/d. (WP)

June 27 The price for near-month delivery of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) settles above $60 per barrel for the first time since the launch of the contract in 1983. The near-month WTI settlement price has risen 61 percent in the last twelve months. (Reuters)

June 28 The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) consortium chooses France as the site for the world’s first prototype nuclear fusion reactor. The decision follows a contentious process to determine a final location for the $14 billion facility, with part of the consortium favoring a site in southern Japan. Slated for completion in 2014, ITER hopes to demonstrate that using fusion power to generate electricity is safe and commercially viable. (AP)

June 28 Shareholders in Royal Dutch/Shell Group approve a plan to merge the two companies together into a single holding company. Since the establishment of their “partnership” in 1907, the two have coordinated operations but maintained separate headquarters and boards of directors. Some blame the bifurcated management structure for contributing to a series of financial scandals that plagued the company in the past few years, including a large restatement of its hydrocarbon reserves that prompted regulatory investigations, shareholder lawsuits, and over $150 million in fines. The new company, dubbed Royal Dutch Shell Plc, will be the third-largest private oil company in the world. (Bloomberg)

July 5 The United Kingdom receives its first delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in over 20 years. An Algerian ship delivers the LNG to the new Isle of Grain LNG terminal, located near London. The United Kingdom is one of the world’s largest producers of natural gas. However, the British government has stated that, due to falling natural gas production in the UK sector of the North Sea and booming domestic demand, the country will likely become a net gas importer by the end of the decade. In 2003, the UK produced 3.63 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas, while consuming 3.36 Tcf; however, natural gas production has declined by 14 percent since peaking in 2000. (IOD)

July 6 Nigeria’s Senate confirms the appointment of Edmund Daukoru as the country’s new oil minister. Daukoru has acted as the chief presidential advisor on petroleum issues since 2003, but had no formal role in the government. Nigeria is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and in 2004, the country produced 2.5 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of crude oil. (DJ)

July 7 Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom, the largest natural gas producer in the world, signs a memorandum of understanding with Royal Dutch Shell over an asset swap between the two companies. Shell will give Gazprom a 25 percent stake in its Sakhalin-2 natural gas project, located off the east coast of Russia; in return, Gazprom will grant Shell access to the giant Zapolyarnoye-Neocomian field in northern Russia, which contains an estimated 14 Tcf of natural gas and 400 million bbl of gas condensates. The Sakhalin-2 project contains an estimated 18 Tcf of natural gas, and Shell leads an international consortium seeking to build an LNG export terminal there to supply natural gas to the Pacific Rim. (AP)

July 8 ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco, and Chinese oil refiner Sinopec sign a $3.5 billion agreement to expand the capacity of a crude oil refinery in China’s Fujian province. The deal will increase the capacity of the facility to 230,000 bbl/d and include the construction of other supplementary facilities for refined products. As part of their investment, ExxonMobil and Saudi Aramco will also gain access to China’s retail oil products market. (AP)

July 8 The G8 summit closes in Gleneagles, Scotland. In their final statement from the summit, the G8 leaders take note of the high and volatile nature of global crude oil prices. They pledge to implement policies to increase energy security and conservation. The ministers also call for greater investment in oil-producing countries, in order to increase oil supply in the near future, and increased transparency of oil market information. (Reuters)

July 8 A strike by local workers at Angola’s Block 0 offshore oil project shuts-in almost all production at the project. The local workers demand a pay increase to bring their salaries on par with expatriates. The strike ends later in the week, when local workers agree to return to the site while they negotiate with management. According to Chevron, the field’s operator, Block 0 produces 450,000 bbl/d, almost one-half of Angola’s total oil production of about 1.15 million bbl/d. (Reuters)

July 18 Production begins at Angola’s offshore Kizomba B field. Operated by a unit of ExxonMobil, the field has an initial crude oil production capacity of 250,000 bbl/d. (Reuters)

July 21 Some two dozen people die in riots in Yemen, after the government announces that it will cut fuel price subsidies. Thousands of people protest the move, which would almost double fuel prices in the country. Following the riots, the Yemeni government cancels the policy and announces a 10 percent decrease in fuel prices. (Reuters)

July 26 The board of directors of Unocal approves a bid by Chevron to purchase the company, thereby rejecting a higher, all-cash offer by Chinese oil company CNOOC. The bid now goes before Unocal’s shareholders. The CNOOC offer prompted reservations in the US Congress, where many members questioned the national security implications of the deal. (DJ)

July 26 The Kuwaiti parliament approves a draft law to allow, for the first time, private investment in the country’s upstream oil sector. The law paves the way for the Project Kuwait, which would add over 400,000-bbl/d of crude oil production capacity. Three international consortiums headed by BP, ExxonMobil, and Chevron, respectively, have bid for the project. The law will now go before the full parliament for debate. (Reuters)

July 28 The United States, Australia, China, India, and South Korea agree to the “Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate.” The pact seeks to use scientific innovation and technology transfers to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, in contrast to the binding emissions targets of the Kyoto Protocol. The United States and Australia have not ratified Kyoto, while the other three are Annex II nations under the pact, and are therefore exempt from emissions limits. (Reuters, AP)

August 1 King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, dies, with Crown Prince Abdullah replacing him as king. Abdullah has largely handled the day-to-day operations of the county since Fahd suffered a stroke in 1995. Abdullah vows that he will not make any major changes to Saudi oil policy. (Reuters, DJ, AP)

August 1 Operators of the Interconnector Limited, a natural gas pipeline linking the United Kingdom and Belgium, announce that they will reverse the flow of the pipeline. Currently, the Interconnector exports natural gas from the UK to Continental Europe in “Forward Mode”, but the link will now import natural gas from Continental Europe to the UK in “Reverse Mode”. The Interconnector has a capacity in Forward Mode of 710 billion cubic feet per year (Bcf/y), and a capacity in Reverse Mode of 300 Bcf/y. The reversal is commensurate with the long-running decline in UK natural gas production, with the country expected to transition from net exporter to net importer of natural gas by the end of the decade. (DJ)

August 2 The Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) withdraws its $18.5 billion offer for U.S.-based Unocal. The move is seen as a victory for Chevron, which has put forth its own $17.3 billion bid for Unocal. Unocal’s board of directors had already voted to approve the Chevron offer. (Reuters)

August 4 Lee Raymond announces that he will retire as the CEO of ExxonMobil. Under Raymond’s reign, ExxonMobil became the world’s most valuable, publicly traded company. ExxonMobil is the world largest private oil company, producing 2.5 million bbl/d of total liquids in 2003. (Reuters)

August 5 BP shuts in production at its 120,000-bbl/d Shiehallion oil field in the UK Sector of the North Sea due to a fire in the staff facilities. The field represents eight percent of the UK’s crude oil production. The fire is representative of the kinds of problems that impair North Sea oil production in the first part of August 2005, with unplanned outages cutting production from the area by more than 250,000 bbl/d at one point. (Reuters)

August 8 U.S. President George W. Bush signs the $14.5 billion energy bill into law. The bill includes provisions to promote domestic oil and natural gas drilling, the construction of additional electricity generating units, energy conservation, and the use of alternative fuels. The measure also extends daylight savings time in the U.S. by one month, starting in 2007. (NYT, WSJ)

August 8 The government of Indonesia, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announces that the country was a net importer of crude oil in the second quarter of 2005. On average, crude oil imports exceeded exports by 80,000 bbl/d during the time period. The development brings Indonesia’s continued membership in OPEC into doubt. Indonesia’s OPEC crude oil production quota is currently 1.45 million bbl/d, but according to EIA data, the country only produced 940,000 bbl/d in June 2005. (Reuters)

August 10 The government of Oman opens a bidding round for five new oil exploration blocks in the country, covering a combined area of 14,630 square miles. The blocks consist of areas relinquished by the Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) corporation, the largest oil producer in the country. The Omani government hopes that the new offer will increase the country’s oil production, which has fallen from 970,000 bbl/d in 2000 to about 775,000 bbl/d in the first half of 2005. (IOD)

August 11 Semit, the Venezuelan tax agency, shuts the offices of Royal Dutch Shell in that country for two days. The agency also places a freeze on some of the company’s assets. Semit claims that Royal Dutch Shell owes $131 million in back taxes for oil produced by the company during 2001-2004. The closure does not affect the company’s oil production. For its part, Royal Dutch Shell has filed formal appeals against the charges. Semit has made similar claims against other foreign oil operators in the country, seeking to collect a total of $3 billion from foreign oil operators. (Reuters)

August 16 The Chinese government approves the construction of two oil pipelines designed to increase its oil import capacity. State-owned CNPC will construct a 1,100-mile oil product pipeline and a 930-mile crude oil pipeline from the Xinjiang province to the Gansu province for an estimated $1.8 billion. The pipelines will facilitate increased oil imports from Central Asia, particularly Kazakhstan, from which China currently receives approximately 30,000 bbl/d of oil imports via rail. Most oil imports into China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, come from the Middle East, and the country hopes that the new pipelines will reduce its dependence upon that region. (Reuters)

August 22 China’s state-owned CNPC closes a $4.2 billion deal to purchase Canada’s PetroKazakhstan, beating out a competing deal by an Indian consortium. PetroKazakhstan holds total hydrocarbon reserves of 550 million barrels of oil equivalent and produces 150,000 bbl/d of crude oil in that Central Asian country. The deal comes as China seeks to diversify its oil imports away from the Middle East (see above). (Reuters)

August 23 The U.S. government proposes new, more stringent fuel economy measures for the country’s motor vehicle fleet. The current Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard requires automakers to maintain a requisite fuel economy for their entire fleet, whereas the new rules would establish targets for six automobile subcategories. According to government estimates, the new rules would save an estimated 10 billion gallons of gasoline through 2011 (40 million barrels per year). (WSJ)

August 25 Nine northeastern states reach a preliminary agreement to cut emissions of carbon dioxide from their power plants by 10 percent by 2020. The states, including Delaware, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont, will introduce the cuts beginning in 2009, under the plan. According to EIA data, the nine states have combined installed electricity generating capacity of 100,000 megawatts, or about 10 percent of the U.S. total. (LAT)

August 25 Iran’s parliament rejects four of new Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s proposed cabinet ministers, including the oil minister. The move raises doubts about the leadership of the oil sector in the country, which is the second-largest crude oil exporter in OPEC. Ahmadinejad won election in June of this year by a comfortable margin and promised to reform Iran’s oil sector. (Reuters)

August 26 OPEC member Nigeria holds its first open oil licensing round, offering 78 blocks to an estimated 800 investors. Nigeria plans to give preferential bidding rights to companies that promise to invest in the country’s refining and power generation infrastructure. The greatest interest centers around on- and offshore blocks in the Niger Delta and deepwater areas of the Gulf of Guinea. According to EIA, Nigeria produced 2.5 million bbl/d of crude oil in June 2005 and has an OPEC production quota of 2.3 million bbl/d. (IOD, Reuters)

August 26 In filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Comission (SEC), Venezuela’s state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) reports 2.4 million bbl/d of oil sales in 2004, down from 2.8 million bbl/d in 2001, a result of the 2002-2003 general strike that crippled the country’s oil production and saw the firing of half of PdVSA’s workforce. The report seems to contradict pronouncements by Venezuelan government officials, who claimed that the country’s oil production had recovered to pre-strike levels. PdVSA must file annual financial statements with the SEC due to the company’s international debt. (Reuters)

August 30 The Yemeni government approves the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal, making it the latest country to join the global LNG market. France’s Total will operate the facility, with an initial output of 6.7 million metric tons per year (350 Bcf/y of regasified natural gas). The company already has signed three, 20-year supply contracts for the plant’s output. (IOD)

September 1 The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) begins releasing crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to help alleviate disruptions caused by Hurricane Katrina. DOE releases the crude oil in the form of short-term exchange agreements, under which oil companies agree to return an equivalent amount of crude oil at a later date. The companies receiving crude oil under this program in September include Exxon Mobil (6 million barrels), BP (2 million barrels), Valero (1.5 million barrels), Total (1.2 million barrels), Placid Refining (1.0 million barrels), and Marathon (1.0 million barrels) The SPR contains 700 million barrels of crude oil. (DOE)

September 2 A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker from Russia arrives at a receiving terminal in Cove Point, Maryland. This shipment, the first ever LNG delivery from Russia to the United States, contains 60,000 metric tons of LNG, or 2.8 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas. Royal Dutch Shell purchases the LNG shipment from Gazprom, the Russian state-owned natural gas monopoly. During the first five months of 2005, LNG represented 14.7 percent of U.S. natural gas imports, of which Trinidad and Tobago supplies 77 percent. (Forbes)

September 2 U.S. President George Bush directs DOE to release as much as 30 million barrels of crude oil from the SPR. This release, in the form of an online auction, comes after DOE has already released 13.2 million barrels of crude oil under short-term exchange agreements (see above). The auction is a response to the impact of Hurricane Katrina on U.S. oil production in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) region, and it is the first emergency-induced release from the SPR since the 1990-1991 Gulf War. Of the 30 million barrels, DOE sells 11 million barrels by the end of the month to five companies. Further, the International Energy Agency (IEA) agrees to release an additional 30 million barrels of oil from the commercial stocks held by its member countries. (DOE, IEA)

September 5 UK-based BG begins production from the second train of the Egyptian LNG (ELNG) project. At full capacity, the train can produce 3.6 million metric tons per year of LNG, or 190 Bcf of natural gas. The downstream subsidiary of BG has already agreed to a 20-year purchasing agreement to buy the entire output of the train, with plans to deliver the LNG to the United States and Italy. BG had originally scheduled start-up of the project for early 2006, so it will sell any cargoes produced between now and then on the spot market. (IOD)

September 7 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the leaders of nine Caribbean nations give final approval to the Petrocaribe initiative at a conference in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Under the terms of the agreement, these Caribbean nations will buy Venezuelan oil at market prices, but they will only need to pay a small amount up front and receive favorable, long-term financing options to pay the balance. Further, they will have the option of repaying Venezuela with non-cash items, such as agricultural products. Most Caribbean countries rely on imported oil for the vast majority of their total energy needs, and these countries have struggled with high world oil prices. (DJ)

September 7 Chevron begins construction of the offshore segment of the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP). The 420-mile WAGP will carry natural gas from Nigeria to Benin, Ghana, and Togo. Chevron hopes to complete the project by the end of 2006. Nigeria has sought more export destinations for its natural gas reserves in order to raise revenues and reduce natural gas flaring. (IOD, Forbes)

September 8 Russia and Germany finalize an agreement to build the Northern Europe Gas Pipeline (NEGP), a 750-mile system underneath the Baltic Sea that will directly connect Russian natural gas production with German consumers. Russia’s Gazprom will partner with Germany’s E.ON and BASF to initially build a single pipeline by 2010, with a capacity of 2.6 Bcf per day (Bcf/d). If conditions warrant, such as rising demand, the consortium could also build a second, parallel line to double the capacity of the system. The consortium has talked of eventually extending the system to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Germany imports 76 percent of its natural gas consumption, with Russia providing 44 percent of those imports. (Reuters)

September 12 A coalition led by the center-left Labour Party wins national elections in Norway. The victory could have repercussions for Norway’s energy sector. In particular, the Socialist Left party, a member of the winning coalition, opposes oil exploration in the Barents Sea and the development of gas-fired power plants. Coalition negotiations in the coming month will determine the new government’s ultimate position on these issues. Norway is the world’s third-largest exporter of oil and natural gas. (Reuters)

September 12 The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) resumes functioning at full capacity for the first time since Hurricane Katrina impacted operations at the facility last month. A lack of electricity had caused several pumps to shut down, but new generators allowed the LOOP to restart them. The LOOP is the only oil terminal in the United States that can offload very large crude carriers (VLCC) and ultra large crude carriers (ULCC). (DJ)

September 16 Bolivian President Eduardo Rodriguez reaches a formal agreement with state and local governments over the disposition of revenues from oil and natural gas operations in that country. Under the agreement, state and local governments will get over one-third of collected hydrocarbon taxes. This tax issue was one of the principal causes of nationwide demonstrations and protests earlier this year that led to the shutdown of much of the country. Bolivia holds the second-largest proven natural gas reserves in South America. (GI)

September 20 Following a meeting in Vienna, Austria, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announces that its member countries will be free to produce an additional two million bbl/d of crude oil using existing spare capacity, but that the organization will not increase existing production quotas. The move will allow those countries with spare capacity, especially Saudi Arabia, to offer additional crude supplies to the world market, but it will not force any OPEC members to raise their production. EIA estimates that OPEC currently has 0.9-1.4 million bbl/d of surplus crude oil production capacity, all located in Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)

September 24 Hurricane Rita makes landfall along the US Gulf Coast. Energy companies operating in the region had shut in almost all oil and natural gas production in anticipation of the storm. Refiners also had shut in over 3.9 million bbl/d of refining capacity, which, along with the refining capacity already shut down due to damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, represents over one-quarter of total US capacity. Many refineries begin to restart immediately following the storm, and oil and natural gas companies return to offshore platforms to assess damage. However, significant effects of Hurricane Rita continue to linger throughout the rest of the month (see below). (DJ, Reuters, AP, DOE)

September 26 Nigeria’s oilministry announces that the country has fully restored oil production following several shut-ins caused by threats of sectarian violence. The evacuation of oil facilities came after Nigerian police arrested a prominent opposition leader, whose followers subsequently launched massive demonstrations and threatened to blow up oil installations. Nigeria, a member of OPEC, produced 2.5 million bbl/d of crude oil during the first seven months of 2005. (DJ, EIA)

September 27 A strike at the largest oil refinery in France, Total’s facility at Gonfreville, shuts-in 343,000 bbl/d of refining capacity in that country. A strike also closes the Lavera/Fos-sur-Mer complex, an important oil import terminal, LNG regasification facility, and refining center along France’s Mediterranean coast. The action affects 570,000 bbl/d of crude oil refining capacity and 0.4 Bcf/d of LNG regasification capacity. In addition, it affects several oil pipelines that carry crude from the port to other points in Europe. In both labor actions, the affected facilities are able to operate without interruption in the short-term, due to stored supplies, but long-term outages could hinder the delivery of crude oil and refined products. (Reuters)

September 28 State-owned Gazprom signs off on a deal to purchase majority control of Russian oil company Sibneft for $13.1 billion. Gazprom is already the largest natural gas producer in the world, and the Sibneft acquisition will increase its profile in the oil sector, as well. The combined company will produce 924,000 bbl/d of crude oil, about 10 percent of Russia’s total crude oil production. (DJ, WMRC, EIA)

September 28 Mexican President Vicente Fox names Fernando Canales as the country’s new energy minister. Currently the economic minister, Canales replaces Fernando Elizondo, who resigned earlier this month. President Fox has pushed reforms of Mexico’s energy sector and Pemex, the state-owned oil and natural gas monopoly. Before leaving office, Elizondo warned that Mexico could transition from a major oil exporter into a net oil importer within 10 years, unless the government opened the sector to private investors. During the first seven months of 2005, Mexico exported 1.6 million bbl/d of crude oil to the U.S., the second-largest source after Canada. (Reuters)

September 30 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita continue to have an impact upon U.S. energy infrastructure. According to the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS), 98 percent of oil and 79 percent of natural gas production in the GOM remains shut in. DOE states that some 3.0 million bbl/d of refining capacity is shutdown. The impact of the storms on the region’s pipeline infrastructure remains severe, with numerous oil, natural gas, and refined product pipelines either shut down or operating at reduced capacity. Finally, at least four major power plants are still shut down due to storm damage. (MMS, DOE, Reuters)

October 2 ExxonMobil begins production at its Sakhalin 1 oil and natural gas field in Russia. The project will initially produce 50,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of crude oil and 60 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas, eventually reaching 250,000 bbl/d of crude oil and 800 Mmcf/d of natural gas. Russia is the second-largest crude oil producer and largest natural gas producer in the world. (AFP)

October 3 Oil company CITGO, controlled by Venezuela’s stated-owned PdVSA, declares force majeureon all refined petroleum product deliveries from its refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The 324,000-bbl/d facility is unable to operate due to a lack of electricity, as Hurricane Rita destroyed several electricity transmission lines serving the refinery. By the end of the month, CITGO restores partial operations. Overall, 991,000 bbl/d of U.S. refining capacity is still offline at the end of October due to the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. (IOD)

October 4 The government of Libya announces the winning bids in its latest oil and natural gas licensing round. Seventeen companies win access to 44 exploration blocks, including both onshore and offshore acreage. Companies with winning bids include Statoil, ExxonMobil, BG Group, and Mitsubishi. The licensing round is only the second since the lifting of UN sanctions against Libya. In September 2005, Libya produced 1.65 million bbl/d of crude oil. (IOD, Reuters)

October 5 Chevron suspends construction on its Port Pelican liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal in Louisiana. The company does not state the reason for the termination of the project. Chevron also has pending applications for LNG receiving terminals at other U.S. locations. Many proposed LNG terminals in the U.S. face opposition from local residents and environmental activists. (IOD)

October 6 Five international oil companies, including Teikoku, Perenco, and Tecpetrol, sign transition agreements with Venezuela’s PdVSA that will allow the companies to continue operating oil projects in that country. The deals are part of the conversion of the 32 existing production service agreements (PSA) between PdVSA and private oil companies into joint ventures. Industry estimates place crude oil production by the existing PSA projects at about 600,000 bbl/d, or about one-quarter of Venezuela’s total crude oil production. (Reuters).

October 13 Norway’s newly elected government releases its policy platform, negotiated between the three members of its left-center coalition. The platform will allow oil and natural gas drilling in the Arctic Sea region, an area that the country hopes will offset declining production in the North Sea. During the campaign before the election, the Socialist Left, a member of the governing coalition, called for a ban on Arctic drilling, due to environmental concerns. Norway is the third-largest exporter of oil and natural gas in the world. (Reuters)

October 17 Mexico’s crude oil exports to the United States decline in September 2005, due to the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and Tropical Storm Stan. According to Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil monopoly, the country exported 1.68 million bbl/d of crude oil to the U.S. in September, down from 1.77 million bbl/d in August. Refinery closures and some production shut-ins at Pemex offshore platforms caused the decline. However, Pemex states that it was able to find alternative buyers for much of the affected exports or place it into storage. Mexico is consistently amongst the top suppliers of U.S. oil imports. (Reuters)

October 20 Brazil holds its latest upstream exploration licensing round. While state-owned Petrobras wins the most blocks, grabbing 96 of 251 sold, foreign oil companies make a respectable showing at the auction. In particular, offshore blocks in the Santos basis with high probability of large natural gas potential attract bids from companies such as Devon Energy, BG Group, and Repsol-YPF. The auction earns the Brazilian government some $440 million in licensing fees. (DJ)

October 21 Workers at Total’s Gonfreville refinery end their month-long strike, restoring operations at the plant. The Gonfreville refinery is the largest in France, with a crude oil refining capacity of 343,000 bbl/d. Earlier this year, labor disputes affected several other Total refineries in the country. (Reuters, AP, AFP)

October 21 A strike by workers at Nigeria’s Brass River crude oil export terminal shuts operations at the facility for two days. The terminal normally handles around 240,000 bbl/d of crude oil exports. Nigeria produced 2.5 million bbl/d in September 2005, of which it exported about 2.1 million bbl/d. (Reuters)

October 24 The French government begins the partial privatization of Electricite de France (EdF), the state-owned electricity monopoly. In an initial public offering (IPO) of stock representing a 15 percent stake in the company, the French government hopes to raise at least $7 billion. EdF will use the proceeds of the IPO to increase generating capacity, reduce debt, and mitigate potential rate increases. The IPO follows a similar offering of shares in state-owned Gaz de France (GdF) earlier this year. EdF is the largest electric utility in Europe. (DJ)

October 24 China starts up the first reactor at its Tianwan nuclear power plant. The reactor has an installed capacity of 1,060 megawatts (MW). Plant operators also plan to bring a second, 1,000-MW reactor online in the near future. Chinese government officials state that the $3.2 billion Tianwan plant could eventually support a total of eight such reactors. Nuclear power currently supplies around 2 percent of China’s electricity supply. (Reuters)

October 24 A fire at Norway’s Asgard B platform shuts in natural gas and condensate production there. The field normally produces 1,200 Mmcf/d of natural gas and 80,000 bbl/d of condensate. The outage also affects natural gas production at neighboring fields, as Asgard is an important node in Norway’s North Sea natural gas transport network. Field operator Statoil is unsure as to the original cause of the fire or when it will be able to bring production at Asgard back online. (Rigzone)

October 24 Fishermen block Spain’s Mediterranean ports for three days in a protest calling for lower diesel prices. The action blocks cargo ships from entering these ports, including several oil and LNG tankers. The action ends when Spain’s government agrees to some of the protesters’ demands. Spain depends upon imports for almost all of its oil consumption. (Reuters)

October 31 Workers at Royal Dutch Shell’s Pernis refinery begin a phased shutdown of the facility, as part of a labor dispute with the company. With crude oil refining capacity of 418,000 bbl/d, the Pernis plant is the largest oil refinery in Europe. Workers at Shell’s Moerdijk petrochemicals plant, with production capacity of 900,000 metric tons per year (t/y), join the strike and also shut operations. (Reuters)

November 3 Royal Dutch Shell reaches an agreement with workers at its Pernis refinery in the Netherlands. The workers launched a work stoppage late last month and began a controlled shutdown of the facility. The agreement allows Shell to restore full operations at the plant, after the strike had reduced output at the facility by 50 percent. Pernis is the largest oil refinery in Europe, with a crude oil distillation capacity of 418,000 barrels per day (bbl/d). (Reuters)

November 4 U.S.-based oil company ConocoPhillips signs a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with TransCanada, in which ConocoPhillips agrees to ship crude oil through TransCanada’s proposed Keystone oil pipeline. Slated to enter service in 2009, Keystone will run 1,800 miles from Hardisty, Alberta, to Patoka, Illinois, with a capacity of 435,000 bbl/d. The MOU is an important step towards realizing the implementation of the Keystone system. The pipeline will facilitate greater penetration into the U.S. market by Alberta’s oil sands operators. ConocoPhillips currently owns an equity stake in the Syncrude oil sands project and plans to bring its Surmont oil sands project online in 2006. (Rigzone)

November 7 Norway’s Norsk Hydro completes construction of the southern section of the Langeled pipeline system in the North Sea. This section connects the Sleipner natural gas field and riser platform with the natural gas receiving terminal at Easington, England. The northern section of the pipeline, scheduled for completion in 2008, will connect Sleipner to the natural gas receiving terminal in Nyhamma, Norway, via the under-development Ormen Lange natural gas project. Once completed, the Langeled system will be the longest sub-sea pipeline system in the world and will supply the UK with as much as 2.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), or more than one-quarter of current UK natural gas demand. (Reuters, EIA)

November 8 The international consortium that operates the Interconnector natural gas pipeline between Belgium and the UK completes an expansion of the system that doubles its capacity to 1.6 Bcf/d. Earlier this year, the operators of the Interconnector reversed the flow of the system, which had previously exported natural gas from the UK to the Continent. (Reuters)

November 11 Husky Energy begins production at its White Rose oil field, off the Atlantic coast of Canada. The project will eventually produce 100,000 bbl/d of crude oil. (Rigzone, Reuters)

November 11 The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (AEUB) rejects appeals from natural gas producers in the province regarding a 2004 ruling that shut in some natural gas wells. The 2004 ruling shut in production at 900 natural gas wells in the northern part of the province, because the AEUB feared that their production would hinder bitumen extraction in the area. According to the AEUB, its decision will prevent the eventual production of 280 Bcf of natural gas, while preserving the eventual production of 26 billion barrels of bitumen. (Rigzone)

November 15 Officials from Qatar and the United States officially launch the Ras Laffan-3 liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. The project, estimated to cost $14 billion, will eventually produce 15.6 million metric tons per year (mt/y) of LNG, most of which will be exported to the United States. Ras Laffan-3 is a joint venture between state-owned Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil, with production slated to begin in 2008. (DJ)

November 19 Saudi Arabia hosts a global meeting of the world’s largest oil producing and consuming countries. The summit discusses ways to increase oil market transparency, reduce price volatility, and encourage investments in new production and refining capacity. The summit also includes the launching of a new public database of international oil data (see below). (Reuters)

November 19 The Joint Oil Data Initiative (JODI) launches its new online database of global oil market information. The JODI project provides recent, country-level information regarding production, consumption, and inventories of crude oil. The aim of the project is to increase transparency in the global oil market. JODI is a joint effort of the International Energy Forum Secretariat (IEFS), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Eurostat, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE), the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). (AP)

November 21 ExxonMobil and Hunt Oil file an arbitration claim at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris against the government of Yemen. The companies operate the Marib Al-Jawf oil project in the country, which produces 75,000 bbl/d of crude oil. Earlier this month, the companies signed an extension of their operating agreement for the block with the Yemeni government, but the Yemeni parliament rejected that agreement as too favorable to the oil companies. Instead, the Yemeni government granted operatorship to a state-owned oil company. International oil companies rarely bring their disputes with host countries before formal arbitration panels. During the first nine months of 2005, Yemen produced 415,000 bbl/d of crude oil. (DJ)

November 22 The government of Ecuador begins discussions with private oil producers in the country in hopes of renegotiating the terms of their production contracts. Given high oil prices, the Ecuadorian government wants to increase its take of oil revenues. However, the government clearly states that it will not unilaterally impose any contract changes on the private producers, as has been the case in other countries. The move is also an attempt to satisfy the demands of local pressure groups, which launched demonstrations in August 2005 that shut in most of the country’s oil production for several days to demand greater spending on social services in oil-producing regions. Ecuador produced 540,000 bbl/d of crude oil in September 2005, and it is an important supplier of crude oil to the United States. (DJ)

November 23 Iran’s parliament rejects the appointment of Mohsen Tasalloti as the country’s new oil minister. Tasalloti was the third person nominated for the post by new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Earlier this month, Sadeq Mahsoul withdrew from consideration following opposition from Parliament; earlier this year, the Parliament rejected Ahmadinejad’s first nominee, Ali Saeedlou. The difficulty in filling the vacancy has raised uncertainty about the future of Iran’s oil sector. The country is the second-largest exporter of crude oil in Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), producing 3.95 million bbl/d of crude oil in October 2005. (Reuters)

November 26 U.S.-based Arizona Clean Fuels-Yuma (ACFY) receives approval from the Mexican government for the construction of a crude oil pipeline from Mexico to Arizona. The approval is a crucial step in the development of ACFY’s proposed 150,000-bbl/d oil refinery near Phoenix, which ACFY plans to supply with Maya heavy crude oil from Mexico. Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved a state-issued permit for the plant. The ACFY project would be the first new oil refinery built in the United States in 30 years. (PIW, Reuters).

November 28 Royal Dutch Shell begins production at its offshore Bonga oil and natural gas field in Nigeria. At its peak, the Bonga field will produce 225,000 bbl/d of crude oil and 150 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d) of natural gas. The project will help Nigeria reach its goal of increasing its crude oil production to four million bbl/d by 2010; the country produced 2.5 million bbl/d of crude oil in October 2005. (EIA, Reuters)

November 30 According to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS), 32 percent of crude oil production and 26 percent of natural gas production in the federal areas of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) remain shut in due to damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability reports that 804,000 bbl/d of crude oil refining capacity remains offline in the GOM region. (MMS, DOE)

December 4 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nominates Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh as the country’s new oil minister. Vaziri-Hamaneh, the current acting oil minister, is the fourth person nominated for the post by Ahmadinejad, with the other three failing to win the support of the Iranian Parliament. As a result, Iran’s oil ministry has been leaderless for four months. The Iranian Parliament later approves the nomination of Vaziri-Hamenah on December 11. Iran is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), with crude oil production of 3.95 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in October 2005. (Reuters, EIA)

December 9 Construction begins on the Northern Europe Gas Pipeline (NEGP), a new subsea natural gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany. The 750-mile pipeline will link Babayevo, Russia with Greiswald, Germany, with an initial capacity of 5.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). There has also been discussion of eventually extending the system to the United Kingdom. Companies involved in the project include Russia’s Gazprom and Germany’s Wintershall and E.ON. The NEGP consortium plans to bring the system online by 2010. (AFP, EIA)

December 9 At a meeting in Kuwait, OPEC announces that it will maintain its current level of oil production. The organization also states that it will re-consider this decision at a meeting next month. In October 2005, OPEC produced 30.1 million bbl/d of crude oil (Reuters, EIA).

December 14 Oil tankers transiting the Bosporus Straits face delays of 19 days, more than twice the delay faced at the same time last year. Poor weather and increased tanker traffic cause the increase. The Bosporus Straits are an important world oil market chokepoint, facilitating the export of crude oil from Russia and Central Asia through the Black Sea. In 2004, an estimated 3.1 million bbl/d of crude oil and petroleum products flowed through the waterway. (Reuters, EIA)

December 15 A new crude oil pipeline linking Kazakhstan and China comes online. The 600-mile system, linking Atasu, Kazakhstan and Alashankou, China, has an initial capacity of 210,000 bbl/d, potentially increasing to 400,000 bbl/d by 2010. The pipeline represents the first direct oil pipeline link between China and a foreign oil producer. China imports over 50 percent of its crude oil needs, mostly from the Middle East, and the pipeline is an effort by the country to diversify the source of these imports. (Reuters, EIA)

December 15 Operations begin at Train 4 of the Atlantic Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in Trinidad and Tobago. The addition of the new train gives the Atlantic LNG facility a total production capacity of 14.8 million metric tons per year (Mmt/y) of LNG, or some 720 billion cubic feet per year (Bcf/y) of regasified natural gas. Trinidad and Tobago is already the largest supplier of LNG to the United States and one of the largest LNG exporters in the world. The Atlantic LNG project consists of a consortium of BP, BG Group, Repsol-YPF, and the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago. (DJ)

December 18 Evo Morales wins election as the next president of Bolivia. Bolivia’s natural gas reserves, the second largest in South America, are a central issue in the election. The country privatized natural gas production in the 1990s, leading to an influx of foreign producers. However, Morales wants to re-negotiate these relationships, instituting a system of service agreements whereby the Bolivian government would retain ownership of natural gas at the wellhead and pay foreign producers a set production fee. Morales will also have responsibility for implementing the new hydrocarbons law passed by the Bolivian Congress earlier this year, which imposed higher tax rates on natural gas producers. Recent political instability in Bolivia, including the resignation of two presidents in three years, has caused a decline in foreign investment in the natural gas sector. (Reuters)

December 20 Militants in Nigeria’s Niger Delta bomb an important crude oil pipeline. The bombing kills eight people and starts a large fire. As a result of the incident, Royal Dutch Shell shuts in 180,000 bbl/d of crude oil production and declares force majeure on its crude oil exports from the country. The company is able to bring the production back online in a few days, when repairs on the pipeline are completed. Nigeria, a member of OPEC, produced 2.5 million bbl/d in October 2005. (DJ, EIA)

December 29 Ahmad Chalabi, the deputy prime minister of Iraq, assumes control of the country’s oil ministry. The move comes as Iraq’s oil exports fall to their lowest level since the end of the war in mid-2003, with the country exporting 1.1 million bbl/d of crude oil during December 2005. The principal causes of the reduction in exports are bad weather in the south, which impairs exports through the Basra oil terminal, and continuing insurgent attacks against export pipelines in the north. (Reuters)

December 30 Venezuela completes negotiations on the conversion of the final production sharing agreements (PSA), between state-owned PdVSA and foreign oil operators, into a joint venture (JV). The deal means that PdVSA has now converted all 32 PSAs, held by 22 companies, into JVs. Under the PSAs, PdVSA paid foreign operators a fee based on the amount of oil produced, but it had no equity stake in the operations. Under the JVs, PdVSA will hold at least a 51 percent stake in the new operations. These fields normally represent about 600,000 bbl/d of crude oil production, but uncertainty surrounding the transition to the new JV framework had reduced investment in the fields and consequently led to a fall in production. (Reuters)