Scotland will vote on a referendum to secede from the UK this September. A major component of that decision involves the future of the massive Grangemouth refining and petrochemical complex and oil reserves located in the Scottish portion of the North Sea. “Mr. Salmond, Scotland’s first minister, is banking on North Sea oil to underpin… Keep reading →
There may be a shale oil deposit in Russia’s Siberian region larger than the Bakken. Exxon Mobil is investigating and oil service firms are “shipping equipment, technology and drilling crews from the Bakken and the Eagle Ford in Texas to Siberia, in what is becoming a full-scale west-east technology transfer.” [Financial Times] The Sudanese government… Keep reading →
Despite its significant oil wealth, American companies have long shied away from doing business in Sudan, initially because of security concerns and later in response to U.S. sanctions against the government in Khartoum. The secession of South Sudan in July 2011, during which 80% of the country’s oil wealth went to the South, followed by… Keep reading →
Statoil will assume its first shale operatorship outside the United States through a deal to up its stake in PetroFrontier’s Australian permits to as much as 80%. The Norwegian company will have to spend $160 million on exploration through 2016 under the deal. [Reuters] Opec left its 2013 global oil demand forecast unchanged in its… Keep reading →
