Recommended by "Lel Bruce Peto" 2000 oil chronology reading..

Recommended by "Lel Bruce Peto" 2000 oil chronology reading..


 Oil & Gas Chronology :  Year 2000, partial.


July 2000

July 3 News reports attributed to sources at the Organization of Petroleum 
Exporting Countries (OPEC) say that Saudi Arabia plans to increase 
production by 500,000 barrels per day in an effort to lower the price of 
the AOPEC Basket. Later the same day, Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi 
confirms that Saudi Arabia intends to increase production Avery soon if 
prices remain above the OPEC price range of $22-$28 per barrel. 

July 5 Halliburton announces that it has received contracts from the 
Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras for the development of the 
Barracuda and Caratinga offshore oilfields. The contracts, with a total 
value of $2.5 billion, provide for the construction of two floating 
production, storage, and offloading units and the drilling of 51 wells. 

July 5 Tosco Corporation agrees to sell its Avon refinery near San 
Francisco to Ultramar Diamond Shamrock in a transaction valued at $800 
million. 

July 11 Kuwait Petroleum Corporation announces plans to increase its crude 
oil production capacity to three million barrels per day, in a program of 
facility upgrades which will take approximately three years to complete.

July 12 The Kuwaiti parliament ratifies a treaty with Saudi Arabia 
resolving competing claims to offshore mineral rights. The two countries 
will share revenues from the Khafji, Dorra, and Hout oil and gas fields. 
The treaty will allow the two governments to begin negotiations with Iran 
to settle conflicting claims, which have again surfaced as Iran has begun 
drilling in the Dorra offshore gas field.

July 12 In a policy shift which will allow foreign investors a majority 
stake in the planned Xinjiang-Shanghai natural gas pipeline project, the 
Chinese government announces that it is ending its ban on foreign 
ownership of natural gas infrastructure. A tender for the project is 
planned for later this year and construction is to begin in 2001. The 
shift is seen as a further attempt by China to attract foreign capital to 
its energy sector. 

July 13 BP Amoco agrees to sell its Alliance Refinery at Belle Chasse, 
Louisiana, to Tosco Corporation for $660 million. The sale will bring 
Tosco's refining capacity to 1.35 million barrels per day. BP Amoco plans 
to sell its Alliance Pipeline to other buyers. BP Amoco currently owns 21 
refineries, but has announced plans to sell off more refining capacity, 
including its interests in Singapore. 

July 24 BP Amoco announces that it will launch a new brand identity 
worldwide, consolidating the acquisitions of Amoco, Burmah Castrol, and 
Atlantic Richfield. The company will drop the Amoco name, and will adopt a 
new green, white, and yellow logo based on the sun god Helios from Greek 
mythology. 

July 25 Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at Camp David, Maryland, break off 
after two weeks of U.S.- mediated negotiations fail to produce an 
agreement. 

July 25 A petroleum products pipeline catches fire in southeastern 
Nigeria, resulting in many deaths. Oil pipeline fires are common in the 
Niger Delta region, often resulting from attempts to steal petroleum 
products.

July 25 A large spill of diesel fuel takes place in Guanabara Bay near Rio 
de Janeiro in Brazil. The event is the third major oil spill in Brazil in 
2000. 

July 26 The Offshore Kazakhstan International Operating Consortium 
(OKIOC), which includes nine international oil companies, reports 
substantial flows of oil and natural gas from the first well drilled at 
the Kashagan field. OKIOC plans to drill a second test well at the western 
end of the structure, 25 miles away from the first well, before the end of 
2000. 

July 27 Qatar General Petroleum Corporation (QGPC) and ExxonMobil sign a 
memorandum of understanding with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation for exports 
of Qatari natural gas to Kuwait. The gas will come from Qatar's offshore 
North Field. 

July 27 Italy's ENI signs a deal with Iran worth $3.8 billion for the 
development of the country's South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf. The 
project will take five years to become operational, and will eventually 
produce 530 million cubic feet of gas per day. 

July 28 Spain's Repsol and Brazil's Petrobras agree to a $1 billion asset 
swap which will make Repsol the second largest oil refiner in Brazil. The 
two companies also agree to jointly produce electricity in Brazil. 

July 30 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wins reelection with 60 percent 
of the popular vote. His Patriotic Pole party also wins a controlling 
majority in the country's new unicameral legislature. 

July 31 A Shell executive involved in the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline 
(TCGP) project warns that time is running out for reaching an agreement 
with the government of Turkmenistan. The Turkmen government has reportedly 
been asking for a pre-payment from the companies developing the pipeline, 
a demand they have not been willing to accept. In June 2000, consortium 
partner PSG International closed offices in the region associated with the 
TCGP project.

Received on Sunday, 23 February 2003 12:37:10 UTC