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IMPORTANT OIL & GAS NEWS

OIL & GAS NEWS ARCHIVE ... July - September 1999

1/97 - 6/97 7/97 - 12/97 1/98 - 3/98 4/98 - 6/98 7/98 - 9/98 7/98 - 12/98 1/99 - 3/99 4/99 - 6/99 7/99 - 9/99 10/99 - 12/99 1/00 - 3/00 4/00 - 6/00 7/00 - 9/00 10/00 - 12/00 1/01 - 3/01 current quarter

(9/30) ... Unit Corp (Tulsa, OK) closed the acquisition of 12 land drilling rigs from Parker Drilling (Tulsa, OK) for approx $40 million plus 1 million shares of common stock ... Great Lakes Energy Partners LLC is a newly formed 50/50 joint venture between Range Resources (Fort Worth, TX) and FirstEnergy (Akron, OH), would be one of the largest oil and gas producers in the Appalachian Basin ... KeySpan Energy Development completed the acquisition of Richland Petroleum's (Calgary) interest in the Paddle River gas plant and gathering system ... Talisman Energy agreed to acquire Elf Aquitaine's interest in several central North Sea fields including Piper, Claymore, Saltire, Scapa, and Chanter ...
(9/29) ... AGA reported an injection of 79 BCF into the natural gas storage, representing an increase of 2.4% at 86.6% full ... the DOE reported crude oil stocks at 304.9 MMB, up 4.3 MMB from last week ... to approve the BP Amoco - Arco merger, the European Commission wanted BP Amoco to sell Arco's Thames pipeline, Hewett pipeline, and Caister-Murdoch pipeline and Arco's share in the gas processing plant at Bacton ... Exxon must sell its 28% ownership in the German gasoline station chain Aral as a condition by the European Union in Exxon's acquisition of Mobil ... Talon International Energy Ltd (Radnor, PA) is the new name of Canadian Talon Resources, Ltd. ...
(9/28) ... API reported crude oil stocks down 3.66 MMB, distillates stocks up 1.53 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks down 0.50 MMB, and refinery capacity at 92.0% down 1.1% versus last week's ... El Paso Energy agreed to sell its East Tennessee Natural Gas and Sea Robin Pipeline as well as Sonat's one third interest in Destin Pipeline as divesture before the $4 billion merger with Sonat ... Canadian Forest Oil Ltd and The Anschutz Corp. formed a joint venture to explore an area over 1.6 million acres in the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories of Canada ... Amoil Resources (Calgary) and Westlinks Resources agreed to swap oil and gas properties and acreage including the Sylvan Lake assets and the land at Strachan and Carolina Alberta ...
(9/27) ... Chevron completed the acquisition of Petrolera Argentina San Jorge, a major oil and gas exploration and production and the second largest oil exporter in Argentina ... Anax International Agencies, operator of the Liberian-registered M/T Command, agreed to pay $9.4 million to settle criminal charges from spilling 3,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean in September 1998 ...
(9/24) ... Baker-Hughes reported U. S. rig count at 720, up 17 against last week (580 for gas and 140 for oil) ... Canada's rig count at 276, up 3 against last week ... the U.S. Department of Energy announced that they were not planning on selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as heating oil supplies are acceptable ... Phillips Petroleum planned to sell its natural gas gathering, marketing, and processing subsidiary and focus on exploration and production ... which might spur off the merger potential with Chevron ... Miller Petroleum (Huntsville, TN) agreed with Tengasco to acquire up to 20 drill sites in the Swan Creek field, Hancock County, Tennessee ...
(9/23) ... the U.S. Department of Energy Secretary said that he was "seriously" considering a proposal to sell crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to relieve the high cost of heating oil ... BP Exploration (Alaska) entered a plea agreement to pay a total of $22 million to settle the charges on Doyon Drilling, one of BP's drilling contractors, for dumping waste oil, paint thiner, solvents and other chemicals into oil shafts at the Endicott field ... Doyon paid $1 million fine ... Ventus Energy (Calgary) agreed to acquire certain oil and gas properties in the Rainbow/Boyer area in northwest Alberta and in the Hobbema area in central Alberta for approx $55.8 million ...
(9/22) ... AGA reported an injection of 78 BCF into the natural gas storage, representing an increase of 2.4% at 84.2% full ... the DOE reported crude oil stocks at 309.2 MMB, up 0.2 MMB from last week ... Phillips Petroleum acquired 50% ownership interest in Yates Petroleum's coalbed methane gas acreage in Wyoming's Powder River Basin including 90 wells and 340,000 acres ... currently Phillips has 230 coalbed methane gas wells in New Mexico's San Juan Basin producing 350 MMCF/D ... Australia's Nido Petroleum agreed to acquire from U.S.-based Mondo Group an option for up to 40% interest in the Zhongyuan Redevelopment Project onshore oil field south of Bejing ...
(9/21) ... API reported crude oil stocks down 0.80 MMB, distillates stocks up 0.49 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks down 1.49 MMB, and refinery capacity at 93.1% down 0.3% versus last week's ... Occidental Petroleum was awarded the license from the Colombia government to explore for oil next to U'wa Indian land near the Colombia-Venezuela border ... Enervest Management acquired oil and gas properties in the Appalacia region from Cabot Oil & Gas for approx $44.62 million ... CrowJoule Exploration (Calgary) completed the acquisition of the first of two asset acquisitions in the Sylvan Lake area of Alberta for approx $3.8 million ... Brazil's Petrobras announced the discovery of a 600 - 700 MMB oil field in the deep water Santos Basin ...
(9/20) ... Coastal Oil & Gas (Houston, TX) exchanged its properties in Gaines county, Texas and the Green River Basin, Wyoming with Santa Fe Snyder's acreage in Utah and properties in the Jeffress field in south Texas and six offshore blocks in the Gulf of Mexico plus $18 million ... Koch Exploration Canada Ltd planned to sell its lands in the areas of Cold Lake, Alberta and LLoydminster on the Alberta-Saskatchewan border covering 590,000 acres and 10,500 B/D representing most of Koch's production ... ELYO, an energy subsidiary of Suez Lyonnaise de Eaux Group, proposed to acquire the remaining 47.3% shares (that it does not own) of Trigen Energy (White Plains, NY) ... Enterprise Products Partners LP (Houston, TX) completed the acquisition of Tejas Natural Gas Liquids LLC from Tejas Energy, LLC ...
(9/17) ... Baker-Hughes reported U. S. rig count at 703, up 13 against last week (570 for gas and 133 for oil) ... Canada's rig count at 273, up 6 against last week ... the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain) pledged to keep the production cut promises through March 2000 ... Samedan Oil signed the agreement to sell their properties in California, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming for approx $49.6 million ... Suncor Energy (Ft McMurray, Alberta) planned to shut down its oil sands operations for approx 10 days for maintenance repairs ... CMS Oil & Gas announced natural gas discovery just outside the city of Midland, TX in a horizontal well tested 5.7 MMCF/D and 200 B/D from 11,600 feet Devonian ...
(9/16) ... NYMEX light sweet crude price highest since January 21, 1997 at $24.24/BBL ... Exxon's purchase of Mobil might not be completed by this month as the Federal Trade Commission is demanding that more gas stations needed to be divested ... Cross Timbers Oil (Fort Worth, TX) and Lehman Brothers Holdings completed the acquisition of Arkoma Basin properties from Ocean Energy for approx $231 million ... Weatherford International acquired Williams Tools (Ft Smith, AR), a manufacturer of underbalanced pressure controls, for approx $64 million with stock ...

(9/15) ... AGA reported an injection of 81 BCF into the natural gas storage, representing an increase of 2.5% at 81.8% full ... the DOE reported crude oil stocks at 309.0 MMB, down 4.3 MMB from last week ... Cross Timbers Oil (Fort Worth, TX) sold interests in 2,800 wells for $63.5 million then used $44 million to buy out Lehman Bros Holding Inc.'s 50% interest in Spring Holding Co. ... Infinity (Chanute, KS) acquired 100% interest in 4,775 acres in the Green River Basin, WY, now has interest in 20,600 acres for the coal bed methane gas ... Power Direct (Bellingham, WA) acquired the assets of Rising Phoenix Development Group with main asset being the 6,300- acre LAK Ranch project in Wyoming's Powder River Basin ... Big Horn Resources (Toronto) acquired all of the assets of Edinburgh Resources with properties in the Balzac Crossfield area, north of Calgary for approx $1.7 million ...
(9/14) ... API reported crude oil stocks down 1.30 MMB, distillates stocks up 2.42 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks down .58 MMB, and refinery capacity at 93.4% down 1.2% versus last week's ... Coastal and BP Amoco shut down their terminals at Cape Canaveral and at Port Everglades as a precaution against Hurricane Floyd ... Attranso, the owner of the S/T American Trader that spilled more than 400,000 gallons of oil off the Huntington Beach area, California, agreed to settle for $16 million ... Elf Hydrocarbures Algerine agreed to acquire 40% of Arco El-Djazair's interest in the Production Sharing Contract covering the Rhourde El Baguel field ... Talisman Energy (Calgary) started producing oil from the Orion field ...
(9/13) ... Elf Equitain announced that their offer for Total Fina was "no longer necessary" and agreed to merge with Total creating the fourth largest oil company in the world after Total increased the offer to $54.2 billion ... Del Roca Energy (Calgary) agreed to acquire oil and gas properties in southeast Saskatchewan for approx $2.8 million ... Bargo Energy (Houston, TX) acquired interest in oil and gas properties and an oil transportation contract in the East Texas field from Arco for approx $16 million ... Toreador Royalty (Dallas, TX) agreed to purchase mineral, overriding interest, and royalty interests in over 200 wells and 100,000 acres in Arkansas, California, Kansas, and Michigan for approx $3.2 million ...
(9/10) ... Baker-Hughes reported U. S. rig count at 690, up 19 against last week (561 for gas and 129 for oil) ... Canada's rig count at 267, down 14 against last week ... the International Energy Agency reported world oil production averaged 73.15 MMB/D and projected global demand for crude to increase 2.43 MMB/D while supply to gain only 1 MMB/D in the fourth quarter ... Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (Houston, TX) completed the acquisition of the tranmix processing plants in Richmond, Virginia and Dorsey Junction, Maryland from Primary Corp. ... Mitchell Energy & Development agreed to acquire from Conoco 50% interest in the processing plant in Coke County, Texas together with a 2,600-mile natural gas gathering system ...
(9/9) ... the DOE reported crude oil stocks at 313.3 MMB, down 4.5 MMB from last week ...OPEC oil ministers are to meet on September 22, 1999 in Vienna ... Barrett Resources (Denver, CO) signed a $24-million contract with Perupetro to explore a concession in Peru's northern jungle ...
(9/8) ... AGA reported an injection of 66 BCF into the natural gas storage, representing an increase of 1.7% at 79.3% full ... API reported crude oil stocks down 5.97 MMB, distillates stocks down 0.22 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks up 0.63 MMB, and refinery capacity at 94.6% up 1.2% versus last week's ... IPE's Brent crude closing price is highest in 31 months ... PetroQuest Energy (Lafayette, LA) acquired Phillips Petroleum's interest in the Valentine salt dome field in southern Louisiana, now owns 95% interest in the project ... Rio Bravo Energy (Corpus Christi, TX), a joint venture between Tidelands Oil & Gas and Hudson SVD, finalized the negotiation to acquire the Chittim Ranch Gas Processing Plant in south Texas from Conoco ...

(9/7) ... Superior Energy Services (Harvey, Louisiana) agreed to merge with Production Management Companies, which will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Superior ... Marathon Petroleum Gabon and Santa Fe Energy Resources started production from the Tchatamba South field located offshore Gabon with 22,000 B/D from 2 wells ...
(9/3) ... Baker-Hughes reported U. S. rig count at 671, up 3 against last week (549 for gas and 122 for oil) ... Canada's rig count at 281, down 1 against last week ... Unocal Thailand began production from the Trat field in the Gulf of Thailand with 70 MMCF/D and 2,100 B/D of condensate from 5 wells ... Ventus Energy (Calgary) completed the acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Talon Petroleum for approx $5.8 million ...
(9/2) ... Weatherford International agreed to acquire Petroline WellSystems, a completion service company in Aberdeen, Scotland for approx $165 million in stock and cash ... Sapient Energy (Tulsa, OK) completed the acquisition of the interest in 125 oil and gas wells in the Sooner Trend area of western Oklahoma from Chesapeake Energy (Oklahoma City, OK) ... Meteor Industries (Denver, CO) agreed to acquire the outstanding stock of Jardine Petroleum, a petroleum distributor in Utah and surrounding states ...
(9/1) ... AGA reported an injection of 69 BCF into the natural gas storage, representing an increase of 2.2% at 77.6% full ... the DOE reported crude oil stocks at 317.8 MMB, up 0.6 MMB from last week ... Shenandoah Energy (Denver, CO) agreed to acquire oil & gas assets in the Red Wash, Wonsits Valley, Gypsum Hills, and Brennan Bottom Unit in Utah from Chevron in exchange of ownership interests in the company and cash ... Tom Brown Inc. (Denver, CO) acquired producing properties and 34,000 acres in Sweetwater County, Wyoming in the Greater Green River Basin for approx $7.7 million ... Prospective Investment and Trading Co (Tulsa, OK) completed the acquisition of interests in 17 gas wells in Caddo and Grady Counties, OK from Chevron ...

(8/31) ... API reported crude oil stocks up 2.57 MMB, distillates stocks down 0.30 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks down 2.93 MMB, and refinery capacity at 93.4% down 1.9% versus last week's ... the U.S. supported Iraq's donation of $10 million worth of oil to Turkey, with the U.N. reviews and authorizes the plan ... FirstEnergy (Akron, Ohio) agreed to acquire the retail natural gas business from Volunteer Energy, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams ... Southwestern Energy (Fayetteville, Arkansas) agreed to acquire producing properties in west Texas and southeast New Mexico from Petro-Quest for approx $9.2 million ... Kismet Energy (Bakersfield, CA) and Energas announced a natural gas discovery in the Kinta field of the Arkoma Basin tested for 1.5 MMCF/D from the Spiro A zone ...
(8/30) ... NYMEX light sweet crude closed above $22/BBL, first time since January 1997 ... Sudan began the first crude oil exports from its Red Sea port city of Bashayir ... Phillips Petroleum's 48,000-B/D refinery shut down last week ... Sunoco's 78,000-B/D refinery in Toledo, Ohio was shut down due to a fire over the weekend ... Mobil's refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana was shut down for repair, affecting 70,000-B/D throughput ...
(8/27) ... Baker-Hughes reported U. S. rig count at 668, up 23 against last week (550 for gas and 118 for oil) ... Canada's rig count at 282, up 20 against last week ... Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Mexico announced that they would keep the production cut through the end of March next year ... Iraq planned to pump more oil to aid victims of last week's earthquake in Turkey ... Brazil's Petrobras formed a joint venture with Royal Dutch / Shell, Elf, and Enterprise Oil to explore in the deep water offshore Campos Basin ... Westlinks Resources agreed to acquire oil and gas properties in the Sylvan Lake field from Amoil Resources (Edmondton) ...
(8/26) ... Texaco and Shell planned to swap 19 Texaco service stations in Poland for 25 Shell service stations in the UK ... there were only 177 bids valued at $94.6 million taken for western Gulf of Mexico oil leases compared against last year's of 486 bids and $553 million ... Charger Petroleum (Calgary) completed the acquisition of 80% interest in 3 leases covering 16,000 acres in Val Verde and Edwards Counties, Texas near the East Vinegarone field then granted Black Tusk Energy (Vancouver) an option to buy in 40% ...
(8/25) ... AGA reported an injection of 50 BCF into the natural gas storage, representing an increase of 1.5% at 75.4% full ... the DOE reported crude oil stocks at 317.2 MMB, down 4.6 MMB from last week ... Calpine (San Jose, CA) agreed to acquire Sheridan Energy (Houston, TX) of mostly gas properties in northern California and the Gulf Coast for approx $41 million cash ... Husky Oil Operations Ltd agreed to acquire the interest of Denison Mines Ltd in the White Rose field on the east coast of Newfoundland for approx $10 million ... Double Eagle Petroleum & Mining (Casper, WY) acquired the assets of KCS Mountain Resources (Houston, TX) in the Cow Creek field and the Whiskey Butts field in Wyoming ...
(8/24) ... API reported crude oil stocks down 4.07 MMB, distillates stocks up 3.14 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks down 0.20 MMB, and refinery capacity at 95.3% down 0.4% versus last week's ... Unocal started production of 165 MMCF/D from the Prailin field in the Gulf of Mexico ... German Economics Ministry announced the plan to auction off 4.5 million tonnes of crude oil from its strategic curde reserve ... Italy's ENI acquired 34% ownership in the Macaroni field and 37% ownership in the Europa field in the Gulf of Mexico from a unit of Royal Dutch/Shell Group ...
(8/23) ... Talisman (Calgary) agreed to offer a bid to Rigel Energy with cash and stock worth $1.2 billion including $330 million debt ... Resource America (Philadelphia) agreed to acquire the stock of Viking Resources (North Canton, OH), and energy and energy finance company, with cash and stock ... Harken acquired Xplor Energy (The Woodlands, TX) with stock including gas properties on the coast of Texas and Louisiana ... Mobil North Sea, Repsol, Enterprise Oil, Amerada Hess, and OMV announced first production from the Buckland field in the North Sea with a rate of 16,000 B/D ...
(8/20) ... Baker-Hughes reported U. S. rig count at 645, up 18 against last week (531 for gas and 114 for oil) ... Canada's rig count at 262, down 15 against last week ... U. S. average price for unleaded gasoline at $1.31/gallon versus 1998 at $1.10/gallon and 1997 at $1.32/gallon ... the U. N. Children's Fund reported that Iraqi children mortalily rate has more than doubled under the 9 years of economic santions ... the Tupras refinery fire at Izmit, Turkey was finally put out ...
(8/19) ... Anadarko retained Madison Energy Advisors to market its oil and gas properties and gathering system in the Texas Panhandle including 70 wells in the Hemphill field and the Hemphill pipeline ... Exxon suspended the preparation for drilling at the Sakhalin-I oil field after the Russian government rejected the drilling mud and chemicals plans ...
(8/18) ... AGA reported an injection of 51 BCF into the natural gas storage, representing an increase of 1.6% at 73.9% full ... the DOE reported crude oil stocks at 321.8 MMB, down 1.6 MMB from last week ... Tupras' 226,000-B/D refinery in Izmit, Turkey, was still on fire in the third day after the earthquake ... Sudan People's Liberation Army threatened to halt Sudan's 150,000-B/D oil production ... Novus Petroleum Ltd agreed to acquire the last remaining interest of Gulf Canada Resources Ltd in Gulf (Australia) Resources NL including the assets in the Cooper Basin for approx $76.4 million ...
(8/17) ... API reported crude oil stocks down 3.25 MMB, distillates stocks up 2.28 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks up 0.34 MMB, and refinery capacity at 95.7% up 0.7% versus last week's ... Bargo Energy (Houston, TX) agreed to acquire Arco's East Texas assets for approx $16 million including ownership in 40 leases, a waterflood unit, royalty as well as a transportation contract ... Devon Energy and PennzEnergy completed the merger ...
(8/16) ... Burlington Resources agreed to acquire Poco Petroleum Ltd. (Canada) for approx $2.5 billion with stock while assuming $750 debt in becoming the 4th largest natural gas producer in North America ... Denbury Resources (Dallas, TX) agreed to acquire 99% working interest in a Carbon Dioxide flood project in southwest Mississippi for approx $13.25 million ... MDU Resources Group (Bismarck, ND) agreed to acquire Loy Clark Pipeline, a distributor of natural gas in the Pacific Northwest, with stock ... CLX Energy (Denver, CO) completed the acquisition of 7 wells and 20,000 acres in the Douglas Creek Arch area of the Piceance Basin in northwest Colorado from Cabot Oil & Gas for approx $1.9 milion ...
(8/13) ... Baker-Hughes reported U. S. rig count at 627, up 11 against last week ... Canada's rig count at 277, up 22 against last week ... Texaco Overseas Petroleum Co. of Nigeria, a joint venture between Texaco and Chevron, declared force majeure and ceased production from its 50,000-B/D platform offshore Nigeria due to civilian blocking supplies ... Unit Corp. (Tulsa, OK) agreed to purchase the domestic onshore assets (including 13 drilling rigs, except for those in Alaska) from Parker Drilling for approx $40 million in cash and 1 million shares ... Elf Exploration announced their second oil discovery in the Mississippian Canyon Block 243 in the Gulf of Mexico tested 6,640 B/D ...
(8/12) ... Ingersoll-Rand offered its interests in two joint ventures with Dresser Industries to Dresser worth estimated $920 million which would make Dresser to own 100% of the joint ventures ... Conco, Mobil, and Stratoil commenced production from the Bell field in the North Sea with an initial rate of 110 million CF/D ...
(8/11) ... AGA reported an injection of 45 BCF into the natural gas storage, representing an increase of 1.3% at 72.3% full ... the DOE reported crude oil stocks at 323.4 MMB, down 2.2 MMB from last week ... Mexico Energy Ministry estimated the recent discovered Sihil oilfield, offshore Cantarell complex in the Campeche Sound, having a reserve of 1.4 billion equivalent barrels ... MCN Energy Group (Detroit) completed the sale of its Texas and Oklahoma properties to serveral companies for approx $105 million ... Conoco announced a discovery well in the West Natuna sea, offshore Indonesia with a combined test of 5,375 B/D and 21 MMCF/D ... Chenier Energy, IP Petroleum, Beta Oil & Gas announced 2 wells in the West Cameron Block 49 offshore Louisiana combined test from 3 zones of 30.4 MMCF/D ...
(8/10) ... API reported crude oil stocks down 3.16 MMB, distillates stocks down 0.65 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks down 3.48 MMB, and refinery capacity at 95.0% down 4.1% versus last week's ... the International Energy Agency estimated the demand for crude oil in the year 2000 would be at 77 million B/D, representing a growth of 1.8 million B/D or twice of the 0.9 million B/D growth in 1999 ... Mexico Energy Minister announced that Mexico would lift the 4% tariff on natural gas imports ... Helmerick & Payne (Tulsa, OK) completed the acquisition of interests in 3 projects in Jefferson and Galveston Counties, Texas from Esenjay Exploration (Houston, TX) for approx $4.8 million ... stockholders of Southwest Gas Corp. approved the merger with ONEOK in a deal worth $1.8 billion ...
(8/9) ... Standard & Poor projected Platt's WTI price to be $23.62 in November 1999 ... U.S. Commerce Dept, citing "insufficient industry support", rejected domestic oil producers' complaints of Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Iraq of dumping cheap oil on U.S. market ... Citgo's 165,000-B/D refinery in Corpus Christi was not affected by the explosion at one of the steam boilers that killed one worker ... Clyde Petroleum, Dyas, and Clam Petroleum announced their discovery well in the Dutch Sector of the North Sea tested 54 MMCF/D from 2 zones ... LL&E Algeria, Sonatrac, Talisman, and the National Oil & Gas Enterprise of Algeria announced their discovery well in the Berkin Basin, Algeria flow tested 8,549 B/D and 12.6 MMCF/D ...
(8/6) ... Baker-Hughes reported U. S. rig count at 616, up 14 against last week ... Canada's rig count at 255, up 16 against last week ... NYMEX unleaded gasoline closing price is highest in 2 years ... The Exploration Co. (San Antonio, TX) acquired 12.5% interest in 6 wells and 12,800-acre Chittim lease in the Maverick Basin, south Texas and 100% interest in 12,000-acre leases nearby from Peacock Exploration ...
(8/5) ... Sun Pipe Line Services agreed to buy the crude oil gathering business assets of Pride Refining for approx $26 million plus $5.3 million debt ... Dow Chemical agreed to acquire Union Carbide in a $9.3 billion deal with stocks creating world's 2nd largest chemical company ... Weatherford International acquired Cardium Tool Services, a manufacturer of completion tools, for approx $14.5 million ... Canadian Natural Resources Ltd and Penn West Petroleum Ltd agreed to acquire BP Amoco's Canada Oil Business Unit including Bonnyville, Wabasca, Nipisi, Drayton Valley, and Hoosier for approx $1.6 billion ... Patina Oil & Gas (Denver, CO) agreed to buy 51% of Tribo Petroleum's properties in the Sacramento Basin, California for approx $12 million ...
(8/4) ... the DOE reported crude oil stocks down 3.4 MMB, distillates stocks did not change much, unleaded gasoline stocks down 1.2 MMB from last week ... API reported crude oil stocks down 4.97 MMB, distillates stocks up 4.39 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks up 1.94 MMB, and refinery capacity down 0.3% at 99.1% versus last week's ... AGA reported an injection of 26 BCF into the natural gas storage, representing an increase of 0.8% at 71.0% full ... Gulf, Talisman, and Pertamina announced the record test for their well in south Sumatra, Indonesia tested 58 MMCF/D and 370 B/D from 6,400 feet ... Parallel Petroleum, Allegro Investments, and Beta Oil & Gas announced two discoveries in Jackson County, Texas with combined test of 85.5 MMCF/D and 190 B/D from 3 intervals in the Frio and Yegua at 4,600 to 7,100 feet ... Mobil, Total, and Tesoro announced the largest natural gas discovery well in Bolivia with two tests combined for 60 MMCF/D from 18,900 feet ... Blue Dolphin Exploration agreed to acquire 75% ownership in American Resouces Offshore for approx $4.7 million ... Panaco, St Mary Land & Exploration, and Carson Energy announced their well in Cameron Parish, LA tested 40 MMCF/D from 15,900 feet ...
(8/3) ... Morgan Stanley Capital Group entered an agreement to supply crude to Orion Refining Corp.'s 175,000-B/D refinery in Norco, Louisiana and to market the products ... Contour Energy Co. is the new name of Kelley Oil & Gas Corp. (Houston, TX) ... Global Industries (Houston, TX) agreed to acquire France's ETPM, SA creating the world's largest offshore construction company ... Comstock Resources (Dallas, TX) announced the re-entry result of an abandoned well in Polk County, Texas with new horizontal section to the Woodbine formation at 14,600 feet flowing 10 MMCF/D and 900 B/D ...

(8/2) ... Cross Timbers Oil agreed to acquire working interests in oil and gas properties in the Arkoma Basin from Ocean Energy for approx $235.5 million ... The Dow Chemical Co. agreed to buy Angus Chemical Co. from TransCanada PipeLines Ltd ... ANR Production acquired interest in the Brushy Creek field in Lavaca and Dewitt Counties, Texas for approx $15.2 million from Southern Mineral ... Pioneer Natural Resources sold properties in south Texas to CNG Producing for approx $62.3 million and agreed to sell properties in west Texas to EnerQuest Oil & Gas for approx $35 million ... Williams completed the acquisition of 3 storage and distribution terminals in the Gulf Coast from Amerada Hess ...
(7/30) ... OPEC's market monitoring committee recommended that OPEC to retain the current pledges "at least" until March 2000 ... Baker-Hughes reported U. S. rig count down 3 against last week at 602 (498 for gas and 104 for oil) ... Canada's rig count up 20 against last week at 239 ... NYMEX unleaded gasoline closing price was highest in 18 months ... McDermott International (New Orleans, LA) completed the acquisition of J. Ray McDermott, S. A. ...
(7/29) ... Anadarko and Texaco Exploration & Production signed an agreement for the exploration of the Gulf of Mexico's sub-salt play ... Hunt Oil (Dallas, TX) acquired DDD Energy's 18.75% interest in the Topsy, Turps, and Barnes Creek fields and in 16,000 acres in Louisiana for approx $13.7 million ... Ventus Energy (Calgary) agreed to acquire all issued and outstanding shares of Talon Petroleum with cash and stock worth approx $16.1 million ... Cabre Exploration (Cyprus) signed an agreement with Coplex (Egypt) to assume the role of operator of the West Esh El Mallaha Concession in Egypt ...
(7/28) ... the DOE reported crude oil stocks at 329.0 MMB, down 5.2 MMB from last week ... AGA reported an injection of 41 BCF into the natural gas storage, representing an increase of 1.3% at 70.2% full ... Mexico, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Middle East Gulf States reiterated their commitment to the promised production cut ... Mobil's 130,000-B/D refinery in Torrence, CA caught fire early this morning but was returned to operate at reduced capacity ... Solana Petroleum Exploration (Colombia) Ltd (Calgary) agreed to acquire Seven Seas Petroleum Colombia's 11.875% interest (now holding 50.0%) in the 116,000-acre Tapir Association Contract in northeast Colombia ...
(7/27) ... API reported crude oil stocks down 1.68 MMB, distillates stocks down 0.27 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks down 3.74 MMB, and refinery capacity up 0.6% at 98.7% versus last week's ... Core Laboratories agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of Reservoirs, Inc. (Houston, TX) with stock worth approx $5.2 million ... Enterprise Products Partners LP (Houston, TX) signed the Letter of Intent to acquire the 263-mile Lou-Tex pipeline from Concha Chemical Pipeline ... Dublin International Petroleum (Egypt), Drucker Petroleum, and GHP Exploration (West Gharib) announced the oil discovery in the Gulf of Suez flowing 500 B/D from 4,900 feet ... U.S. Crude (Colton, CA) and Allied Energy (WV) agreed to form a joint venture to utilize U.S. Crude's Thermal Gas Respressurizing technique on Allied Energy's wells in Ritchie County, WV ...
(7/26) ... the New York Mercantile Exchange was bidding to buy from 55% to 70% of the International Petroleum Exchange and being reviewed by UK's Office of Fair ... Petrovietnam signed a 30-year Production Sharing Contract with Vietnam American Exploration Co. to explore offshore southern Vietnam ...
(7/23) ... Baker-Hughes reported U. S. rig count up 22 against last week at 605 (501 for gas and 104 for oil) ... Canada's rig count up 2 against last week at 219 ... Elf Aquitaine rejected the $42.8 billion take over bid by Total Fina ... Mexico's Energy Minister stated that Mexico would stay with the promised production cut ... Plains Resources inquired the Department of Energy about the possibility of oil companies intentionally reported their stocks to manipulate oil prices ...
(7/22) ... Venezuela's President said there was no need to ease supply limit this year, while OPEC issued a report announcing that current production ceiling should hold through March 2000 ... Santa Fe Snyder acquired additional interest in the Anton Irish CO2 flood unit from Phillips Petroleum, increasing to 29.5% ownership ... Grey Wolf Exploration (Calgary) agreed to acquire 25% of New Cache's interest in leased acreage and seismic interpretation ... APF Energy Trust signed a Letter of Intent to acquire 48% interest in United Gas Management, a natural gas distributor in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, can California, with share and cash worth approx $24 million ...
(7/21) ... DOE's report on crude oil stocks was postponed until next week due to computer problem ... AGA reported an injection of 78 BCF into the natural gas storage, representing an increase of 2.4% at 68.9% full ... Exxon reported earnings in the second quarter declined 25% compared to a year ago citing low profits in refining and low natural gas prices ... Nigerian government announced to increase their production of 215,000 B/D to 2.035 million B/D citing high prices ... Spain's Repsol-YPF commenced production at the Salam processing plant in the western Egyptian Desert ... Cypress Energy (Calgary) completed the acquisition of Gardiner Exploration Ltd with stocks worth approx $15.7 million ...
(7/20) ... API reported crude oil stocks up 5.53 MMB, distillates stocks up 1.09 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks down 0.89 MMB, and refinery capacity up 1.5% at 98.1% versus last week's ... Venezuelian state oil company PDVSA president said that OPEC should increase production if crude price gets above $22/BBL ... Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP agreed to purchase two transmix processing plants, one in Richmond, Virginia and one in Dorsey Junction, Maryland from Primary Corp. for approx $37 with cash and stocks ... Belco Oil & Gas (New York) announced their well in the Wind River Basin, Wyoming tested 8 MMCF/D from the Lance and Mesaverde sands and two wells in the Gulf Coast area tested a total of 4.6 MMCF/D from the Yegua sand at 5,700 feet ...
(7/19) ... France's Elf Aquitaine announced plan to acquire France's Total Fina with cash and stock worth approx $50.5 billion to create the world's 4th largest oil group and 5th largest chemicals group ... two weeks ago, Total Fina proposed to acquire Elf Aquitaine for approx $42.8 billion ... Santa Fe Snyder agreed to acquire working interest in four Gulf of Mexico fields from Shell Deepwater Development plus acreage in adjacent blocks for approx $210 million ... Valero shut down the 45,000-B/D catalytic cracker at its 160,000-B/D refinery in Texas City, Texas ... Coastal still shut down the reformer unit in its 100,000-B/D refinery in Corpus Christi ...
(7/16) ... Baker-Hughes reported U. S. rig count up 13 against last week at 583 (476 for gas and 107 for oil) ... Canada's rig count up 7 against last week at 217 ... Plains Scurlock Permian LP completed the acquisition of a pipeline and gathering system in West Texas from Chevron Pipe Line for approx $35 million ... Meridian Resource and Burlington Resources announced a discovery well located in the Rockefeller Refuge, Cameron Parish, Louisiana tested 5.1 MMCF/D and 3,400 BW/D from three Marg sands at 18,000 feet ... Italy's Eni SpA agreed to purchase Marathon Petroleum Egypt's 50% ownership in the Ashrafi oil field and 25% ownership in the El Qar'a natural gas field in Egypt ...
(7/15) ... Chevron's refinery in Richmond, California could be shut down for at least a month for repairs ... Comanche Energy (Dallas, TX) acquired Double Eagle Petroleum from Oil City Petroleum with stocks worth $8.12 million ... BP Amoco offered to sell its 250,000-B/D Alliance refinery near Belle Chasse, Louisiana ... Peoples Energy Production (Chicago, Il) acquired Ensign Operating's 70% interest in certain oil and gas properties in the Arkoma Basin ... Freedom Energy (Ft. Smith, AR) has acquired the other 30% ... SEMCO Energy agreed to buy ENSTAR, a natural gas distributor business of Ocean Energy for approx $290 million ...
(7/14) ... the DOE reported crude oil stocks at 327.0 MMB, up 0.8 MMB from last week ... AGA reported an injection of 59 BCF into the natural gas storage, representing an increase of 1.8% at 66.5% full ... Sonat planned to reactivate the LNG terminal at Elba Island, near Savannah, Georgia ... has been out of service since 1982 ... Berco Resources (Denver, CO) acquired a major working interest in the Bear Creek field, Dunn County, Colorado from Prize Energy, who recently acquire it from Pioneer Natural Resources ...
(7/13) ... API reported crude oil stocks down 2.59 MMB, distillates stocks up 3.09 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks down 1.89 MMB, and refinery capacity up 1.1% at 96.6% versus last week's ... NYMEX light sweet crude closing is highest in 20 months ... the U. N. compensated nearly $2.8 billion to several oil companies for the damage sustained in 1990 when Iraqi troops set fire to the wells, Kuwait Oil Co. got $2.2 billion, then Saudi Arabia Texaco got $506 million ... Chevron shut down its refinery in Richmond, CA due to mechanical problems ... Agip Algeria Exploration agreed to acquire Anadarko's 27.5% interest and LASMO's 13.75% interest in 2 concessions in Algeria's Sahara Desert for approx $127 million ...
(7/12) ... Schlumberger's Sedco Forex and Transocean Offshore announced the forming of Transocean Sedco Forex, would be the world's largest offshore drilling company ... Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas acquired Phillips Petroleum's 50% interest, now owned 100% interest in the Breton Sound Block 20 and 36 fields in the Gulf of Mexico ... Kerr-McGee Oil (U.K.) Plc agreed to acquire Statoil (U.K.) Ltd's 15% interest, now owned 61.5% interest in the Gryphon field in the North Sea ... Tosco restarted their refinery in Avon, California shutting down since the fire in February ... Penn Virginia (Radnor, PA) acquired oil and gas properties in the Gwinville field, Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi for approx $13.7 million ...
(7/9) ... Baker-Hughes reported U. S. rig count down 10 against last week at 570 (450 for gas and 120 for oil) ... Canada's rig count up 18 against last week at 210 ... NYMEX crude closing price is highest in 19 months ... the International Energy Agency predicted a short fall of 1.61 million B/D in world oil supply in the third quarter increasing to 3.24 million B/D in the fourth quarter ...
(7/8) ... the DOE reported crude oil stocks at 326.2 MMB, down 4.2 MMB from last week ... the Energy Information Agency projected world oil demand for this year at 74.9 million B/D and supply at 74.1 million B/D resulting in a 800,000 B/D shortfall in global oil supply ... KN Energy (Lakewood, CO) and Kinder Morgan (Houston, TX) agreed to merge ... Prize Energy Inc. (Calgary) clarified that they were not "Prize Energy Corp." as stated in the report released from Pioneer Natural Resources as the buyer of Pioneer's properties ... Schlumberger Oilfield Services signed the letter of intent to acqurie Merak (Calgary), a developer/marketer of petroleum software ...
(7/7) ... AGA reported an injection of 69 BCF into the natural gas storage, representing an increase of 2.1% at 64.7% full ... API reported crude oil stocks down 1.92 MMB, distillates stocks up 1.27 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks down 4.40 MMB, and refinery capacity down 0.8% at 95.5% versus last week's ... National Oilwell acquired the assets of Continental Emsco Drilling Products for approx $65 million ... Mobil Exploration & Production completed a new well in the Mobil 823 field, south of Dauphin Island, Alabama with the intial production of 42 MMCF/day from the Norphlet formation at 21,900 feet ...
(7/6) ... Tom Brown Inc. (Denver, CO) completed the acquisition of oil and gas assets in the Rocky Mountain from Spirit Energy 76 with $5 million cash plus stock totaling approx $89 million ... Columbia Energy Group rejected the latest take over offer from NiSource at $68/share or approx $5.7 billion ... Venus Exploration (San Antonio, TX) and EXCO formed a joint venture in the acquisiton of oil and gas properties in the Vernon field, Jackson Parish, Louisiana from Apache for approx $28.5 million ... Vintage Petroleum (Tulsa, OK) acquired the interest of Total and Repsol SA, now owned 100% interest in the 150,000-acre El Huemul concession in Santa Cruz province, Argentina ...
(7/5) ... IPE Brent crude closed at $18.18/BBL up $0.52/BBL ... Total Fina SA, France's largest oil company, launched a hostile bid for rival Elf Aquitaine SA in a stock deal worth $43 billion ...
(7/2) ... Baker-Hughes reported U. S. rig count up 17 against last week at 580 (467 for gas and 112 for oil) versus last year's of 812 ... Core Laboratories (Houston, TX) completed the acquisition of Coherence Technology, a seismic data processing and interpretation firm ... Chevron completed the sale of its remaining coastal California assets involving 4 platforms in the Point Arguello field and a processing plant to Arguello, a wholly owned subsidiary of Plains Resources ...
(7/1) ... Texaco agreed to acquire 10% of Arco's 30% interest in the Hamaca heavy oil project in the Orinoco Oil Belt, Venezuela ... Phillips Petroleum agreed to exchange their 18% interest in an oil field in Lake Macaraibo for Arco's remaining 20% ... WBI Holdings (Bismark, ND) completed the acquisition of Bitter Creek Pipelines, a transporter of coal seam gas in north central Wyoming ... Bellwether Co. (Houston, TX) competed the acquisition of Energen Resources (Birmingham, AL)'s interest in 33 Gulf of Mexico blocks for approx $17 million ... Coastal Oil & Gas acquired gas properties in the Hell's Hole and Park Mountain fields from Mitchell Energy & Development ...

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