Following the test on recently found gas resource in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Venezuela, Repsol YPF S.A. (REP) confirmed reserves of between 5.6 trillion and 7.8 trillion cubic feet of gas. With an estimated area of 33 square kilometers, it is the country’s largest discovery.

Repsol (32.5% interest) partners with Italy's Eni S.p.A. (E – 32.5%) and Venezuela's state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (35%) for future production on this resource.

While Venezuela aims to increase natural gas output to overcome the current deficit, Repsol wants to boost oil and gas production through new discoveries off the coasts of Brazil and Venezuela after four years of declining output.

However, a challenging operating and contractual environment in Venezuela may create obstacles for developing new gas reserves. Moreover, the mandate of the Venezuelan government to sell any new gas to the domestic market at subsidized prices may negatively impact

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Qatar is a red-hot economy. Last year it grew around 18% and this year it ought to grow another 16%. We saw the headlines in the Gulf Times in the lounge while waiting for our transfer to Dubai.

Qatar’s greatest asset is its natural gas reserves. In fact, the largest gas field in the world is here. Its discoverers were disappointed when they found it in 1971. They were looking for oil.

The boom Qatar now enjoys is the result of some daring investments in liquefied natural gas (LNG) back when people thought doing such a thing was a little batty. Faisal Al Suwaidi, the head of Qatargas, deserves the props for his wager, which have paid off handsomely. Today, Qatar produces about one-quarter of the world’s natural gas.

Qatar supplies such faraway customers as Japan, India and China. Qatargas also operates the largest LNG terminal in Europe at South Hook on

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The Financial Times enumerates Gazprom's problems: are its ambitions to increase production any more than pipe dreams?  Competition for energy reserves in the Arctic Circle could prompt friction between Russia and NATO, a new commander at the alliance has warned.  Bloomberg reports that the holder of the world's fourth-largest gas reserves, Turkmenistan, is ready to export natural gas to European collaborators if they build a pipeline across the Caspian Sea to transport the fuel.  According to Oil and Gas Eurasia, Russia needs a total of $310 billion to fully carry out its program for the analysis and exploration of its continental shelf, a deputy natural resources minister has announced.  Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko has said that Russia has been invited as an observer to the December meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.  Finnish environmental ...

LNG Makes It A Really G’Day, Mate

by Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

They don’t call Australia the lucky country for nothing.

It must be luck to have such abundant amounts of energy, metals, minerals and agricultural commodities, not to mention residing so close to China and India, two countries with large populations and a seemingly insatiable appetite for such natural resources.

And that luck shows again in the recently approved, multi-billion dollar, Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which is spreading good fortune to the foreign companies involved in the venture and the investors who know that Australia is where it’s at…

Australia currently has the 14th largest known gas reserve in the world, and many expect it to make the world’s top ten list in that category sooner than later. Dr. Graeme Behtune, the director of research firm Energy Quest, estimates the

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Repsol YPF S.A. (REP) recently found a huge gas resource in shallow waters of the Gulf of Venezuela. The largest integrated oil and gas company in Spain said that the offshore field had an estimated area of 33 square kilometers and was 60 meters deep.

Along with its exploration partner Italy's Eni SPA (E), Repsol estimates that the discovery could hold between 7 and 8 trillion cubic feet of gas. This equals to more than five years of gas consumption in Spain.

While the two companies will have a 32.5% interest each in all future productions, Venezuela's state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA would hold a 35% stake.

Repsol is targeting stable production growth driven by pipeline projects in Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Libya, Bolivia, Argentina and Ecuador. Long-term growth is expected to come from opportunities in Trinidad and Tobago, Algeria, the US Gulf of Mexico,

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Tomas Valasek of the Center for European Reform has a sharp column in the Wall Street Journal today on the European loan to Ukraine to buy Russian gas.  If Gazprom chooses to cut the taps, Kiev would be likely to hoard supplies intended for Europe, which would put them in Brussels doghouse.  Such a move would be irresistible were it not for the fact that Russia really needs the income right now.  But we all know that there's plenty of bad blood.Independent of the fighting with Russia, Europe is once again asking Ukraine to clean up the corruption in the gas trade with reforms, a task which will not come easy politically - though reform stands a better chance now than in the past.  From the Wall Street Journal:

Kiev has of course failed to live up to

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Yesterday after the closing bell, Savoy Energy Corp. announced that in the near future the company intends to upgrade the technology at its Rozella Kifer Well. The company has ordered a Jack Shaft Reducer that will be installed on the well. The installation is anticipated to increase efficiency by 25% while decreasing maintenance by 23-35%. The new technology is also expected to extend the life of the well’s production.

The Rozella Kifer Well is positioned on 193 acres of land in Gonzales County, Texas. Savoy Energy’s lease has no expiration date as long as the company conducts operations without termination for more than 120 days. It has been estimated that oil reserves for the well are 19,730 Mbbl while the gas reserves are estimated at 3,090 MMcf.

“We are continuously keeping our eye on the bottom line. With today’s technology, we can

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Of all the people you might expect to spearhead a movement away from oil and onto alternative energy, T. Boone Pickens probably wouldn’t be at the top of the list.

But a year ago, the 81-year old chairman of BP Capital spent his own money to buy prime time on major networks and mobilized an “army” of believers in order to get the word out about the dangers of continued dependence on foreign oil.

Earlier this month, Pickens appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to discuss the progress of the “Pickens Plan,”which essentially seeks to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil through a combination of wind-generated power and natural gas powered vehicles. The goal: Drastically reducing or eliminating the need for foreign oil in as little as 10 years.

His timing was perfect, as oil prices shot to all-time highs around $150 a year ago. The plan garnered a lot of attention. And to

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Earlier this week, T. Boone Pickens, the 81-year-old Chairman of BP Capital, appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the progress of the “Picken’s Plan.”

Readers might remember it was during the heat of the Presidential campaign last summer, on July 8, that Pickens began his own campaign to wean the nation off of foreign oil.

Spending his own money, he bought time on the major networks and mobilized an “army” of believers in order to get the word out about the dangers of continued dependence on foreign oil.

Essentially, the Pickens Plan seeks to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil with a combination of wind-generated power and natural gas powered vehicles. In the process, the need for foreign oil is drastically reduced or eliminated in as little as 10 years.

His timing - with oil prices hovering around $150 a barrel - got him a lot of attention.

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Russia may have sidestepped greenhouse gas emission cuts at the G8 summit, but Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has pledged a Russian 'energy revolution' when the State Duma consider a bill to increase energy efficiency by 40% by 2020.  A transit deal for the Nabucco pipeline is to be signed next week but according to analysts, 'the major obstacles to Nabucco still stand and supply is number one'.  Reuters has a Q and A on what to expect from the Nabucco deal.  The European Commission has tempered demands for powers to coordinate gas flows across the union in the event of a gas cut off.  The European Commission will declare a 'Community Emergency' if the EU loses more than 10% of its gas supply.  Venezuela's Oil Minister has said that the country is making progress towards developing ...