Savoy Energy Corp., an independent oil and gas company specializing in the turnaround of abandoned wells, is in a rather unique position within the industry. While many oil and gas companies depend upon searching for and discovering new wells, still a largely speculative process in spite of all the technologies now being applied, Savoy goes after existing wells. These are wells that still have oil, but which were abandoned earlier because previously available technologies and processes were simply not able to economically extract the remaining stock. Using innovative approaches, Savoy is able to tap into those remaining resources, bringing the wells back online.

Savoy is currently producing oil from four wells, with another 18 being evaluated. This is expected to increase significantly over the next few years. However, the company is very careful in identifying and evaluating well candidates, a move

...

ConocoPhillips (COP) has exercised an option to buy out a 50% stake in its coking unit at the Sweeny refinery in Texas from Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA). PDVSA is Venezuela's state-run oil company.

ConocoPhillips has an equal interest in Merey Sweeny L.P., a limited partnership that owns a 65-million-barrels-per-day delayed coker unit and related facilities at the Sweeny refinery. Used in refineries, a delayed coker unit is a plant that cracks heavy, long-chain hydrocarbon molecules of the residual oil into gas, oil and petroleum coke. PDVSA supplies the refinery with Venezuelan crude oil.

Since the beginning of this year, PDVSA has not supplied enough crude oil to meet contractual specifications. Thus, ConocoPhillips’ deliveries from Venezuela fell to 146,000 barrels a day in the first half of 2009 from 210,000 barrels a year earlier. Following this, ConocoPhillips plans to take full control of the unit.

The takeover follows

...