Wednesday 29 July 2009

Anticipation - Bar-Kays (1982)

According to Arabian Oil and Gas, a leading South Korean economic think tank of the LG Group predicted earlier this week that crude oil prices may surpass the US$100 a barrel threshold in three years. Their basis: the fact that the development of new oil fields has dipped substantially, due to the global financial crisis, which will eventually lead to a serious shortage.

But why not sooner?

"The effect of reduced investment will emerge in 2012 when non-OPEC countries will not be able to provide sufficient enough oil to the global market, adding that OPEC is expected to take a decision to strategically control oil production, thereby making its presence increasingly felt."

Do you agree with this assessment as oil hovers around $66 a barrel and is trying to get passed the $70 mark once more this summer?

Tuesday 28 July 2009

Testify - Phil Collins/Genesis (2002)

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission of the U.S. Federal Government is holding hearings today and tomorrow on "Energy Postion Limits and Hedge Expectations".

The $64,000 question is whether any limits will be imposed on speculative trading of energy futures contracts which are supposed to suppress price volatility though speculators do use them to bet on market prices. Critics, on the other hand, suggest this magnifies price swings.

We'll be following along to see where the chips do fall.

Wednesday 22 July 2009

Great White Hope - Styx (1978)

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu seemed to hold his own against the antics yet fair questioning of John Stewart at last night's appearance on The Daily Show (Comedy Central).

Listen in on their funny give-and-take on the cap-and-trade bill passed by Congress as well as Chu's simple ideas on how we can slowdown climate change by painiting our roads and houses white. Yes, white!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Steven Chu
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political HumorJoke of the Day

Move Over - Janis Joplin (1971)

Looks like President Obama's live health care news conference tonight is bumping "Over The Barrel: The Truth About Oil" to Friday night as a "20/20 Special Investigation."

As noted yesterday, news anchor Charles Gibson of ABC News will attempt to explain how the price of a barrel is derived and what the future holds with increasing global thirst against what is believed to be a finite resource.

We'll still be watching (even on a Friday night) and do look forward to your comments after it airs.

For more on this, click here.

Tuesday 21 July 2009

Stay Out Of Trouble - Kansas (1979)

According to the Oil & Gas Journal, Deloitte may be foreseeing trouble for the US refining industry as margins are expected to drop due to stricter fuel economy standards and rising mandates for blending ethanol and other biofuels.

Stay ahead of the curve and competition with the debut of The Emerging Ethanol Energy Markets - A Comprehensive Overview, a one-day landmark education event to be held at The Magnolia Hotel in Downtown Houston on Thursday, August 13th.

This interactive seminar/workshop is confirmed to run and seats are limited.

To read the full article, click here.

ABC - Jackson 5 (1970)

If you are in North America, you can tune into "Over a Barrel: The Truth About Oil," a new ABC documentary airing tomorrow, Wednesday, July 22 and hosted by news anchor Charles Gibson.

He will attempt to explain how the price of a barrel is derived and what the future holds with increasing global thirst against what is believed to be a finite resource. Alternative fuels will undoubtedly be part of the discussion.

U. S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Gen. Wesley Clark are among those who will partake in the news special.

We'll be watching and looking forward to your comments after it airs. If it becomes available on the Internet, we'll look to post the show on here for those of you who miss it.

Monday 20 July 2009

Latin Theme - Carl Cox (1998)

Latin America has seen a spike in energy investment and activity part in thanks to recent gas reserve discoveries off the coast of Brazil as well as the emerging economic strength of the continent as a whole.

The Oxford Princton Programme is pleased to offer two new courses addressing this important development, both dedicatied to helping delegates take advantage of the opportunites at hand:

Overview of and Opportunities in Latin American Crude Oil

Rio de Janeiro
12-13 November 2009

Houston
30 November - 1 December 2009

Overview of and Opportunities in Latin American Natural Gas

Houston
December 2-3, 2009

Join us for these landmark seminar/wrokshop events.

Friday 17 July 2009

Word in Spanish - Elton John (1988)

Whilst English is indeed the lingua franca of the energy industry, a good bit of business is conducted in other languages.

The Oxford Princeton Programme wants to ensure training is accessible to professionals worldwide. With that in mind, we are pleased to present our very first web-based training course in Spanish.

Introducción a la Industria del Petróleo (English version of course is available: Introduction to the Oil Industry) can be acccessed on www.princetonlive.com.

Below are course summaries in Spanish and English.

We do hope to bring more courses in Spanish as well as in other languages. We would like to hear from you on which topics and languges we should be considering next.


En este curso introductorio, aprenderás que es el petróleo y donde se encuentra, como es extraído, y luego como es convertido en productos con los que estamos familiarizados, tal como la gasolina, antes que sea enviado a los centros de distribución donde se le facilita a los consumidores finales el acceso a dicho producto. También veremos cómo es la estructura organizativa de la Industria. Al completar el curso, tendrás una visión global del petróleo desde su inicio en el subsuelo hasta la estación de servicio donde nos surtimos de gasolina. No hay pre-requisitos para tomar este curso y tampoco es necesario de conocimiento alguno del tema. Asi mismo, tampoco se requiere una previa preparación para este curso.

In this introductory course, you will learn what oil is and where it is found, how it is extracted, and then turned into the petroleum products we're familiar with, like gasoline, before it is shipped to distribution channels where end users tap into them. We'll even take a look at how the industry is organized. By the time this course is finished, you will have a general understanding of oil from underground to the gasoline pump. There are no pre-requisites for this course and no prior knowledge on the subject is required. There is also no advanced preparation required for this course.

Tuesday 14 July 2009

Great Expectations - Jurassic 5 (2000)

It is being reported today that ExxonMobil will be investing at least $600 million on the development of renewable, algae-derived biofuels through a partnership struck with San Diego-based Synthetic Genomics.

This is the supermajor's first significant foray into the biofuels market and marks a possible turning point in waht continues to be an emerging energy sector.

This, and other topics, will be touched upon in the forthcoming debut of The Oxford Princeton Programme's new course on The Emerging Ethanol Energy Markets - A Comrpehensive Overview - ETNL on Thursday, August 13th 2009, at The Magnolia Hotel in Downtown Houston.

This landmark training course is confrimed to run.

Also coming later this year to Oxford, UK is A Biofuels Overview on December 7 and 8.

Read on from this article in xconomy.com.

Monday 13 July 2009

Leaving On A Jet Plane - Peter, Paul and Mary (1967)

In the Sunday Business section of yesterday's The New York Times, Laura Wright, the CFO of Southwest Airlines, was quoted as saying, "to call this extreme volatility might be an understatement." She was, of course, referring to the price of oil which has indeed fluctuated quite a bit between $74 and under $60 in recent weeks.

The highly-regarded U.S. carrier has been trying to insure itself from such volatility by purchasing long-term oil contracts -- yes, futures!

Even as the price of oil and gas might indeed be baffling governments officials and policy analysts, I thought that our latest web-based course, Introduction to the Aviation Fuels Market (IAFM), released last Friday, might be of interest to those of you who seek a solid understanding of how the aviation fuels market works.

Check it out before you jet off to your next destination.

Thursday 2 July 2009

Backfired - Debbie Harry (1981)

Oops...looks like this week's auction for oil and gas contracts, already beleaguered by criticism that it was being run like the song contest Eurovision, seems to have imploded altogether.

After awarding one contract to the consortium led by BP, the reality show participants decided not to continue when they realized the terms the Oil Ministry was offering was nowhere near what had been offered for 20-year fixed contracts.

Learn more in this article courtesy of Arabian Oil & Gas.

Wednesday 1 July 2009

One More Round - Bette Midler (1990)

Round One in the Eurovision-like auctioning off of oil and gas E&P contracts in Iraq (referrred to in yesterday's posting) goes to a consortium led by BP and includes the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

The Rumalia field, located by the Kuwait border, is set to produce 17 billion barrels

The bidding continues today. Read more here from arabianolandgas.com.