Norway-based Integrated StatoilHydro ASA (STO) intends to start production at the Peregrino heavy-oilfield in Brazil in early 2011. The company will start drilling wells in the first half of 2010 for this purpose.  The field is situated 85 kilometers off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state near Cabo Frio and has an estimated 460 million barrels of recoverable oil. The company expects peak production to reach 100,000 barrels per day in 2012.  Until 1997, foreign companies were barred from the oil blocks of Brazil. Now the scenario has changed and many international integrateds are increasing production at their Brazilian blocks. This includes Chevron (CVX), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) and ExxonMobil (XOM).  Given the maturity of the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) region, where StatoilHydro has significant upstream focus, the company is looking for development of various international assets. The production from the ...

One Natural Gas Company Worth Looking Into… Now And Later

Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

These days, the US natural gas market finds itself weighted down by doom and gloom.

With North America choking on the stuff and underground storage of natural gas potentially approaching 4 trillion cubic feet, pundits keep saying that the market will see prices plunge to $2 per million BTU, where it will stay for years.

To contrarian investors such as myself, that type of talk couldn’t sound any more sweet…

Despite the gloom, we can still see a few glimmers of light in the natural gas market, such as drilling grinding to a multi-year low, barely a year after reaching its all-time high. Or the fact that some producers have voluntarily reduced output, deeming the present value of gas in the ground superior to current prices.

One way or another,

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Peak Oil and Petrobras

Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

Back on Wednesday, September 9, I wrote on how to profit from British Petroleum ADR (NYSE: BP)’s huge discovery in the Gulf of Mexico, and how to profit from peak oil.

And while I stand by the profitability of both that find and stock, I think I should clarify that “peak oil” really doesn’t exist anymore. So instead, let’s call it peak-cheap-and-easily-recoverable-oil instead, since that seems much more appropriate.

The days of cheap and accessible oil are long gone, but that very fact opens up rich opportunities for investors who face up to the realities of today’s oil market.

Possibly the biggest reality comes down to this: Giant oil fields are the industry’s lifeblood. Out of the world’s 70,000 oil fields, the largest twenty account for a quarter of global production.

That’s

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With Exxon Mobil Corp.’s (XOM) new oil discovery off the coast of Brazil - the latest in a series of such offshore finds and potentially the largest Western Hemisphere discovery in three - the South American nation has taken another giant step in its quest to become a global energy superpower.

Exxon’s Azulao-1 well tapped a reservoir that reportedly contains as much as 8 billion barrels of recoverable oil, says Luiz Lemos, a partner at TozziniFreire Advogados, a Brazilian law firm that represents foreign energy companies.

“This is very huge,” Lemos told Bloomberg News.

So is the potential benefit for Brazil. If Lemos’ estimate is accurate, this new Azulao find will rival the nearby Tupi oil field as the largest discovery on this side of the planet since Mexico’s Cantarell field was discovered in 1976.

Lemos’ estimate is unconfirmed, but Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Officer Rex

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Oil exploration company Bald Eagle Energy, Inc. recently showed how a little oil stock can, like gold, do remarkable things. Even though the sluggish economy has brought oil prices down to earlier levels, oil stocks can also be viewed as having a counter-cyclical element. From 2/19 to 2/24, the Dow Jones Industrial Average made another new low, causing some investors to again start using the term “depression”. Little noticed was that, during the exact same time, BEEI jumped over 37%.

Unlike the major oil players, Bald Eagle Energy is a small, largely unexposed company, still under the radar of many investors, and with a share price to match. And yet the company has positioned itself to reap potentially huge gains by securing leases on over 18,000 acres right next door to the biggest oil field in North America, Prudhoe Bay.

The fact that

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Bald Eagle Energy Inc. (BEEI.OB), based out of Houston, is an oil and gas exploration company specifically formed to address America’s independence on foreign resources. While domestic energy companies produce 5.1 million barrels of oil per day (MMBOPD), US consumers use 20.7 MMBOPD. The current 15.6 million barrel shortfall is the gap that Bald Eagle is committed to reducing by tapping into the energy resources found in Alaska.

The North Slope Basin is known for its abundance of hydrocarbon with an estimated 27 billion barrels of discovered recoverable oil (BBO) and 52 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas (TCFG). Compared to other parts of the US, the region has a low exploration-drilling density and is under-explored.

Bald Eagle entered into an agreement on April 18, 2008 to acquire a 100% working interest in six separate leases located on the Alaska North Slope.

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Western Standard Energy Corp. is an independent oil and gas exploration company focused on providing domestic energy resources for a secure America. By teaming with partners and third-party service companies that are willing to incur the majority of costs and work associated with the exploration and drilling process, Western Standard is able to retain a lean corporate structure that favors increased return on investment.

One of those partnerships is the newly signed agreement with East Dickenson Oil and Gas Co. The agreement covers a package of 10 State of North Dakota oil & gas exploration leases in and around Dickinson, North Dakota. The new leases effectively add around 750 net acres to the company’s exploration assets. All the Leases have a 1/8 royalty to the State of North Dakota, with the exception of two of the Leases, which have a 1/6 royalty.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects world consumption of

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AmeriWest Energy Corp. (OTCBB: AWEC) was recently given a speculative strong buy rating from the research firm Bridge IR Group in their most recent research report. Contained in the report is an informed analysis that also projects a 12-month target price of $1.75. That value is a 450% return to investors at today’s market price of around $0.40. Ameriwest Energy already produces close to 35 barrels of oil per day (nearly $120,000 in monthly revenue) and has more wells coming online shortly.

Ameriwest is a growing, revenue-positive energy company producing underdeveloped oil resources in the prolific Rocky Mountain region of the United States. The company operates by utilizing their strategic combination of low-risk tertiary recovery projects and extensively mapped exploration plays that show significant upside potential. All projects incorporate considerable historical data and are in close proximity to excellent support infrastructure. Ameriwest has

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Brazil's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate three-quarters of a percentage point yesterday. Three of the eight directors expressed the view thatthe raise was excessive, which seems to indicate that the monetary tightening process may be nearing its close in this cycle. Policy makers voted 5-3 to raised the so-called Selic rate a fourth time since April to 13.75 percent from 13 percent in an attempt to keep a tight grip on inflation, and to confirm the Banks growing reputation as the "Bundesbank of Latin America". The decision raised Brazil's real interest rate - which is the nominal rate adjusted for the 6.17% CPI inflation -  to 7.58, the highest among emerging and developed economies alike. The dissenters on the board voted for a half-point increase.Real DeclineDespite the interest rate rise the real fell ...

Western Standard Energy Corp. (WSEG) is an independent oil and gas exploration company working toward providing domestic energy resources to the United States. The company is concentrating its exploration efforts to properties within the Bakken Formation region. Western Standard is currently working on two oil and natural gas projects: Starbuck East Prospect in Montana and Lodgepole Reef Prospect in North Dakota.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) performed an initial assessment of the Bakken Formation in 1995. The USGS revisited the area and release its latest findings in April, 2008. New analysis indicates that the Bakken Formation may represent one of the largest domestic oil and gas opportunities in U.S. history. The USGS report estimates that the U.S. portion of the Bakken represents 3 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas and up to 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil, which is the largest continuous type of oil accumulation the USGS has

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