Iraq goes to polls, China seeks more oil and UK worries about petrol

This section summarizes downstream developments of the previous month. Exploration & Production are covered in 'Upstream Review'.
Following a month in which US and British forces suffered their heaviest daily casualties, the Iraqi people voted in large numbers for a new national assembly ( see 'Focus'). Violence, however, continued after the election and oil installations were reported damaged, including a pipeline linking the Kirkuk oil field to the Baiji refinery and a further line between Baiji and the refinery at Daurah. The export line connecting Kirkuk to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan was also hit. Sabotage to electricity installations affected oil pumping stations in the south of the country cutting production and forcing the Iraqis to announce a 10% cut in contract volumes of Basrah Light until the middle of the year. An official investigation into the UN-administered Oil-for-Food Programme concluded that the man in charge, Benon Sevan "repeatedly solicited" oil for a company called Africa Middle East Petroleum. A further report into other allegations of corruption in connection with the programme, which supervised export sales of Iraqi petroleum from 1993 to 2003, is due later this year. Relief at the apparent success of the Iraqi election caused crude oil prices to fall by about $3 a barrel. OPEC ministers did their bit for oil prices by agreeing not to cut output at their meeting on 30th January. Quotas remain unchanged at 27 mn bpd. The organization's target price band of $22-28 a barrel, however, has been suspended. A new one will be discussed in March. Kuwait announced it was to increase security at its oil installations following an attack by armed men in an area close to the emirate's largest refinery, at Mina al-Ahmadi.     

Iraqi violence, Saudi attack and further bombings

This section summarizes downstream developments of the previous month. Exploration & Production are covered in 'Upstream Review'.
Iraq moved closer to all-out civil war following an attack on the Imam Ali al-Hadi mosque in Samarra, one of Shi'i Islam's holiest shrines, on 22nd February. In the days that followed, several hundred Iraqis died in inter-communal violence. Attacks on installations close to the Basrah Oil Terminal were reported. Earlier in the month, the main oil storage facility in Kirkuk was bombed, forcing the Northern Oil Company to shut-in the 0.3 mn bpd field. Oil and electricity supplies in southern Iraq were cut by attacks on installations some 40 miles south of Baghdad. Turkey agreed to resume product exports to Iraq after a deal was agreed on repaying Iraqi debts of $1 bn to Turkish suppliers. An official Australian inquiry into illegal payments made under the UN's oil-for-food programme is to investigate allegations involving two Australian-controlled oil firms.     

Iraqi plans, Nigerian violence and more refineries

This section summarizes downstream developments of the previous month. Exploration & Production are covered in 'Upstream Review'.
Iraq has announced several schemes to raise its production of oil, natural gas and LPG, and to upgrade its refinery system. Work on all these projects, however, continues to be hindered by the high levels of violence, despite the arrival of more US forces in some of the worst-affected areas. The only region where reconstruction and new developments can take place is in the Kurdish north of the country, but here, political tensions between the regional government of Kurdistan and Baghdad are threatening plans to develop new oilfields. Baghdad objects to a series of development deals signed between the Kurdish regional government and various oil and gas companies, one of which has led to the development of a new oilfield and associated infrastructure at Tawke, which is expected on-stream shortly with an output of about 20,000 bpd. Baghdad has drawn-up new rules stating that all such deals should be signed with the central government. Kurdistan's regional government is fighting to retain control of its oil and gas industries.     

Iraqi violence, Nigerian chaos and some EU proposals

This section summarizes downstream developments of the previous month. Exploration & Production are covered in 'Upstream Review'.
The year opened with no let-up in the violence in Iraq. At the beginning of February, more than 130 were killed by a bomb in a Shi'i district of Baghdad, following a year in which some 35,000 civilians were killed, according to a UN estimate. US President George W Bush announced that extra troops are to be sent to Iraq in an attempt to bring the situation under control. Product shortages inside Iraq were made worse by attacks on downstream installations and the temporary suspension of product deliveries by Turkey. The Turkish government had objected to an Iraqi request for it to liaise with officials in the Kurdish-controlled region of northern Iraq over delivery schedules. Ankara refused to deal with the Kurdish regional authorities on the grounds that it was opposed to all forms of regional autonomy for Kurdish groups. Baghdad meanwhile is trying to re-establish some form of central control over the oil industry in the Kurdish north to prevent it from unilaterally signing contracts with foreign oil companies and to ensure that a proportion of any oil revenues generated in the north is remitted to the central government. Figures released by the Oil Ministry showed that oil exports rose by 7% in 2006, to 1.52 mn bpd, though exports from the northern fields fell by 8%, compared with the previous year, to 38,000 bpd as sabotage to pipelines and other facilities continued. The government of Kuwait has launched an official investigation into allegations of irregularities over the sale of refined products by the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation to the US Army in 2003.     

Still more records, Iraqi violence and Caspian exports

This section summarizes downstream developments of the previous month. Exploration & Production are covered in 'Upstream Review'.
Oil prices set further records at the start of May before falling back. December WTI hit an all-time high of $78.00/bbl on Nymex on 3rd May. IPE November Brent went up to a record $76.45/bbl. Both contracts eventually settled lower and prices in general weakened before staging a minor rally at the end of the month. Other price records were broken early in the month. In Asia, the Indonesian marker grade, Minas, was recorded at $74.04/bbl on 2nd May, whilst Malaysia's Tapis went above $76.70/bbl. Strong Asian demand also boosted the prices of West African crudes. The markets appeared to be reacting to growing tensions in Iraq, Iran and Nigeria. These considerations returned to haunt the markets later in the month. All crude oil loadings at Iraq's Persian Gulf marine terminal were suspended following a fire, though the main Gulf terminal at Basrah continued to operate. The Ceyhan terminal remained out of action. Tensions between the US and Iran over the latter's nuclear programme gave rise to fears of an embargo on Iranian oil exports. Several foreign oil workers were kidnapped following an armed attack on oil installations in Nigeria. OPEC ministers kept their production ceiling unchanged at 28 mn bpd at a meeting in Caracas.     

North Sea troubles, petrol riots in Iran and an American gorilla

This section summarizes downstream developments of the previous month. Exploration & Production are covered in 'Upstream Review'.
Trading in North Sea oil fell sharply following changes to the reporting of the price of Forties crude. On 7th June, 2007, the price-reporting service Platt's announced that it would no longer include Forties crude of less than 37.0° API or more than 0.6% sulphur in its price assessments. Oil companies complained that this was much too restrictive and trading fell amid fears that the market was becoming too narrowly based in terms of which crude grades were included. London's ICE futures exchange declared that it would not accept price assessments of Forties as narrowly defined by Platt's. In a further development, on 8th June, Ekofisk crude was added to the basket constituting the benchmark for dated North Sea crude, which now comprises Brent, Forties, Oseberg and Ekofisk (BFOE). Problems are affecting benchmark crudes elsewhere. The Dubai Mercantile Exchange's Oman futures contract, which was launched on 1st June, has been slow to attract participants, as has Dubai futures contract launched by ICE on 21st May. Both need to attract much higher levels of trade if they are to be used as benchmarks for Persian Gulf sour crude.     

No OPEC increase, Iraqi output up and Mexican exports down

This section summarizes downstream developments of the previous month. Exploration & Production are covered in 'Upstream Review'.
Oil prices fell back early in December as fears grew that high prices were about to push the US and other markets into recession. Brent fell back below $90/bbl ( see 'Oil Price Review') but the fall proved only temporary and prices began to rise sharply towards the end of the year. OPEC ministers did nothing to ease market fears when, at their meeting on 5th December in Abu Dhabi, they decided to leave the organization's output ceiling unchanged at 27,253,000 bpd. The ministers rejected calls from consuming countries to produce more oil, declaring in their communiqué that the market was "well-supplied", with stocks at "comfortable levels". The high level of prices was blamed on what the communiqué called "speculative activity" by financial funds and others. Angola and Ecuador were brought into the production-sharing system, being given output quotas respectively of 1.9 mn bpd and 520,000 bpd.     

More price records, Iraqi tensions and oil companies in court

This section summarizes downstream developments of the previous month. Exploration & Production are covered in 'Upstream Review'.
Oil prices ended October at record levels. Spot month Brent futures hit $91.18/bbl before settling at a record $90.63/bbl on 31st October. WTI went as high as $95.28/bbl before settling-again at a record-of $94.53/bbl. Traders were worried about political tensions in the Middle East and US markets were spooked by a fall in crude inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for Nymex crude. Product prices rose sharply, boosted by a fire at the Coryton refinery in England. Gasoline barges rose above $800/t in North West Europe. Across the world in Asia, jet fuel went above $100/bbl for the first time in Singapore, just as the first Airbus 380 airliner completed its maiden flight from Singapore to Sydney.     

Fuel sources: Current law and regulation about used nuclear fuel

There is a lot of nuclear waste piling up out there. We are not talking about the by-product of nuclear weapons production from the Cold War; I am talking about the nuclear fuel that has been irradiated inside the 100-plus commercial nuclear power plants located in the United States that have been generating about 20 percent ( Exhibit 1 ) of the electricity in this country for the past four decades. This “spent” or “used” nuclear fuel is now being stored at current and former commercial nuclear reactor sites, awaiting disposal or recycling. 1     

Gasoline records, Nigerian troubles and security problems

This section summarizes downstream developments of the previous month. Exploration & Production are covered in 'Upstream Review'.
Gasoline reached record prices in the US as inventories fell and demand rose. Average retail prices hit $3.11/gal in mid-month before falling slightly. Supplies were squeezed by a series of unexpected refinery shutdowns and problems were reported meeting new fuel specification ( see 'Focus', March 2006 ). Partly in response to the lower than expected refinery runs, the price differential of WTI fell to a record $6.30/bbl below BFO. The US remained generally oversupplied with crude oil despite the temporary loss of 100,000 bpd of Alaska North Slope (ANS) production in yet another disruption to BP's operations there ( see 'The Month in Brief', November 2006 ). President George W Bush meanwhile declared that federal government departments must investigate further ways of improving US energy efficiency.     

THE MONTH IN BRIEF: IS advance threatens Iraqi oil,Libya secures rebel truce at export terminals,and Ukraine faces product shortages

This section summarizes downstream developments of the previous month. Exploration & Production are covered in “Upstream Review.”