Energy News

WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (OneWorld.net) - Climate analysts are calling on the Obama administration to use an international finance meeting this week to press for a swift end to subsidies for coal, oil, and natural gas companies around the world.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Exxon Mobil on Thursday became the first US company to win a contract since Iraq's oil industry was nationalised almost 40 years ago, further expanding the role of foreign nations in the industry.

STOCKHOLM - Sweden and Finland on Thursday approved a Baltic Sea pipeline project that would ship Russian natural gas to Germany, clearing two key obstacles for construction to begin next year.

BAGHDAD - A consortium grouping U.S. and European oil giants Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC on Thursday signed a $50 billion deal to develop one of Iraq's most prized oil fields, as the OPEC nation looks to revamp its battered energy sector.

BUSHLAND, Texas - Authorities say three people were injured when a natural gas pipeline explosion shook homes, melted window blinds and shot flames hundreds of feet into the air in northern Texas.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - US major Exxon Mobil has won a contract to develop West Qurna 1 field, the oil ministry said on Thursday, as the foreign role in Iraq's oil industry widens with China leading the way.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq formally signed a deal with Britain's BP and China's CNPC on Tuesday to almost triple production at a giant southern oilfield.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex dropped 3.1 percent on Tuesday, a sixth straight fall that took it to its lowest close in two months, pulled down by a sell-off in energy giant Reliance Industries and weak global markets.

MOSCOW - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urged the European Union on Monday to lend Ukraine at least $1 billion to help it pay for natural gas supplies from Russia and avoid another disruption of flows to Europe.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - A consortium led by Italian energy giant ENI has initialled a contract with the Iraqi government to explore the Zubair oilfield in southern Iraq, an oil ministry spokesman said on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Delays in sealing new orders forced Indian wind power company Suzlon Energy Ltd to cut its sales forecast, but the company will still see full-year profits near last year's level, an executive said on Saturday.

CHICAGO (AFP) - British oil giant BP has been hit with a record US fine of 87.4 million dollars for safety violations at a Texas refinery where 15 people were killed in a 2005 explosion, officials said Friday.

LONDON (AFP) - Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell is in "exclusive" talks to sell three European refineries to Indian conglomerate Essar, a company spokesman told AFP.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - India has offered Democratic Republic of Congo $263 million in loans to build hydroelectric plants and repair battered infrastructure in the war-ravaged central African nation, Congo's foreign minister said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Videos posted online by US oil company Chevron purporting to show rampant corruption among Ecuadoran officials are actually a set-up meant to taint an ongoing trial against the energy giant, an attorney in the case alleged.

MUMBAI (AFP) - Indian refining and energy giant Reliance Industries Ltd said quarterly net profit dropped by 6.5 percent on Thursday as core refining margins fell following a tumble in global crude prices.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq will initial a draft agreement with a consortium led by Italian energy giant ENI next week to exploit the Zubair oilfield in southern Iraq, the oil ministry said on Thursday.

MUMBAI (AFP) - India's biggest oil producer ONGC reported Thursday a six percent increase in quarterly profit as its subsidy burden fell sharply thanks to a fall in global energy prices.

WASHINGTON/HANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - China pledged to lift its ban on U.S. pork on Thursday and the United States took a step toward easing restrictions on chicken imports as the two superpowers agreed to tackle a series of trade irritants.

LONDON (AFP) - Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell said Thursday that third-quarter net profit slumped 62 percent from a year earlier to 1.97 billion pounds.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The businessman at the center of Alaska's wide-ranging political corruption investigation, once a pillar of the Alaska oil industry and state Republican party, was sentenced on Wednesday to serve three years in prison and to pay a $750,000 fine.

LONDON (AFP) - Energy producer BG Group said Wednesday that net profit tumbled 43.5 percent in the third quarter due to weaker natural gas prices and lower-than-expected output.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Budding US hybrid car maker Fisker Automotive will reopen a shuttered General Motors plant in Delaware to build fuel-efficient, plug-in cars, the White House announced Tuesday.

LONDON (AFP) - The leading stock exchange continued to make progress on Tuesday, fuelled by resurgent oil stocks -- after BP reported a narrower-than-forecast decline in profits -- which offset losses in the banking sector.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian-British oil major TNK-BP on Tuesday announced a sharp drop in its net profits for the first nine months of the year due to a fall in crude prices.

LONDON (AFP) - Energy giant BP said on Tuesday its third quarter net profit fell 34 percent from a year earlier to 5.34 billion dollars (326 billion pounds), hit by falling product prices and tighter refinery margins.

AMMAN (AFP) - Energy giant BP signed a deal on Sunday with Jordan to explore for natural gas reserves in the Risheh field near the border with Iraq in an investment that could reach billions of dollars.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - President Barack Obama said Friday that opponents of his energy bill are disputing the evidence of global warming in a cynical ploy to undermine efforts to curb pollution and steer the nation to greener energy sources.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration said Thursday it is designating more than 200,000 square miles in Alaska and off its coast as "critical habitat" for polar bears, an action that could add restrictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas.