"Lel Bruce Peto" recommended 2000 oil chronology reading..

"Lel Bruce Peto" recommended 2000 oil chronology reading..


 Oil & Gas Chronology :  Year 2000, partial.



June 2000

June 6 The World Bank executive board votes to approve a loan of $193 
million to support a project to build a crude oil pipeline from Chad to 
the coast of Cameroon. The countries will collect an estimated $2 billion 
in revenues from the project over a period of 25 years. 

June 8 The Brazilian government conducts an auction of oil exploration and 
production concessions covering a total of 21 blocks, both onshore and 
offshore. The auction represents an important step in the opening of 
Brazil's oil industry to international competition and investment.  

June 9 The United Nations Security Council passes a resolution extending 
the "oil-for-food" program, under which Iraq sells oil to finance imports 
of food and other civilian necessities, for a period of six months. 

June 9 The United States and Mexico sign a treaty resolving the issue of 
economic rights over the deepwater "doughnut hole" area in the Gulf of 
Mexico between the two countries. The agreement is based on measuring 
distances from each country's coast, and gives the United States rights to 
38 percent of the area. 

June 10 Syrian President Hafez Assad dies in Damascus. Syria's parliament 
votes to amend the constitution to lower the minimum age for a president, 
a move seen as facilitating a succession by his son, Bashar Assad. 

June 15 The German government announces an agreement with utilities for 
the complete phaseout of nuclear power. Nuclear power plants will be 
closed after a lifespan of 32 years. Nuclear power supplies about one-
third of Germany's electricity, and the phaseout plan may complicate 
Germany's plans to reduce fossil fuel consumption to curb greenhouse gas 
emissions. 

June 15 The Department of Energy orders the release of 500,000 barrels of 
crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The oil is to be 
loaned to Citgo's refinery at Lake Charles, Louisiana, which has been cut 
off from it normal crude oil supplies by an obstructed waterway. 

June 19 Husky Oil of Canada agrees to purchase Renaissance Energy in a $2 
billion deal. The new entity created by the merger will be the second 
largest producer of oil and gas in Canada. 

June 20 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launches a formal investigation 
into high gasoline prices in some areas of the Midwest, which have seen 
gasoline prices rise disproportionately in relation to the rest of the 
United States. 

June 21 Oil ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting 
Countries (OPEC), meeting in Vienna, agree to raise crude oil production 
quotas by a total of 708,000 barrels per day. OPEC's total production 
quota (excluding Iraq) will rise to 25.4 million barrels per day as of 
July 1, 2000. The next day, crude oil futures rise, with the New York 
Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) August West Texas Intermediate contract 
closing June 22 at $32.19. 

June 26 The United States Supreme Court orders the federal government to 
refund $156 million which Mobil Oil and Marathon Oil had paid for 
exploration rights off the coast of North Carolina. Plans to develop the 
area were derailed in 1990 by the Outer Banks Protection Act, which 
required extensive environmental analysis by the Department of the 
Interior before drilling would be permitted. The plaintiffs argued that 
the law amounted to an "open ended moratorium" on the companies' 
exploration plans. 

June 29 Norway's Oil and Energy ministry announces that it is rescinding 
its production cut of 100,000 barrels per day, which it had undertaken in 
cooperation with production cuts by the Organization of Petroleum 
Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which it is not a member. It is unclear 
whether the move will have a significant impact, as Norway's production 
cuts are subtracted from planned, not actual, quantities, and it is 
unclear whether Norway can meet its full planned production of 3.4 million 
barrels per day in the near term. 

June 30 The Department of Justice and the State of Wisconsin file suit 
against Murphy Oil, alleging Clean Air Act violations at the company's 
refinery in Superior, Wisconsin. 

June 30 Australia's Woodside Petroleum rejects an asset-equity swap deal 
proposed by Royal Dutch Shell, which would have resulted in Shell owning a 
majority interest in Woodside. Analysts have said the rejection by 
Woodside may result in a hostile takeover bid by Shell. 

June 30 Shareholders of the Russian natural gas company Gazprom elect 
Dimitry Medvedev, a former senior government official, to take over as 
Chairman. Medvedev replaces former Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin in 
the post. Gazprom provides the Russian government with almost one-fifth of 
its tax revenue and accounts for about 6 percent of Russia's gross 
domestic product.

Received on Sunday, 23 February 2003 12:31:28 UTC