Government officials have begun to review the proposed changes to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act.
Government will take a stake in a new gas and oil venture, but energy companies say it could lead to significant delays in planned investment.
Latest Shell oil spill is comparable to the Exxon Mobil spill of 1998, say authorities as emergency measures are put in place to protect the coast.
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/ 14 September 2009
Energy giants Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil on Monday agreed to develop Australia’s massive Gorgon field.
The secretive world of Middle East oil deals will be thrown open in Baghdad next week when a contract auction is broadcast live.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said on Sunday oil prices could hit per barrel if US oil company Exxon Mobil again freezes Venezuelan assets.
A string of deals with foreign firms to plug financing gaps in Nigeria’s oil industry will help unlock significant shut-in potential in the world’s eighth biggest exporter. Nigeria has signed deals worth -billion with Exxon Mobil and Total over the past week and is finalising a similar agreement with Royal Dutch Shell.
The United States Supreme Court said on Monday that it cannot intervene in an important dispute over the rights of apartheid victims to sue US corporations in US courts because four of the nine justices had to sit out the case over apparent conflicts. The result is that a lawsuit accusing some prominent companies of violating international law will go forward.
Record oil prices should mean boom times for Nigeria’s oil industry, but rising militant violence, labour unrest and years of government neglect cast a shadow over its future. Africa’s largest oil producer saw its two million barrel-a-day production halved last month by an eight-day strike at United States oil major Exxon Mobil.
Oil set a new record high of a barrel on Tuesday, the latest spurt in an advance that has seen prices double over the past 12 months. Supply disruptions in Nigeria, where a strike and attacks by militants has hit production, have helped boost a market that is nervous about any threats to supply.
Rebels who have stepped up attacks on Nigeria’s oil industry in the last month said on Sunday they were considering a ceasefire appeal by United States presidential hopeful Barack Obama. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has launched five attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta since it resumed a campaign of violence in April.
Royal Dutch Shell shut down more of its production in Nigeria after a fresh militant attack on Saturday on a flowstation in the restive Niger Delta, where local militants have stepped up a campaign of violence. Security sources said that three wells had been blown up, as well as other equipment.
Oil hit a new record near a barrel on Monday, boosted by a string of bullish factors that include a United Kingdom refinery strike and disruptions to Nigeria’s output that highlight the market’s anxieties over threats to supply. Prices held firm below earlier highs, despite a rally in the US dollar versus the euro and yen.
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/ 24 February 2008
Western oil giants are poised to enter southern Iraq to tap the country’s vast reserves, despite the ongoing threat of violence, according to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s business emissary to the country. Basra has been described as ”the lung” of Iraq by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
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/ 20 February 2008
Oil retreated on Wednesday, after surging nearly 5% to a record above a day ago, on fresh influx of capital into commodities, with focus turning to United States stocks data that are expected to show a build in crude. US crude slid 73 cents to ,28 a barrel by 6.47am GMT after investors paused for thought.
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/ 13 February 2008
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez stopped oil exports to Exxon Mobil on Tuesday, escalating a multibillion-dollar fight with the United States company two days after threatening to cut off all supplies to America. The anti-US president’s retaliation for Exxon’s legal offensive pushed oil prices higher in late trading.
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/ 6 February 2008
BHP Billiton launched a hostile ,4-billion bid for rival Rio Tinto in a move that could trigger a Chinese-led counterbid in the world’s second biggest corporate takeover. Combined, BHP and Rio would create the world’s third-richest company, with a market capitalisation eclipsed only by Exxon Mobil and General Electric.
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/ 28 November 2007
Southern California is sunny, the French Riviera is sunny, but Nasa says the middle of the Pacific Ocean and the Sahara Desert in Niger are the sunniest — and the information could be worth money. The space exploration agency has located the world’s sunniest spots by studying maps compiled by United States and European satellites.
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/ 9 November 2007
Rio Tinto’s rejection of a -billion all-share offer from BHP Billiton is likely to trigger rival bids from resource companies awash with cash from record commodity and stock prices. A marriage would create the world’s biggest mining force, capable of controlling the global flow of fleet loads of iron ore, copper and coal.
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/ 13 October 2007
A United States appellate court on Friday allowed claims brought by victims of apartheid against dozens of major companies to go forward, saying a lower court erred in ruling it did not have jurisdiction over the matter. The plaintiffs include South Africa’s non-profit Khulumani Support Group.