January 1 Energy companies and countries around the world report that they have passed into the year 2000 without significant problems from the "Y2K Bug." There was concern that the inability of some computers and embedded control systems to recognize the year 2000 could create serious problems. (DJ, WP)

January 6 Texaco announces that it has completed testing of the Agbami-2 well off the coast of Nigeria. The company states that the new field has crude oil reserves estimated at more than one billion barrels. (DJ, WSJ)

January 7 Statoil shuts in 390,000 barrels per day of crude oil production in response to severe weather in the North Sea. Including earlier moves by Norsk Hydro, Statoil, and Shell, a total of 1.27 million barrels per day of North Sea crude oil production is shut in due to weather. (DJ)

January 13 The National Research Council, a body of the National Academy of Sciences, releases a report confirming that the rise in global temperatures is "undoubtedly real," deflating a key argument used by skeptics of global warming. The report does not directly address the causes of the warming trend. (WP, LAT, WSJ)

January 13 The Environmental Protection Agency announces a fine of $30 million against refiner Koch Industries as part of a settlement of charges that the company contaminated lakes and streams with petroleum products which leaked from pipelines. (DJ)

January 13 Indonesian President Abderrahman Wahid appoints a high level panel to oversee the restructuring of the state-owned oil company Pertamina and choose a new senior management team for the firm. (DJ, WSJ)

January 14 Chevron announces that it has agreed to pay $95 million to settle charges that it underpaid royalties to the federal government for oil produced on federal lands. The company says the move is not an admission of wrongdoing. (WSJ)

January 16 Takashi Fukuya, Japan's Minister of International Trade and Industry, meets with Saudi Arabia's Petroleum Minister Ali al-Naimi in an attempt to reach an agreement on the renewal of Japanese firm Arabian Oil Company's concession for crude oil production in the Saudi sector of the Neutral Zone. The ministers reportedly failed to reach agreement on an extension. (DJ)

January 19 China discovers a large natural gas deposit in the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang region of Western China. The country is considering the construction of a gas pipeline from the region to more heavily populated areas along the Pacific coast. (DJ)

January 22 Iraq reaches an agreement on the continuation of oil supplies to Jordan. Under the agreement, Iraq will give Jordan $300 million worth of crude oil in 2000 free of charge, and Jordan will pay a maximum of $19 per barrel for any additional volumes imported. (DJ)

January 25 Spot prices for number two heating oil close at $1.359 per gallon, after rising rapidly from $0.687 per gallon at the beginning of January 2000. The rapid rise takes place as winter storms hit the northeastern United States, increasing short term demand for heating oil. The spot price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil closes at $30.28 per barrel. (DJ)

January 26 The United Nations Security Council reaches agreement on the appointment of Hans Blix of Sweden, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to lead the new United Nations weapons inspection organization for Iraq. Iraq has indicated that it does not intend to accept the new Security Council resolution. (DJ)

January 27 Senator Charles Schumer meets with Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson to press for a sale of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in response to high oil prices. In particular, northeastern members of Congress have been concerned by the sharp rise in prices for heating oil in late January 2000 due to cold temperatures on the East Coast of the United States. (DJ)

January 27 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decides to postpone a scheduled decision on whether to allow the proposed merger between BP Amoco and Atlantic Richfield, after the companies involved made a new offer to divest themselves of further assets. (NYT)

January 27 Azerbaijan experiences a short-term domestic petroleum products shortage, which cripples the country's oil fired power plants. The government of Azerbaijan temporarily restricts oil shipments to the Russian port of Novorossisk and orders the import of a shipment of oil from neighboring Turkmenistan. (DJ)

January 28 ExxonMobil's Australian unit, Mobil Oil Australia Limited, announces a compensation package to cover equipment damage and direct business losses arising from contaminated aircraft fuels. Around 5,000 small aircraft have been grounded in Australia due to concerns that engines could clog after consuming the fuels. Mobil has said the contamination resulted from a mistake in the production process, but has not admitted liability for financial losses incurred by its clients. (DJ)

February 2 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) acts to block the proposed merger between BP Amoco and Atlantic Richfield, saying the merger would unduly restrict competition along the West coast of the United States. (WSJ, WP)

February 3 The United States Navy seizes the Russian tanker Volgoneft-147 in the Persian Gulf. The vessel is transporting a cargo of smuggled Iraqi gasoil in violation of United Nations sanctions against Iraq. (NYT, WP)

February 8 Russia's second largest oil company, Yukos Oil, announces an agreement with state oil pipeline company Transneft to build a $1.7 billion oil pipeline from Siberia to China. The pipeline would run from Angarsk in Siberia to Beijing. (WSJ)

February 9 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issues a group of policy changes which extend the deregulation of the interstate natural gas pipeline system begun under Order 636 in 1992. Among the changes is a lifting, for a trial period of 30 months, of the price ceiling on secondary market exchanges of short-term gas pipeline capacity. FERC's lifting of the ceiling is meant in part to encourage gas shippers to use longer-term contracts which would promote market stability. (DJ)

February 11 Occidental Petroleum agrees to buy Altura Energy, the onshore U.S. oil exploration joint venture between BP Amoco and Shell, for $3.5 billion. Altura produces about 110,000 barrels per day of crude oil, mostly in West Texas and New Mexico. (LAT)

February 14 The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil closes on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $30.30 per barrel, the highest price (in nominal terms) since the Gulf War in 1991. (WSJ)

February 16 The United States announces sanctions against the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC), which is developing oilfields in Sudan. The sanctions prohibit American firms and individuals from doing business with GNPOC, but do not cover the foreign parent companies of GNPOC, which include China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Petronas, and Talisman Energy. (NYT)

February 16 President Clinton announces the release of $125 million in additional federal government assistance for low income households hit by high heating oil prices. On the same day, Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson addresses the New England Heating Oil Summit in Boston. The moves come after a dramatic spike in heating oil prices in the Northeastern United States. The price for number two heating oil at New York Harbor peaked at February 4^th at $1.77 per gallon. (WP, WSJ, DJ)

February 18 Iranian voters go to the polls to elect members of parliament. The election results in a landslide victory for reformist candidates allied with Iranian President Mohammed Khatami. (DJ

February 21 General Electric announces a breakthrough in the design of natural gas power generating plants, using steam instead of air to cool turbine blades. According to the company, the new design will use about 5 percent less natural gas per unit of power generated than the best existing technologies. (WSJ)

February 22 Several hundred truck drivers form a convoy through downtown Washington in a protest against high diesel fuel prices. Trucking lobby groups such as the American Trucking Association have supported calls for a release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell proposes removing the federal excise tax on diesel for one year. (DJ)

February 24 BP Amoco announces that it plans to make $2.5 billion in investments in the development of natural gas reserves at the In Salah field in Algeria. Gas deliveries to Europe from the field are expected to start in 2003. (WSJ)

February 24 Saudi Arabia announces that it intends to invite representatives of companies which have submitted bids for natural gas and petrochemical investment in the country to talks which will be held in late March 2000, shortly after the end of the Muslim haj pilgrimage season. (DJ)

February 26 Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson meets with Saudi Arabian Petroleum Minister Ali Naimi in Riyadh to discuss the recent rise in crude oil prices. The meeting is part of an overseas tour which includes stops in Mexico, Norway, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. In a joint statement, Naimi pledged to "continue to review oil supply and demand levels to ensure market stability, prevent oil price volitility, and avoid harming the world economy." (DJ)

February 27 BP Amoco and Atlantic Richfield hold talks with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on their proposed merger, which the FTC has filed suit in a federal court to block. The two companies have reportedly offered major concessions, including a much larger sale of Alaskan North Slope production assets. (WSJ)

February 27 Columbia Energy agrees to be acquired by NiSource, ending an eight month long takeover battle. The deal is valued at $6 billion, will make NiSource the largest natural gas company east of the Rocky Mountains. (WSJ)

February 28 Arabian Oil Company, the Japanese firm which produces crude oil in the Neutral Zone of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, announces the expiration of its concession for production in the Saudi half of the Zone. The firm's concession for the Kuwaiti portion of the Neutral Zone expires in 2003. (DJ)

March 2 Valero Energy Corporation agrees to purchase ExxonMobil's 160,000-barrel-per-day refinery at Benicia, California, and 340 retail gasoline stations for $895 million. The sale is part of the package of divestitures which Exxon and Mobil agreed to in order to secure approval for their merger from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Valero was selected despite a higher bid from Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corporation, in the expectation that Valero posed fewer potential problems with approval by the FTC, as it has not previously sold gasoline in California and would introduce a new competitor into that market. (WSJ)

March 3 A strike by workers at Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) officially begins, but fails to attract much support from union members. Only about 15 percent of PdVSA workers fail to report for work, according to the company, and operations are not disrupted. (DJ)

March 6 The United States Supreme Court overturns the State of Washington's law establishing state regulation of oil tankers, ruling unanimously that federal laws take precedence. The attempt to impose tougher regulatory standards came in the wake of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska. (WP, NYT)

March 7 New York Mercantile Exchange front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures contract closes at $34.13 per barrel, the highest level in nine years. (WSJ)

March 9 South Korea's Hyundai Corporation announces that it is to begin developing Libya's Elephant oilfield, discovered in 1997. The project is expected to produce 150,000 barrels per day when it reaches full output capacity in 2003. (DJ)

March 14 The Clinton administration announces changes to the system for assessing royalties for oil production on federal lands. In the future, royalty calculations will be pegged closer to current spot market prices, instead of an arbitrary value at the wellhead. The changes are expected to generate an additional $67.3 million per year in revenues. (WP)

March 15 Phillips Petroleum announces that it has agreed to purchase Atlantic Richfield's assets in Alaska for $6.5 billion. The sale is being made in an effort to secure approval from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for the merger of Atlantic Richfield with BP Amoco. Earlier the same day, the FTC announced that it had suspended its antitrust lawsuit seeking to block the merger, citing progress in talks with the companies involved. (DJ, NYT, WSJ)

March 17 Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announces an easing of some United States economic sanctions against Iran. Purchases of several non-energy items produced in Iran, such as pistachio nuts and Persian rugs, now will be permitted. Sanctions dealing with Iran's oil and natural gas industries, however, remain in place. (NYT)

March 21 Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson arrives in Algiers to meet with Algeria's oil minister, Chakib Khalil, as part of a final round of talks with oil producers about the need to increase production in advance of the OPEC ministerial meeting scheduled for March 27th. The visit is the first to Algeria by a cabinet level American official in over a decade. Earlier in the day, Secretary Richardson had visited Nigeria for talks with President Olesegun Obasanjo. (WSJ)

March 20 EPA Administrator Carol Browner announces that the Clinton Administration intends to push for a phase out of the use of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) as a gasoline additive. The administration wants Congress to pass legislation which would end the requirement for the use of MTBE in gasoline sold in some smog-prone urban areas, and instead require nationwide use of ethanol. (DJ)

March 23 Vice Admiral Charles Moore, who oversees United States naval operations in the Persian Gulf, briefs the United Nations Sanctions Committee on the increased smuggling of Iraqi oil. Iraq is expected to earn in excess of $500 million from oil smuggling, and possibly up to double that amount, in the absence of strong action by Iran to prevent the use of its territorial waters by smugglers. (DJ, NYT)

March 23 BP Amoco announces that it will purchase 20 percent of the shares to be offered by PetroChina in its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York and Hong Kong stock exchanges on April 7. PetroChina is a unit of China National Petroleum Corporation China's largest oil and gas company. The announcement by BP Amoco provides a needed boost to the IPO, which had to be scaled back in size by more than half due to lack of interest on the part of many large institutional investors. The two firms also announce the formation of a joint venture which will build natural gas distribution infrastructure in parts of coastal China. (LAT, WSJ)

March 23 Russia's Lukoil announces the discovery of as much as 2.2 billion barrels of new oil reserves in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea. (WSJ)

March 26 Vladimir Putin is elected president of Russia on the first ballot, winning 53 percent of the popular vote. Putin took office as acting president in December 1999 after the resignation of Boris Yeltsin. (DJ)

March 27 ExxonMobil files a lawsuit in an attempt to block the sale of Atlantic Richfield's assets in Alaska to Phillips Petroleum. ExxonMobil holds stakes in Prudhoe Bay assets currently operated by Atlantic Richfield. (DJ)

March 28 After two days of meetings, oil ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agree on an increase in oil production of 1.452 million barrels per day by its members, excluding Iran and Iraq. Iraq, has not been subject to OPEC production agreements while under U.N. Security Council sanctions. Iran, though not formally signing on to the agreement, stated its intention to raise its production in order to avoid loss of its market share. This would represent about a 1.7 million barrel per day increase in OPEC production targets, if Iran was included. Several major non-OPEC producers, including Mexico and Norway, also have indicated an intention to raise production. (DJ)

March 30 The State Department announces that it is lifting its hold on an Eximbank loan to Russia's Tyumen Oil Company. The loan was blocked by the State Department in December due to a dispute between Tyumen and BP Amoco over the ownership of assets in Siberia's Chernegorneft oil field, but the two firms had since reached a settlement. (WP, NYT)

March 30 The United Nations Security Council votes to allow Iraq to import $1.2 billion in spare parts and other equipment for its oil industry this year under the "oil-for-food" program. This is an increase from the previous $600 million annual value allowed. (NYT)

April 5 The government of Iran announces that it has seized a tanker which was smuggling Iraqi oil through Iranian territorial waters. A spokesman for the United States Department of State welcomes the action. (NYT, WP)

April 6 PetroChina, a holding company which serves as a stock market listing entity for the China National Petroleum Corporation, launches an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York and Hong Kong stock exchanges. The IPO is valued at nearly $3 billion, scaled back drastically in size due to a lack of investor interest. (WSJ)

April 7 Tosco Corporation agrees to purchase the Wood River Refinery, located in Illinois from Equilon Enterprises, a joint venture between Texaco and Shell, for $420 million. Equilon officials say the sale is part of a shift to concentrate on the West Coast petroleum products market. (NYT)

April 12 Several Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of major United States oil companies meet with senior Saudi Arabian officials to discuss possible investments in natural gas and petrochemical projects. The firms represented at the meetings include Chevron, Conoco, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil, Phillips Petroleum, and Texaco. The Saudi government announces, in conjunction with the meetings, a package of legal changes that will make Saudi Arabia more open to foreign investors. Complete foreign ownership will be allowed for some types of projects, and the maximum corporate tax rate for foreign enterprises will be reduced to 15 percent. (WP)

April 14 BP Amoco receives approval from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its $28 billion takeover of Atlantic Richfield Corporation (ARCO). As part of the approval, ARCO has agreed to sell its crude oil production operations in Alaska to Phillips Petroleum in a deal valued at $6.5 billion. (WP, WSJ)

April 18 The China National Petroleum Corporation announces an agreement with Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) to begin purchases of Orimulsion, a power-plant fuel made from bitumen from Venezuela's Orinoco region. (NYT)

April 18 Amerada Hess Corporation announces an agreement with the Algerian state-owned oil company Sonatrach to develop three oil fields in central Algeria. The $555 million project will develop the El Gassi, El Agreb, and Zotti fields. (NYT)

April 19 The United States Commerce Department reports a record $29.2 billion trade deficit for February 2000. This is due largely to the sharp increase in prices for crude oil imports, which added $1.3 billion to the monthly trade deficit. (WP)

April 24 The American Petroleum Institute (API) files a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the Interior Department's new rules for royalty valuation of natural gas produced from federal government lands. The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), which represents independent oil and gas companies, also has filed a similar lawsuit. (DJ)

April 25 Royal Dutch Shell agrees to pay a $2 million fine for transporting smuggled Iraqi oil aboard a Russian tanker. The tanker, Akademik Pustovoit, was detained by United States naval vessels enforcing United Nations sanctions against Iraq on April 5. Defense Department spokesman Kenneth Bacon states that Shell appeared to have acquired the Iraqi oil unwittingly, and would therefore be allowed to keep the cargo. The fine will go into a United Nations fund for the enforcement of sanctions. (NYT, WP)

April 28 Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey sign a final governmental agreement in Washington on the planned Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, which would transport oil from the Caspian Sea region to Western markets through the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The agreement covers the issues of transit fees, security, and governmental liability involved in the project. (DJ)

April 29 Iraq's oil ministry states that it expects to export more than $8.5 billion of oil in the current six-month phase of the United Nations "oil-for-food" program. (DJ)

April 30 Total Fina Elf announces that it intends to invest $8 billion in Saudi Arabia's natural gas sector. The announcement comes following a meeting between Total Chairman Thierry Desmarest and Saudi Arabia's Oil and Gas Policy Committee, which includes Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and Petroleum Minister Ali Naimi. The Saudi government has been seeking foreign investment in natural gas and petrochemical projects. (DJ)

April 30 The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signs a 25-year agreement with a consortium of multinational firms for a set of studies dealing with its natural gas sector. The topics will include estimating reserves and assessment of Iran's prospects for both increased domestic use and export of natural gas. Firms involved in the agreement include BP Amoco, Royal Dutch Shell, British Gas, and Gaz de France, among others. (DJ)

May 2 ExxonMobil signs a production-sharing agreement with Qatar General Petroleum Corporation (QGPC) for the development of natural gas from Qatar's offshore North Field. The project is expected to eventually produce 1.75 billion cubic feet per day, much of which will be exported to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of the Dolphin Project, a series of pipelines linking the gas grids of Qatar, the UAE, and Oman. (DJ)

May 5 Indonesia's central government proposes three management options to the government of Riau province for the Penkanbaru field, Indonesia's largest. The options include the possibility of Riau taking over state oil company Pertamina's stake in the field. The move is part of an effort by the government of President Wahid to distribute oil and gas revenues more fairly among Indonesia's regions. (DJ)

May 10 BP Amoco reports the discovery of a major natural gas field off the coast of Trinidad, which may hold 2 trillion cubic feet of gas. BP Amoco recently announced a planned expansion of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Trinidad, which will triple its capacity by 2003. (DJ)

May 16 Several sources, including the Washington Post, report a major oil find at the Kashagan field offshore from Kazakhstan, with reserves reportedly greater than 8 billion barrels. If these early reserve estimates prove correct, the additional production volumes could boost chances for construction of the proposed Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. (WP, DJ)

May 16 Senate majority leader Trent Lott and other Republicans introduce legislation intended to boost United States domestic oil production. Among other actions, the bill would provide a tax credit of up to $3 per barrel for production from marginal wells during periods of low oil prices and open up the coastal portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil exploration. (DJ)

May 17 Chevron announces that it is to acquire an additional 5 percent stake in Tengizchevroil, the firm which operates the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan, in a deal valued at $450 million. The Kazakh government share in the field will fall to 20 percent. (DJ)

May 17 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formally proposes a rule which, if finalized, would reduce allowable sulfur levels in diesel fuel by 97 percent over the next five years. The move is opposed by major refiners. (DJ)

May 19 BP Amoco receives approval from the European Union for its acquisition of Burmah Castrol, for $4.7 billion. After the purchase, BP Amoco will hold a 15 percent market share for automotive lubricants in Europe, comparable to TotalFinaElf and ExxonMobil. (DJ)

May 19 A federal appeals court denies a petition by six major oil companies to rehear a decision upholding a Unocal patent for phase two reformulated gasoline. Uncertainty over Unocal's patent rights has led some refiners to stay out of the market for reformulated gasoline, fearing that they may infringe on one of Unocal's five patents related to reformulated gasoline. (DJ)

May 21 Russian President Vladimir Putin appoints Alexander Gavrin as Minister of Energy. Gavrin, a former Lukoil executive, replaces Victor Kalyuzhny. Putin also abolishes Russia's State Committee on the Environment, transferring its functions to the Ministry of Natural Resources, which licenses oil and gas development. (WSJ, WP)

May 22 The United States Supreme Court agrees to hear a case involving the power of federal agencies to issue regulations under broad grants of authority from Congress. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is appealing a decision by a federal appellate court which invalidated new standards set by the EPA in 1997 for ozone and particulate matter emissions. The case, Browner vs. American Trucking Association, is significant because it is the first time since 1935 that a federal regulatory program has been struck down under the "non-delegation doctrine." (NYT, WSJ)

May 23 The Energy Information Administration releases a study of oil reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), which currently is off-limits to oil exploration. The study estimates that there are between 5.7 and 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the ANWR. (WSJ)

May 24 BP Amoco agrees to purchase the 18.1 percent of Houston-based upstream oil and gas producer Vastar Resources which it does not already own. The deal is valued at $1.6 billion. (WSJ)

May 26 Devon Energy agrees to acquire Santa Fe Snyder Corporation for $2.35 billion in stock, plus the assumption of about $1 billion in debt. The deal will put Devon Energy among the largest independent oil and gas producers in the United States. (DJ)

May 29 According to the Energy Information Administration, retail gasoline prices in the United States reach their highest level ever, with an average price of $1.538 per gallon. The previous peak was $1.529 per gallon, on March 20, 2000. These figures are not adjusted for inflation. (DJ)

May 30 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denies requests from petroleum marketers in Chicago and Milwaukee for a temporary exemption from a requirement to sell phase two reformulated gasoline, rejecting marketers' claims of supply shortages in those cities. Earlier, on May 18, the EPA had approved such a temporary waiver for St. Louis, based on a local supply shortage. (DJ)

May 31 Iraqi Oil Minister Amir Muhammad Rashid states that Iraq does not intend to cooperate with the United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), the new body created to verify Iraq's destruction of prohibited weapons. In other comments, he also states that Iraq does not intend to sign more contracts with foreign oil companies to develop its oilfields until contracts previously awarded are implemented. (DJ)

May 31 TransCanada Pipelines agrees to sell its stakes in several natural gas transmission assets in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile to TotalFinaElf for $440 million. The sales come as part of TransCanada's drive to divest non-core assets, which the company expects to result in revenues of $3 billion. (DJ)

May 31 Oilfield services firms Baker Hughes and Schlumberger agree to create a venture which will unite the two companies' seismic survey units. The joint venture, Western Geco, will own seismic survey hardware, data processing operations, and the companies' archives of seismic survey data. The firm will be 70 percent owned by Schlumberger and 30 percent owned by Baker Hughes. Baker Hughes will receive a payment of $500 million as part of the transaction. (DJ)

June 6 The World Bank executive board votes to approve a loan of $193 million to support a project to build a crude oil pipeline from Chad to the coast of Cameroon. The countries will collect an estimated $2 billion in revenues from the project over a period of 25 years. (DJ)

June 8 The Brazilian government conducts an auction of oil exploration and production concessions covering a total of 21 blocks, both onshore and offshore. The auction represents an important step in the opening of Brazil's oil industry to international competition and investment. (NYT)

June 9 The United Nations Security Council passes a resolution extending the "oil-for-food" program, under which Iraq sells oil to finance imports of food and other civilian necessities, for a period of six months. (NYT)

June 9 The United States and Mexico sign a treaty resolving the issue of economic rights over the deepwater "doughnut hole" area in the Gulf of Mexico between the two countries. The agreement is based on measuring distances from each country's coast, and gives the United States rights to 38 percent of the area. (DJ)

June 10 Syrian President Hafez Assad dies in Damascus. Syria's parliament votes to amend the constitution to lower the minimum age for a president, a move seen as facilitating a succession by his son, Bashar Assad. (DJ)

June 15 The German government announces an agreement with utilities for the complete phaseout of nuclear power. Nuclear power plants will be closed after a lifespan of 32 years. Nuclear power supplies about one-third of Germany's electricity, and the phaseout plan may complicate Germany's plans to reduce fossil fuel consumption to curb greenhouse gas emissions. (DJ)

June 15 The Department of Energy orders the release of 500,000 barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The oil is to be loaned to Citgo's refinery at Lake Charles, Louisiana, which has been cut off from it normal crude oil supplies by an obstructed waterway. (DJ)

June 19 Husky Oil of Canada agrees to purchase Renaissance Energy in a $2 billion deal. The new entity created by the merger will be the second largest producer of oil and gas in Canada. (WSJ)

June 19 The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports a one-week rise of five cents in the average price of regular gasoline, to $1.681. This is the seventh straight week of increasing prices. Gasoline prices in the Midwest are the nation's highest, at $1.874. (DJ)

June 20 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launches a formal investigation into high gasoline prices in some areas of the Midwest, which have seen gasoline prices rise disproportionately in relation to the rest of the United States. (DJ)

June 21 Oil ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), meeting in Vienna, agree to raise crude oil production quotas by a total of 708,000 barrels per day. OPEC's total production quota (excluding Iraq) will rise to 25.4 million barrels per day as of July 1, 2000. The next day, crude oil futures rise, with the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) August West Texas Intermediate contract closing June 22 at $32.19. (DJ)

June 26 The United States Supreme Court orders the federal government to refund $156 million which Mobil Oil and Marathon Oil had paid for exploration rights off the coast of North Carolina. Plans to develop the area were derailed in 1990 by the Outer Banks Protection Act, which required extensive environmental analysis by the Department of the Interior before drilling would be permitted. The plaintiffs argued that the law amounted to an "open ended moratorium" on the companies' exploration plans. (DJ)

June 27 The Wall Street Journal reports that PSG International, the joint venture company formed by GE Capital and Bechtel to build the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP), has laid off most staff and closed offices associated with the project. The discovery of natural gas at the Shah Deniz field off Azerbaijan in 1999 has complicated negotiations on the project. (DJ)

June 29 Norway's Oil and Energy ministry announces that it is rescinding its production cut of 100,000 barrels per day, which it had undertaken in cooperation with production cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which it is not a member. It is unclear whether the move will have a significant impact, as Norway's production cuts are subtracted from planned, not actual, quantities, and it is unclear whether Norway can meet its full planned production of 3.4 million barrels per day in the near term. (DJ)

June 30 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes a rule change which would make it easier for refiners to use ethanol in gasoline. The proposed change allows refiners to slightly increase the evaporative property in gasoline to accommodate ethanol, in exchange for the carbon monoxide reductions which result from ethanol use. (DJ)

June 30 The Department of Justice and the State of Wisconsin file suit against Murphy Oil, alleging Clean Air Act violations at the company's refinery in Superior, Wisconsin. (DJ)

June 30 Australia's Woodside Petroleum rejects an asset-equity swap deal proposed by Royal Dutch Shell, which would have resulted in Shell owning a majority interest in Woodside. Analysts have said the rejection by Woodside may result in a hostile takeover bid by Shell. (DJ)

June 30 Shareholders of the Russian natural gas company Gazprom elect Dimitry Medvedev, a former senior government official, to take over as Chairman. Medvedev replaces former Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin in the post. Gazprom provides the Russian government with almost one-fifth of its tax revenue and accounts for about 6 percent of Russia's gross domestic product. (DJ)

July 3 News reports attributed to sources at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) say that Saudi Arabia plans to increase production by 500,000 barrels per day in an effort to lower the price of the AOPEC Basket. Later the same day, Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi confirms that Saudi Arabia intends to increase production Avery soon@ if prices remain above the OPEC price range of $22-$28 per barrel. (DJ)

July 5 Halliburton announces that it has received contracts from the Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras for the development of the Barracuda and Caratinga offshore oilfields. The contracts, with a total value of $2.5 billion, provide for the construction of two floating production, storage, and offloading units and the drilling of 51 wells. (DJ)

July 5 Tosco Corporation agrees to sell its Avon refinery near San Francisco to Ultramar Diamond Shamrock in a transaction valued at $800 million. (DJ)

July 11 Kuwait Petroleum Corporation announces plans to increase its crude oil production capacity to three million barrels per day, in a program of facility upgrades which will take approximately three years to complete. (DJ)

July 12 The Kuwaiti parliament ratifies a treaty with Saudi Arabia resolving competing claims to offshore mineral rights. The two countries will share revenues from the Khafji, Dorra, and Hout oil and gas fields. The treaty will allow the two governments to begin negotiations with Iran to settle conflicting claims, which have again surfaced as Iran has begun drilling in the Dorra offshore gas field. (DJ)

July 12 In a policy shift which will allow foreign investors a majority stake in the planned Xinjiang-Shanghai natural gas pipeline project, the Chinese government announces that it is ending its ban on foreign ownership of natural gas infrastructure. A tender for the project is planned for later this year and construction is to begin in 2001. The shift is seen as a further attempt by China to attract foreign capital to its energy sector. (DJ)

July 13 BP Amoco agrees to sell its Alliance Refinery at Belle Chasse, Louisiana, to Tosco Corporation for $660 million. The sale will bring Tosco=s refining capacity to 1.35 million barrels per day. BP Amoco plans to sell its Alliance Pipeline to other buyers. BP Amoco currently owns 21 refineries, but has announced plans to sell off more refining capacity, including its interests in Singapore. (DJ)

July 24 BP Amoco announces that it will launch a new brand identity worldwide, consolidating the acquisitions of Amoco, Burmah Castrol, and Atlantic Richfield. The company will drop the Amoco name, and will adopt a new green, white, and yellow logo based on the sun god Helios from Greek mythology. (DJ)

July 25 Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at Camp David, Maryland, break off after two weeks of U.S.- mediated negotiations fail to produce an agreement. (DJ)

July 25 A petroleum products pipeline catches fire in southeastern Nigeria, resulting in many deaths. Oil pipeline fires are common in the Niger Delta region, often resulting from attempts to steal petroleum products. (DJ)

July 25 A large spill of diesel fuel takes place in Guanabara Bay near Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The event is the third major oil spill in Brazil in 2000. (WP)

July 26 The Offshore Kazakhstan International Operating Consortium (OKIOC), which includes nine international oil companies, reports substantial flows of oil and natural gas from the first well drilled at the Kashagan field. OKIOC plans to drill a second test well at the western end of the structure, 25 miles away from the first well, before the end of 2000. (WSJ)

July 27 Qatar General Petroleum Corporation (QGPC) and ExxonMobil sign a memorandum of understanding with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation for exports of Qatari natural gas to Kuwait. The gas will come from Qatar=s offshore North Field. (DJ)

July 27 Italy's ENI signs a deal with Iran worth $3.8 billion for the development of the country's South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf. The project will take five years to become operational, and will eventually produce 530 million cubic feet of gas per day. (DJ)

July 28 Spain's Repsol and Brazil's Petrobras agree to a $1 billion asset swap which will make Repsol the second largest oil refiner in Brazil. The two companies also agree to jointly produce electricity in Brazil. (DJ)

July 30 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wins reelection with 60% of the popular vote. His Patriotic Pole party also wins a controlling majority in the country's new unicameral legislature. (DJ)

July 31 A Shell executive involved in the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP) project warns that time is running out for reaching an agreement with the government of Turkmenistan. The Turkmen government has reportedly been asking for a pre-payment from the companies developing the pipeline, a demand they have not been willing to accept. In June 2000, consortium partner PSG International closed offices in the region associated with the TCGP project. (DJ)

July 31 The Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) reports that Saudi Arabia has shortlisted eleven bidders who will be asked to submit formal proposals for integrated natural gas projects and downstream oil projects in August 2000. The firms reported to have been invited to bid include Royal Dutch Shell, Phillips Petroleum, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Texaco, Conoco, BP Amoco, ENI, Marathon Oil Canada, TotalFinaElf, Enron, and Occidental. (Enron and Occidental have submitted a joint bid.) (DJ)

August 1 ExxonMobil announces that it expects to attain cost savings of $4.6 billion as a result of its recent merger, up 65 percent from its original estimate. Cost-cutting measures include a staff reduction of 19,000 from the original combined total of 123,000. (WSJ)

August 1 The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) officially tells member governments to cancel plans to raise production. On July 17th, with the price of the OPEC Basket above $28.00 since July 1, OPEC President Ali Rodriguez told members in a letter to prepare for an increase by the end of July, provided the OPEC Basket price stayed above the $28.00 ceiling in OPEC=s Aprice band. The price then fell below the threshold. (LAT)

August 10 General Motors and ExxonMobil announce that they are jointly developing a gasoline processor for fuel cell-powered vehicles. The processor will create a stream of hydrogen derived from the gasoline which will run the fuel cell, which could be twice as efficient as a regular gasoline engine. General Motors says it plans to put fuel cell-powered vehicles on the market in significant numbers by 2004. (WSJ)

August 10 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez meets with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Baghdad as part of a tour of members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). He is the first head of state to visit Saddam Hussein since the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. (NYT, WP)

August 10 Shares of Petrobras, the Brazilian oil company, begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange, as the Brazilian government sells a 16.6 percent stake in the majority state-owned firm, raising more than $4 billion. (WSJ, NYT)

August 16 ExxonMobil announces that it and four other refiners will ask the Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling upholding Unocal's patent covering reformulated gasoline. The Supreme Court will announce this fall whether it will hear the case. (WSJ)

August 17 The Wall Street Journal reports that, in a reversal, President Sapamurad Niyazov of Turkmenistan is again actively pursuing the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline. The shift in policy reportedly is communicated during a meeting with the Turkish ambassador in Ashgabat. (WSJ)

August 20 Ten people die as a result of a gas pipeline explosion outside of Carlsbad, New Mexico. The pipeline, which carries natural gas from West Texas to California, is owned by El Paso Energy. (DJ)

August 22 PetroChina, China's largest oil and gas company, and the Hong Kong firm Hutchinson Whampoa announce the formation of a joint venture which will develop a business-to-business Web portal for oil and gas businesses in China. PetroChina says it expects the move to reduce its own procurement costs by 5 to 10 percent. (DJ)

August 23 The Energy Information Administration reports that crude oil stock levels in the United States have fallen to their lowest level since 1976. Crude oil for October delivery closes at $32.02 on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), up 80 cents. (DJ)

August 24 Enron announces an agreement with German regulators which will allow the company to begin supplying the municipal utilities of two German cities with natural gas. As with other members of the European Union (EU), Germany must open part of its natural gas market to foreign competition to fulfill its EU commitments. (DJ)

August 24 Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz says Iraq will not cooperate with the United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), the body created by the United Nations to replace the former United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM). (DJ)

August 25 President Clinton begins an official visit to Nigeria. In the first six months of 2000, Nigeria ranked as the fifth largest supplier of crude oil to the United States, accounting for about 10 percent of American imports. (NYT)

August 25 BP Amoco wins the right to retain its 10 percent stake in the Russian oil company Sidanco, when Sidanco shareholders vote to allow the former rival to receive newly-issued shares in exchange for a subsidiary it lost in a disputed bankruptcy proceeding. (DJ)

August 25 Florida Power and Light (FPL), the largest electric utility in the United States, files with the Florida Public Service Commission for approval to raise electricity tariffs in the state. The company cites increased costs for natural gas and fuel oil. (DJ)

August 28 Futures contracts for heating oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) reach their highest price since October 1990, trading as high as $1.00 per gallon before falling back to close at 99.9 cents per gallon. The price rise reflects low stock levels for heating oil in the United States, which have fallen almost 40 percent in relation to the same period last year.(DJ)

August 30 The Department of Energy awards contracts to create a two-million-barrel reserve of heating oil. The oil will be stored in privately owned facilities in Woodbridge, New Jersey, and New Haven, Connecticut. (DJ)

August 31 PetroChina announces that it plans to eliminate 50,000 jobs annually over the next five years in a move to cut its operating costs. At the end of 1999, PetroChina had a staff of 480,000. (DJ)

September 2 Royal Dutch Shell announces its intention to invest in the development of natural gas reserves on Russia's Sakhalin Island in the northern Pacific ocean. Shell spokesmen say they expect Sakhalin's gas deposits to become a major source of supply for Northeast Asian countries. (DJ)

September 8 Truck drivers in Britain begin a blockade of oil refineries to protest high fuel prices. The blockade follows a similar protest in France. (DJ)

September 10 The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), at a meeting of OPEC oil ministers in Vienna, agrees to raise production quotas by 800,000 barrels per day (to 26.2 million barrels per day, not counting Iraq) in an attempt to push crude oil prices back under $28 per barrel. The quota increases become effective October 1. (DJ)

September 12 Royal Dutch Shell announces that it plans to purchase 14 percent of shares offered in the upcoming initial public offering (IPO) of the Chinese Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) for $430 million. BP Amoco had announced a purchase of $400 million in Sinopec equity the previous day. ExxonMobil is also reported to be planning a major purchase of Sinopec shares. (DJ)

September 19 The Russian government sells off an 85 percent stake in the oil company Onanko for nearly $1.1 billion to a company affiliated with Tyumen Oil. The Tyumen bid beat a lower bid from a consortium including Yukos Oil and Sibneft. (DJ)

September 20 Oil prices close at $37.20 on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), after trading as high as $37.80 during the day's trading session. The price spike comes amid an increase in tensions between Iraq and Kuwait. This level sets a new ten-year high for NYMEX crude oil. (DJ)

September 20 The president of the China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) announces that the firm is planning a $4 billion joint venture petrochemical plant in Guangdong province with Royal Dutch Shell. He also confirms that CNOOC still plans to move forward with an initial public offering (IPO) of stock on the New York and Hong Kong stock exchanges in the first quarter of 2001. (DJ)

September 20 BP Amoco announces that it plans to begin supplying significant quantities of natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to the lower 48 states by 2007. The company says it is exploring options for utilizing the gas which include a pipeline, transportation as liquefied natural gas (LNG), and conversion of some of the gas into synthetic crude oil. (DJ)

September 22 President Clinton authorizes the release of 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) over 30 days to bolster oil supplies, particularly heating oil in the Northeast. The release will take the form of a "swap," in which crude oil volumes drawn from the SPR will be replaced by the recipients at a later date. Crude oil for November delivery falls four percent, to $32.68, on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). (DJ)

September 23 President Clinton announces the release of $400 million in federal assistance for low-income households which rely on heating oil during the winter months. The amount is the largest allocation ever for the Low Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP). (DJ)

September 26 A summit of heads of government of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) opens in Caracas, Venezuela. The summit is only the second OPEC meeting held at that level. The summit ends on a conciliatory note, with the communique calling for increased dialogue between OPEC and consuming nations. (DJ)

September 27 Royal Dutch Shell announces that it intends to spend $1.3 billion on the development of the Na Kika offshore oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico. Production at the field is expected to begin in 2003 and peak at 100,000 barrels per day. (DJ)

September 28 A federal grad jury indicts Koch Industries for alleged violations of environmental laws involving emissions of benzene at its refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. (DJ)

September 28 The United Nations Compensation Commission, which handles claims for reparations arising from Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, approves by consensus a $15.9 billion claim by Kuwait for compensation for lost oil production and damage to oil reserves and equipment. The proportion of revenues from Iraqi oil sales under the "oil for food" program which are used for payment of claims is reduced from 30 percent to 25 percent. Iraq condemns the decision, but states that it will not call a halt to oil exports, as had earlier been feared. (DJ)

September 28 Crude oil prices drop after Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah, at a summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), states that Saudi Arabia is ready to supply the world market with whatever amount of oil is needed to stabilize prices. Crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) close at $30.34 per barrel, down nearly four percent. (DJ)

September 28 The leader of Israel's Likud Party, Ariel Sharon, makes a controversial visit to the Temple Mount (known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif). Palestinians stage violent demonstrations in response. (DJ)

October 2 Gulf Canada Resources agrees to buy Crestar Energy for $1 billion in cash and stock. The deal will create North America's 11th largest independent oil and gas producer. (WSJ)

October 2 The United States Supreme Court rejects an appeal by ExxonMobil regarding $5 billion in damage awards against the company stemming from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. ExxonMobil had argued that improper comments by a court bailiff to a juror in the case warranted a new trial. (WSJ)

October 12 The New Zealand Commerce Commission announces that it will block a proposed takeover of New Zealand's Fletcher Energy by Royal Dutch Shell. The transaction would have left Shell with control of about 80% of New Zealand's oil and gas reserves. (NYT)

October 12 Oil prices rise sharply on news of a terrorist attack on an American warship, the USS Cole, in the Yemeni port of Aden, as well as escalating violence between Palestinians and Israeli security forces. November crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) rises $2.81 to close at $36.06 per barrel. Prices for Henry Hub natural gas hit a record high of $5.78 per million British thermal units (BTU) before falling back slightly to close at $5.63 per million BTU. (WSJ)

October 14 The Department of Energy finalizes contracts for crude oil to be withdrawn from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of an effort to ease possible supply shortages during the upcoming winter heating season. (DJ)

October 15 Chevron agrees to purchase Texaco for $35.1 billion in stock. The deal would create the fourth largest oil and gas company in the world, and follows a general trend toward consolidation among the major oil companies over the last two years. Analysts expect the merger, like other recent mergers, to face intensive antitrust scrutiny, especially as a combined ChevronTexaco would have a heavy share of both refining capacity and retail outlets on the west coast of the United States. (WSJ)

October 16 Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), reaches an agreement on pay increases with its main labor union Fedepetrol, ending a four-day strike. The previous day, Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez had fired the president of PdVSA, Hector Ciavaldini, replacing him with Giacaipuro Lameda Montero, who had served as the director of Venezuela's government budget office. (DJ)

October 18 Shares of Chinese state-controlled oil company Sinopec begin trading on the New York stock exchange. Several major multinational oil companies, including ExxonMobil, BP, and Royal Dutch Shell purchase Sinopec stock. The total value of the initial public offering (IPO) is $3.6 billion. The move to list shares on a foreign stock exchange comes in the wake of a similar IPO by the other major Chinese oil company, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) earlier this year. (DJ)

October 18 Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company, is placed under the direct control of the Supreme Council for Petroleum and Minerals Affairs. The move is seen by analysts as transferring more authority over the country's oil industry to the foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, who chairs the council. (DJ)

October 18 ExxonMobil announces the beginning of construction on the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, which will bring oil from the landlocked central African country of Chad to a loading terminal on Cameroon's Atlantic coast. The project, partially funded by the World Bank and the United States Export-Import Bank (Eximbank), is scheduled for completion in 2003. (DJ)

October 26 Cuban president Fidel Castro meets with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in Caracas. The two leaders sign an agreement which will provide Cuba with Venezuelan oil at discounted prices. (WSJ, NYT)

October 27 Russian president Vladimir Putin announces that Russia intends to resume supplies of natural gas to Yugoslavia, which had been cut off earlier this year as a result of Yugoslavia's failure to pay its debts to Gazprom. The announcement comes during a state visit by the new Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica to Moscow. Kostunica took office earlier in the month after winning an election against Slobodan Milosevic, and street demonstrations demanding that Milosevic honor the results. Western governments, including the United States, lifted economic sanctions against Yugoslavia in the wake of the transfer of power to a democratic government. (WP)

October 30 The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Venezuelan oil minister Ali Rodriguez, announces that the cartel will raise production quotas by 500,000 barrels per day, beginning November 1st. OPEC's action comes as a result of its "price band" mechanism, which triggers an increase in production quotas when the price of the OPEC Basket of crude oils closes over $28 per barrel for twenty consecutive trading days. Many analysts voice doubt as to whether the OPEC quota increase will lead to an actual increase in production of that magnitude, given the lack of spare production capacity of most OPEC members. (DJ, WP, WSJ)

October 31 The United Nations Sanctions Committee approves an Iraqi request to be paid in Euros, rather than United States dollars, for oil exported under the "oil for food" program, which is part of the sanctions regime stemming from Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. (DJ)

November 3 Russia's Lukoil announces that it will purchase Getty Petroleum Marketing of the United States for $71 million. Lukoil eventually intends to switch Getty's 1,300 retail outlets in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic states to the Lukoil brand name. The purchase represents the first takeover of a publicly traded American company by a Russian firm. (DJ)

November 7 Saudi Arabia opens a border crossing point with Iraq to facilitate Saudi exports to Iraq under the United Nations "oil for food" program. The land border had been closed since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. (DJ)

November 7 Amerada Hess Corporation agrees to purchase the UK's Lasmo Oil for $3.5 billion in cash and stock. The move will give Amerada Hess access to Lasmo's overseas oil production assets, and come as part of a general trend toward consolidation in the oil industry. (NYT)

November 7 The United States holds presidential elections, with neither Al Gore nor George Bush being declared as the winner. (DJ)

November 12 Oil ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), meeting in Vienna, announce a decision to put any further production increases on hold until their next meeting scheduled for January 17, 2001. The move effectively ends OPEC's "price band" mechanism, which called for automatic increases in production quotas of 500,000 barrels per day when the price of the OPEC Basket of crude oils remained over $28 per barrel for 20 consecutive trading days. OPEC also selects the Venezuelan oil minister, Ali Rodriguez, as its new Secretary General. He will formally take over from Nigeria's Rilwanu Lukman on January 1, 2001. (NYT, WSJ)

November 14 Turkmenistan's President Sapamurat Niyazov announces on state television that he has reached an agreement with Russia's Gazprom for the sale of more than one trillion cubic feet of Turkmen natural gas in 2001. The sale would account for the great majority of Turkmen gas exports, and is seen by many analysts as a blow to the proposed Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP). (WSJ)

November 15 BP Amoco announces plans to sell three of its smaller refineries in the United States as part of its plans to reduce its global refining capacity by 500,000 barrels per day. The refineries in Salt Lake City, Utah; Mandan, North Dakota; and Yorktown, Virginia have a combined capacity of 177,000 barrels per day. The company plans to complete the sales by mid-2001. (DJ)

November 16 Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) demands that companies lifting cargoes of Iraqi crude oil begin paying a fifty cent per barrel surcharge starting on December 1, 2000. The surcharge would be paid directly to the Iraqi government rather than being channeled into the account administered by the United Nations under the "oil for food" program, and would constitute clear violation of sanctions. The Iraqi move leads to concerns over a possible Iraqi cutoff of oil supplies beginning December 1. (DJ)

November 17 New Zealand regulators approve the acquisition of Fletcher Energy by Royal Dutch Shell, after the company agrees to divest a number of Fletcher Energy assets to preserve competition. The deal the make Shell the largest oil and gas producer in New Zealand. (DJ)

November 21 Press reports indicate that Iraq has begun pumping crude oil to Syria through a recently restored pipeline. A State Department spokesman says the United States embassy in Damascus has made an inquiry to the Syrian government about the reports. (DJ)

November 22 Mexican President Vicente Fox names Ernesto Martens as the Minister of Petroleum in his new administration. Martens is to take office December 1. He was previously an airline executive. (DJ)

November 22 Egypt announces that it is recalling its ambassador to Israel in protest of Israeli military retaliation against a terrorist attack the previous day in the Gaza Strip. Relations between Israel and Arab states have worsened considerably in the wake of Israeli-Palestinian clashes which started in late September 2000. Qatar had earlier closed a trade office in Israel. (DJ)

November 22 The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) announces the completion of its oil pipeline connecting oilfields in Kazakstan to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. While the pipeline itself is completed, some work remains on related service equipment. The pipeline will begin operation in mid-2001. (DJ)

November 22 Caltex Indonesia halts work at 17 drilling rigs in Riau province due to a strike by more than 3,000 employees of Caltex subcontractors. While the action does not affect current production, it may delay planned increases in production in the first quarter of 2001. (DJ)

November 26 The sixth Conference of Parties (COP-6) of the Kyoto Protocol in The Hague ends without an agreement between member states on implementing cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases. One of the main issues under negotiation at the conference was the possibility that member states could claim credit for "carbon sinks," forests and farmland which absorb carbon dioxide, as part of their overall commitment to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Another main issue was "emissions trading," which would allow member states to purchase "emissions credits" from other member states whose carbon dioxide emissions were below their targets. (WP, WSJ, NYT)

November 28 Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien wins reelection, with his Liberal Party winning 173 of the 301 seats in the Canadian House of Commons. (DJ)

November 28 The Board of Directors of Australia's Woodside Petroleum rejects a takeover offer from Royal Dutch Shell, but agrees to present the offer to shareholders at its annual meeting in 2001. A takeover offer earlier in the year was also rejected. (DJ)

November 30 Russia's Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin announces that an investigation by Russian tax officials has found widespread evidence of tax evasion by Russian oil companies, estimated to cost the Russian government $9 billion annually in lost revenues. Russian oil companies account for about 40 percent of Russia's hard currency export revenues and 25 percent of the Russian government's tax revenues. (NYT, WSJ, DJ)

November 30 Natural gas futures soar to a record high as forecasts for colder weather in the Northeast and Midwest threaten to boost demand at a time when supplies of natural gas in storage are at low levels. Natural gas closes at $6.59 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), a rise of 40.8 cents.(DJ)

December 1 Vicente Fox is inaugurated as Mexico's president. (DJ)

December 1 Iraq informs the United Nations Sanctions Committee that it intends to stand by its proposed oil prices for December, which the committee rejected earlier in the week because they were below fair market value. The Iraqi move is seen as part of its effort to force lifters of its oil to pay a 50 cent "surcharge" directly to Iraq. Iraq also suspends its oil exports. (DJ)

December 4 California utilities are forced to cut off electricity supplies to some "interruptable" customers due to a supply shortage. California has suffered shortages and high wholesale electricity prices since May 2000. The immediate shortage stems, in part, from a reduction in electricity imports from the Pacific Northwest as a result of cold weather in the area. Other problems include: gas supply problems, low availability of hydroelectric and nuclear generating capacity, and high power demand. (DJ)

December 5 The United Nations Security Council approves a six month extension to the Iraq "oil for food" program. (DJ)

December 8 Press reports indicate that scheduled loadings of Syrian crude oil have increased by approximately 20 percent for December 2000. The increase is suspected by some analysts to be due to possible supplies of Iraqi crude oil to Syrian refineries through a recently-refurbished pipeline linking the two countries. (DJ)

December 12 The Chinese government announces that it intends to begin a limited opening of the country's retail petroleum products market to competition by foreign oil companies. The opening will initially take the form of a pilot program in one or two cities in 2001. (DJ)

December 13 Iraq resumes exports of crude oil after a disruption of nearly two weeks due to a dispute over payments with the United Nations. Iraq had cut off exports when clients had refused to pay a surcharge directly to Iraq, which would violate terms of the "oil for food" program permitting Iraq to export oil while sanctions remain in effect, rather than to the account controlled by the United Nations Sanctions Committee. Earlier, on December 8th, the committee approved Iraq's revised pricing offer for December 2000, which oil traders said is still below market value relative to comparable grades of crude oil. (DJ)

December 15 Natural gas prices soar 13 percent after the National Weather Service issues a revised forecast predicting colder winter weather in the eastern United States. Henry Hub natural gas closes at $8.396 on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), up 98.3 cents. Gas prices are running at record high levels on concerns over winter supplies, especially given colder weather this season. (DJ)

December 16 Ukraine permanently shuts down the last reactor at its Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which gained notoriety for a major accident and radiation leak in 1986. The facility will still be the location of a major cleanup effort, as Ukraine tries to contain continuing radiation leakage from the containment structures around the reactors damaged in the accident. (DJ)

December 19 Construction begins on a $3.5 billion pipeline linking oilfields in Chad to a loading terminal in Cameroon. Crude oil exports from the Chadian fields are expected to start in 2003-2004. (DJ)

December 19 An Alabama jury returns a $3.5 billion judgement against ExxonMobil for alleged underpayment of royalties for offshore natural gas wells in Alabama waters. The bulk of the award is punitive damages. ExxonMobil says it plans to appeal. (NYT)

December 21 Italy's ENI makes a $4-billion offer for the takeover of British independent oil company Lasmo Oil. Lasmo says it has agreed to the terms of the offer. The offer effectively outbids a lower offer from Amerada Hess which was made last month, and Amerada Hess says it will not raise its offer. (DJ)

December 21 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces new regulations which will drastically reduce the allowable sulfur content in diesel fuel in the United States. The new diesel sulfur standard will be 15 parts per million (PPM). Oil industry trade groups have opposed the new standard. (DJ)

December 25 Sinopec, one of the major Chinese oil companies, announces plans to lay off 27,000 employees in 2001. The layoffs are part of an overall program to trim costs and boost competitiveness in anticipation of China's expected entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). (DJ)

December 26 Heating oil prices in the United States rise more than 6 percent in response to cold temperatures in the northeastern United States. Heating oil closes at 93.5 cents per gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). (DJ)

December 26 Marathon Oil announces that it intends to acquire natural gas firm Penneco Energy for around $500 million. Penneco's operatios focus on coal bed methane in Wyoming and Montana. (DJ)

December 27 Natural gas prices in the United States surge above $10 per million British Thermal Units (BTUs) first time ever in response to cold weather and stockdraws reported by the American Gas Association (AGA). Henry Hub natural gas closes at $9.978, after falling slightly from its intraday peak price. (DJ)

December 27 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez appoints Alvaro Silva Calderon to replace Ali Rodriguez as Minister of Petroleum. Calderon had previously served as a deputy minister. Rodriguez had recently been chosen as the new Secretary General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Both will assume their new posts effective January 5, 2001. (DJ)

December 27 Hunt Oil Company announces an unsolicited takeover offer for the 90.4% of Canada's Berkeley Petroleum which it does not already own for $662 million. The move is seen as an attempt by Hunt Oil to become a larger player in the North American natural gas market in an era of rising demand. Berkeley Petroleum's management opposes the takeover. (DJ)

December 28 AES Corporation purchases 61.6% of the Chilean electricity generator Gener, S.A., for $841 million. Gener, Chile's second largest electricity generator, was one of only a few South American power firms which had not been purchased by foreign investors. (DJ)

December 30 President Clinton orders the release of $300 million in emergency funds to help low-income Americans pay for high heating oil costs. Clinton says the months of November and December have been among the coldest on record. (DJ)

December 31 Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi says that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will cut production when ministers meet in Vienna on January 17, 2001. Oil prices have fallen sharply in recent weeks, with the OPEC basket reaching $21.50 per barrel on December 25th, down one-third from highs reached in October 2000. Despite the recent decline, average oil prices for 2000 were the highest (not adjusted for inflation) in seventeen years. (DJ)