Briefs - December 1, 2008

•  Amid the year’s ups and downs, 2008 will mark a record for global oil demand, at 87 million barrels a day. While U.S. oil demand is off 5.5% in the past year to its lowest level since 2002, China’s is up 6.5%. (11/28, #9)
• In July, the IEA estimated that the total number of motor vehicles could increase to as many as 1.2 billion by 2013, from the current 800 million. (11/27, #21)
• In October, the active members of OPEC produced about 29m barrels a day out of total output of 86.9m barrels a day, according to the International Energy Agency, the developed countries’ watchdog. That put OPEC significantly above its target of 27.31m b/d . (11/29, #3)
• The world’s top gas exporting nations will set up a formal organization at a December summit in Moscow, a Russian official said on Wednesday, but denied the new body will seek to copy OPEC’s production quotas. (11/27, #6)
• Japan’s industrial production and household spending fell more than expected in October, raising the specter of a prolonged recession. Industrial production declined 3.1 per cent month-on-month in October and 7.1 per cent year-on-year. Official figures reflected a sharp cutback in reaction to declining demand for Japanese exports. (11/29, #7)
• Japan’s third-biggest oil refiner, said on Friday it would cut its October-December crude oil refining volume further amid slowing oil demand. (11/28, #14)
• The severe impact of the credit crunch on US households and business investment was sharply illustrated on Wednesday with the latest wave of data showing collapses in new home sales, consumer spending and orders for durable goods in October. (12/27, #12)
• Despite efforts to diversify their economies, all of the world’s key oil exporters are highly dependent on oil’s proceeds and have always lived in fear of the moment that has now become real — when global demand slackens and prices fall. (11/29, #18)
• The price drop has prompted Canada to ease back on a proposed royalty hike, but left-wing Latin American leaders will maintain high taxes on their vast oil reserves to ensure a steady flow of cash for social programs. (11/26, #10)
• Shell is delaying another Canadian oil sands project, saying it has withdrawn a regulatory application for its 100,000 barrel per day Carmon Creek thermal project as it looks to shave costs by revamping the project. (11/28, #16)
• Nigeria’s crude production has slumped to 2.14 million b/d after pipeline sabotage in recent weeks. (11/29, #6)
• Venezuela is so unsure about how much oil it pumps that from time to time the central bank calls the oil ministry to correct the numbers because there are too few dollars in the vaults to support their inflated oil-production claims, industry insiders say. (11/28, #4)
• Asian refiners cut West African crude oil imports for loading in December by as much as 27 percent after buyers led by China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. lowered purchases because of falling demand for fuels. (11/28, #6)
• Iraq’s oil ministry and the country’s largely autonomous northern Kurdish region have agreed to export oil from Kurdistan to Turkey, an Oil Ministry spokesman said on Thursday. The initial agreement represents a breakthrough in a dispute between the two Iraqi authorities.(11/28, #7) 
• Iraqi Kurds say the volume of oil produced from their semi-independent region will hit 250,000 barrels a day by the end of 2009. Most of the crude will come from three main oilfields the Kurds have developed via deals with foreign firms in the past few years. (11/28, #8)  Oil contracts signed by the Kurdish regional government with foreign oil companies are not recognized by central government in Baghdad. (11/29, #5)
• With government budgets set for $45 oil, Saudi Arabia will likely end 2008 with a $150 billion surplus. It has $400 billion in foreign assets. That puts it squarely in fat city–at a time when oil-tethered economies in Venezuela, Iran and Russia are in precarious shape. (11/28, #9) The cost of lower oil prices is hitting Venezuela hardest, according to PFC Energy’s calculations, as it requires an oil price above $90 a barrel to maintain financial stability. (11/28, #4)
• Saudi Aramco’s oldest operating well, Ain Dar 1, was drilled in 1948. This single well in the Ghawar complex has produced 152 million barrels from its original casing. The well’s free-flow rate is now 8,000 barrels a day, but Aramco restricts it to 2,500. The Saudis still insist that rumors of Ghawar’s demise are premature. (11/28, #9)
• Thieves tapping into energy pipelines in southern Nigeria have forced Nigeria LNG Limited, supplier of 10 percent of the world’s liquefied natural gas, to warn that it may not be able to meet all of its export obligations. (11/28, #10)
• About $400 billion will be needed to develop Brazil’s pre-salt oil area over a 10-year period, according to a preliminary estimate, Haroldo Lima, the president of Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency, or ANP, said Monday. (11/26, #12)
• Brazil’s Petrobras took an $878 million loan from a state-owned bank due to “temporary” financial problems, according to the country’s energy minister. (11/28, #13)
• Eni Gas & Power’s CEO warned in a keynote address at the European Autumn Gas Conference that the credit crisis could seriously affect the supply and diversity of gas supply projects in Europe. (11/27, #17)
• Companies hope floating LNG systems will be cheaper than building onshore liquefaction facilities, will speed up the time it takes to bring fields on-stream, will reduce projects’ environmental footprints and will make it economic to exploit small and remote offshore deposits. (11/26, #5)
• PetroChina Co., the nation’s largest oil company, doubled the volume of liquefied natural gas it will buy from Royal Dutch Shell Plc in an agreement to supply terminals being built along China’s eastern coast.  (11/25, #13)
• Natural gas production from US shale plays such as the Marcellus shale in New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia could double in the next 10 years and provide 25% of the nation’s supply, according to a Natural Gas Supply Association official. (11/25, #18)
• A few years ago, Somali pirates menacing Africa’s east coast sometimes demanded tens of thousands of dollars for the safe return of a hijacked vessel and crew. Now they often seek $1 million or more. The reason: Ship owners keep paying.  (11/24, #10)
• Cnooc Ltd. and its partners may spend about $29 billion to develop fuel deposits in the South China Sea in the nation’s biggest push to tap reserves off the coast. (11/24, #15)
• TNK-BP may have to freeze new refining and marketing projects next year as Russia faces its biggest financial crisis in a decade. Russian oil companies are already struggling with falling output at mature fields, a drop in crude prices and rising costs for starting projects in harder-to-reach regions. (11/28, #17)
• Russian President Medvedev and Venezuelan President Chavez agreed to form joint ventures to pump crude oil and to increase military and nuclear cooperation last week during the first visit by a Russian president to Venezuela. (11/27, #9)
• Since Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has said that Russian government spending goes into deficit at $70 per barrel, pressures for spending cuts are starting to mount. Severe reductions have already been announced in housing and education. (11/27, #16)
• Gazprom said Wednesday that if Ukraine did not pay a $2.4 billion debt, the company might more than double the price of natural gas, a move that would deal a harsh blow to Ukraine’s economy. (11/27, #18)