January 1 A Turkish newspaper reports an agreement between Turkey and Iran to build a pipeline to carry Iranian oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. The agreement also includes a pipeline to carry natural gas from Turkmenistan through Iran to Turkey. No details are provided. This is the latest in a series of Turkish-Iranian initiatives (including a $20 billion natural gas deal and several trade agreements) which have been criticized by the United States due to Iran's links to terrorism. (NYT)

January 2 A Russian tanker carrying 19,000 tons of heavy oil breaks apart and sinks in rough seas in the Sea of Japan. Japanese helicopters sight an oil slick about 1 mile long and 90 yards wide located about 375 miles west of Tokyo. The tanker, Nakhodka, was en route from Shanghai, China to Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. (DJ)

January 3 President Clinton suspends for another six months a U.S. law, the Helms-Burton Act, that would allow Americans to sue foreigners doing business in Cuba on property confiscated from Americans. (DJ)

January 3 The New York Mercantile Exchange posts its first long­term, forward contracts for crude oil, covering delivery as far out as December 2003. There are no takers. (DJ)

January 6 Saudi Arabia reports a discovery of new reserves of super light crude oil in the central region, near Riyadh. According to Oil Minister Ali Naimi, this is the seventeenth such discovery in the area. Further assessments to determine potential reserves are planned. (DJ)

January 6 Iraq informs its customers that it will reduce its contractual crude oil sales volumes in order to stay within the $1 billion limit for the first 90 days of the United Nations' oil-for-food agreement. (DJ)

January 7 The United Nations approves three more contracts for the sale of Iraqi oil, bringing to 24 the total number of contracts approved so far under the oil-for-food agreement. (DJ)

January 7 A Salomon Brothers' survey of 228 oil and natural gas companies worldwide indicates exploration and development spending will increase to $81.4 billion in 1997, up 14.7 percent from $71 billion in 1996. This is described as the "strongest outlook for oil service demand" in the 15 years of the survey. Of the total, 62 percent of the investment is planned outside North America, 28 percent in the United States, and 10 percent in Canada. (PON)

January 7 Algeria's Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahya, claims his country's proven oil reserves have recovered to their 1971 level (9.84 billion barrels, according to Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries statistical sources). (PON)

January 7 A senior official of the China National Petroleum Company, China's state onshore oil and gas producer, says China plans to double its natural gas production capacity to almost 1.1 trillion cubic feet per year by 2005. To meet this goal, China has set a target to add 35 trillion cubic feet of verified onshore reserves by 2000. Primary areas of exploration are the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region, the Tarim Basin, and Sichuan province -- whose combined total proven reserves are estimated to be at least 20.8 trillion cubic feet. (PON)

January 10 Russia's Gazprom approves a $2.5-billion project to build the world's deepest underwater natural gas pipeline (about 6,900 feet below the surface) linking Russia and Turkey via the Black Sea. A feasibility study will be completed in the second quarter of 1997. (EA)

January 10 Freezing weather disrupts shipments of petroleum products on Europe's inland waterways. Major areas affected include the Dutch canal system and waterways in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands which connect to the Rhine River. (DJ)

January 15 U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers announces that Mexico's oil receipts are now free of U.S. claims, as a result of its early repayment of $5 billion in debt to the United States and the International Monetary Fund. The U.S. loan had been guaranteed by the country's oil revenues. (DJ)

January 16 Qatar Liquefied Gas Co. (Qatargas) starts up a second production line, with output capacity of 2.0 million tons per year of liquefied natural gas. (DJ)

January 16 Oil from a wrecked Russian tanker in the Sea of Japan penetrates oil fences set up around two nuclear power plants belonging to Japan's Kansai Electric Power and Hokuriku Electric Power. A preliminary investigation indicates the tanker, which broke up and sank in the Sea of Japan on January 2, collided with a "half­submerged object". (DJ)

January 18 Iraq agrees to export 25 million barrels of crude oil and 7 million barrels of petroleum products to Jordan in 1997. The total, which equates to 88,000 barrels per day, is 7 percent more than in 1996. Jordan relies entirely on Iraqi crude oil, which is shipped under a special exemption from United Nations' sanctions against Iraq. Part of the oil is paid for at a reduced price ($19.10 per barrel in 1997, 25 percent higher than in 1996) and the rest of the oil goes toward reducing Iraq's $1.3 billion debt to Jordan and paying for Jordanian exports of food and medicine to Iraq (slated to increase by 17 percent to $255 million in 1997). (DJ)

January 21 Yemen signs a final agreement endorsing the participation of a foreign consortium, Gas General, in its $4.2-million project to produce 5 million tons per year of liquefied natural gas. Participants include Total (36 percent), Hunt Oil (15.3 percent), Exxon (14.3 percent), Yukong (8.4 percent), and the Yemen government (26 percent). (EA)

January 21 Japan's Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto concedes that his government misjudged the seriousness of the January 2, 1997 oil spill in the Sea of Japan and announces an all-out effort to prevent further damage. Cleanup has been complicated by heavy seas and the nature of the oil, a specially refined distillate destined for use in Siberia, which did not coagulate in cold waters as expected. Fishermen and environmentalists describe the spill as a major ecological disaster and Japan's worst oil spill in 20 years. (WP)

January 21 Statoil, Norway's state-owned energy company, announces an agreement to supply 5.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to Italy under a 25-year contract between Norway's Gas Negotiating Committee (representing Statoil, Norsk Hydro, and Saga) and SNAM, a unit of Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI). The contract, valued at nearly $14 billion (at current prices), provides for initial delivery of 71 billion cubic feet in 2000. Annual contract volumes would increase to 212 billion cubic feet in 2002, and could be increased an additional 71 billion cubic feet in each subsequent year. Norway is currently the second largest source of natural gas for Europe (after Russia's Gazprom). (WSJ)

January 22 President Fidel Ramos orders full deregulation of the Philippine oil industry effective February 8, 1997, nearly a month ahead of the established deadline. (DJ)

January 22 Libya officially notifies the United Nations that it will resume international flights in violation of United Nations' sanctions. (DJ)

January 22 A senior Qatari official announces plans to increase Qatar's combined crude oil and condensate output capacity to 910,000 barrels per day by 2000. Current capacity is about 510,000 barrels per day. (REU)

January 23 An explosion and fire on the Iraq­Turkey oil pipeline in southern Turkey damages the unused portion of the line, but the line currently in use (carrying an estimated 440,000 barrels per day) is undamaged. Kurdish guerillas are blamed for the attack. (EMC)

January 24 The U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS), part of the Department of the Interior, proposes a new regulation that would revise how federal royalties are calculated on oil produced from federal lands. Under the proposed regulation, royalties would be based on a monthly average of futures prices at the New York Mercantile Exchange, except for oil produced in California or Alaska (which would be based on prices for Alaska North Slope crude oil). MMS would adjust the market prices to account for differences in quality and location. Currently, royalties are based on the posted (wellhead) prices of the oil. (WP)

January 28 The official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reports that Iraq has exported a total of 11.5 million barrels of crude oil from its Persian Gulf terminal of Mina al Bakr since it began selling oil under the United Nations' oil-for-food deal in December 1996. (PON)

January 29 The Clinton Administration refutes news reports that Iraq is threatening its neighbors, but restates the U.S. willingness to act if Iraq does become aggressive. The statement is in reaction to speculation following reports that Saddam Hussein's wife has been placed under house arrest and his son risks losing a leg to gangrene in the wake of a previous assassination attempt. March light, sweet crude oil futures prices settle sharply higher on the New York Mercantile Exchange (up 57 cents, to $24.47 per barrel). (DJ)

January 29 Amoco and Shell Deepwater Development (Shell) announce plans to jointly develop a deepwater Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas discovery known as the Marlin prospect. The prospect is located in 3,240 feet of water and will cost $500 million to develop. It is expected to produce 250 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and 40,000 barrels of oil per day by 1999. Amoco owns 75 percent of the prospect and Shell owns the remaining 25 percent. (DJ)

January 29 Leftist rebels are suspected of being responsible for an explosion on a section of Colombia's main oil pipeline that causes a spill of about 5,000 barrels of crude oil and forces the first suspension of pumping on the pipeline this year. (REU)

January 30 United Nations' Secretary General Kofi Annan states he expects Iraqi oil exports under the oil­for­food deal to continue through the year after an anticipated renewal of a six­month agreement at mid­year. (DJ)

January 30 Venezuela's state­owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), announces that 259 companies have qualified to participate in its third auction of operating contracts for mature and marginal oil fields, scheduled for May 1997. According to PDVSA's estimates, the fields included in the 20 contracts hold reserves of between 2 billion and 3 billion barrels and output is expected to reach 300,000 barrels per day by 2006. (HOH)

January 30 A United Nations' spokesman announces that disbursements from the escrow account set up under the Iraqi oil­for­food plan have begun. The fund is expected to total $239 million by the end of the day. (DJ)

February 5 The Energy Policy Committee of the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technological Cooperation (the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission) meets in Washington to review progress in U.S.-Russian cooperation, including improvements in the foreign investment climate in the Russian oil sector. Other topics of discussion include nuclear nonproliferation; nuclear reactor safety and peaceful uses of nuclear technologies; the development of power projects, including for Russia's northern territories; and progress in energy efficiency. (DOE)

February 5 Japan's Ministry of Finance announces plans to cut import tariffs on crude oil and most petroleum products from April 1, 1997, in a phased process that will reduce the country's crude oil import tariff rate to zero in April 2002. (DJ)

February 28 The United Nations announces the approval of the 35th contract for the sale of crude oil under Iraq's oil­for­food program. The contract is for delivery during the second 90-day period of the sale, which begins March 10. To date, about $900 million of oil has been contracted for the second 90­day period, during which Iraq is allowed to sell up to $1 billion worth of crude oil. (DJ)

March 1 Sudan signs contracts with national oil companies from China and Malaysia and a private Canadian company (Arakis) to develop its oil reserves. The contracts also cover construction of a 50,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery in Khartoum and a 900­mile oil pipeline to transport up to 250,000 barrels per day to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. Sudan hopes to increase crude oil output to 150,000 barrels per day by mid­1999 (current production is estimated between 10,000 and 15,000 barrels per day). A civil war which erupted in 1983 hampered previous oil industry development in Sudan, which currently consumes about 50,000 barrels per day of refined products. (DJ)

March 3 In its regular 60­day review, the United Nations Security Council votes to maintain sanctions on Iraq. This is the 36th review since sanctions were first imposed in 1990. (DJ)

March 3 Lyondell Petrochemical Co. and Citgo Petroleum Corp. announce the completion of a $1.1 billion upgrade of their joint-venture LCR refinery in Houston to process more than 215,000 barrels per day of very heavy crude oil (17 degree API gravity) from Venezuela and produce higher valued products such as reformulated gasoline and low­sulfur diesel. Affiliates of Venezuela=s state oil company (Citgo's parent company) supply up to 230,000 barrels per day of crude oil under a long-term contract and Citgo purchases and markets most of the refined product output. For Venezuela, the venture secures guaranteed, long­term markets for its heavy crude oil. (DJ)

March 3 A Venezuelan Navy spokesman announces that a major oil spill (25,000-50,000 barrels) off Venezuela's western coast will take at least one month to clean up. The spill occurred when the Greek tanker Nissos Amorgos ran aground February 28 and began leaking its cargo of 476,000 barrels of heavy crude oil. Maraven, a unit of state­owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, reports the tanker was leased by Italy­based oil company Agip. (DJ)

March 3 Mexico's state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) establishes two new petrochemical subsidiaries covering the Cangrejera and Morelos complexes. Establishment of subsidiaries is the first step in the process of privatizing Mexico's petrochemical industry. To date, Pemex has established subsidiaries for 6 of its 10 petrochemical complexes (subsidiaries for Camargo, Cosoleacaque, Escolin and Tula were announced in late January). Competitive bidding for the sale of 49 percent of each subsidiary is scheduled to begin in the second half of 1997. (DJ)

March 4 Mexico's state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) reports the Campeche Sound (in the Gulf of Mexico) has hydrocarbon potential of 74 billion barrels of crude petroleum equivalent, proven reserves of 17.1 billion barrels, and cumulative production of 11.8 billion barrels. Pemex plans to publish estimates for Mexico's Southern Region in 1998 and its Northern Region in 1999. At the end of 1995, Pemex claimed that proven hydrocarbon reserves (crude oil and natural gas) for all of Mexico stood at 62.06 billion barrels of crude petroleum equivalent. (DJ)

March 5 The United Nations approves the 36th contract for the sale of Iraqi oil and announces that the $1.07 billion limit for the first 90­day period of Iraq's oil-for-food program has been "more or less" met. The $1.07 billion includes $70 million in pipeline fees to Turkey. (DJ)

March 6 The North Sea's Captain Field, operated by a unit of Texaco, begins production. Located about 90 miles northeast of Aberdeen, Scotland, the field holds estimated reserves of 350 million barrels of oil and 53 billion cubic feet of natural gas. It is expected to reach peak production of 67,000 barrels per day by mid­1997. (WSJ)

March 6 The Minerals Management Service of the U.S. Department of Interior reports a record­breaking sale of offshore oil and natural gas leases in the Central Gulf of Mexico, attracting more than $824 million in high bids from 81 companies (compared with last year's $520.9 million in high bids from 78 companies). The high bid on each block must be evaluated to ensure fair market value before a lease is awarded; each block is approximately nine square miles. (DJ)

March 7 Indonesia's state­owned oil and gas company Pertamina announces that it has secured a $1.13 billion syndicated loan to finance the development of its eighth liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, to be located in Bontang, East Kalimantan. The plant, with annual production capacity of 2.95 million tons, is scheduled to begin operating at the end of 1999 and will supply LNG to the Korean Gas Company and the Chinese Petroleum Corporation under a 20­year contract. (DJ)

March 7 Spain's Cabinet of Ministers approves the public offering of the government's final 10 percent stake in Repsol, the country's largest oil and energy group. The sale is expected to begin in April. The government has been reducing its stake in stages since privatization began in 1989. (DJ)

March 8 Qatar's al­Khaleej offshore oilfield begins production at an initial rate of 20,000 barrels per day, which will gradually increase to around 30,000 per day by November 1997. The field is being developed by a consortium including France's Elf Aquitaine and Italy's Agip under a production­sharing agreement with Qatar General Petroleum Corporation. Qatar plans to increase its oil output to around 700,000 barrels per day by 2000, from 550,000 barrels per day currently. (DJ)

March 10 Exxon announces a 'significant discovery' in the Gulf of Mexico, called Hoover, which may contain developable reserves of more than 100 million barrels of oil equivalent. (DJ)

March 11 Turkey's Minister of Energy Recai Kutan reports that Turkey will go ahead with its plans to import Iranian natural gas, despite objections from the United States. Turkey plans to begin operating gas power plants by 2000, when the country's annual demand for natural gas is projected to exceed 950 billion cubic feet. (DJ)

March 11 Royal Dutch/Shell begins drilling its first appraisal well at Peru's giant Camisea field, now thought to be the largest natural gas field in South America. The field, discovered in 1980, could contain as much as 11 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 600 million barrels of condensate. (DJ)

March 12 By a vote of 99 to 1, Federico Peña is confirmed by the Senate and later sworn in as the eighth U.S. Secretary of Energy. (DJ)

March 12 Turkey's BOTAS pipeline company reports that it has received 29.1 million barrels of oil from Iraq since December 14, 1996 at its Yumurtalik pumping station on the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, of which 8.4 million barrels were used for domestic consumption and 20.7 million barrels were shipped abroad by 27 tankers. (DJ)

March 13 In his annual state­of­the­union address to Congress, Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera reiterates his administration's determination not to use oil windfall tax revenue on current spending and notes that his administration has created a special account for these revenues in the Central Bank of Venezuela. Separately, Venezuela's Finance Ministry reports the country produced approximately 3.154 million barrels of oil per day (and exported 2.723 million barrels per day) in 1996 -- well above its current OPEC production quota of 2.359 million barrels per day. The government expects both production and exports to increase in 1997 (to 3.25 million barrels per day and 2.876 million barrels per day, respectively). (DJ)

March 14 Officials at Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry predict a slowdown in the country's petroleum product demand growth over the next 5 years, to an average annual rate of less than 1 percent (compared with 2.1 percent annually over the past 5 years). Declines in demand for the electric power sector (as new coal, nuclear, and liquefied natural gas plants come onstream) are expected to partially offset continuing increases in other oil-consuming sectors. (DJ)

March 14 Following the signing of a final agreement on the maritime boundary between Australia and Indonesia, Australia's Resources Minister Warwick Parer announces that his country will move to release exploration blocks for petroleum exploration at the earliest opportunity. He cites recent petroleum discoveries in the Timor Sea which previously had not been considered for petroleum exploration due to uncertainty over which nation had jurisdiction. (DJ)

March 14 The prime ministers of three former Soviet republics in Central Asia ­­ Kyrgyzstan, Kazakstan and Uzbekistan ­­ sign a series of agreements aimed at forming an economic union. (DJ)

March 15 Vietnam accuses China of violating its waters in the South China Sea and demands the immediate removal of a Chinese exploratory oil rig which allegedly has been operating between the Vietnamese coast and China's Hainan island since the beginning of March. (DJ)

March 15 Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) reports that production from the Shaybah oil field will begin in June 1998, earlier than its initial plan which called for production of 500,000 barrels per day by December 1999. The field is estimated to contain 7 billion barrels of premium­grade extra light crude oil with 40-42 degree API gravity. The $2.5 billion development program for Shaybah is the largest undertaking by Aramco in recent years. (DJ)

March 17 Mexico President Ernesto Zedillo formally presents the country's 1997 energy sector program, under which the government will invest 69 billion pesos (about $8.7 billion at current exchange rates) -- an increase of 41 percent in real terms over the amount invested in 1996 and the highest level of investment in real terms since 1990. The president also reiterates his support for private sector participation -- but only up to a point. Mexico has invited private companies to participate in the transport and distribution of natural gas, electricity generation, and minority ownership in the petrochemicals industry, but has refused to open up its oil production to private investors. (DJ)

March 17 Ecuador authorizes Arco to extract oil from the Villano field in block 10 of the country's Amazon region. Initial production is expected to be 30,000 barrels per day of oil. Arco also plans to build an 80,000-barrel-per-day pipeline that will connect the field with Ecuador's main cross­country oil pipeline by the second quarter of 1999. (DJ)

March 18 Independent oil experts suggest that Mexico may have overstated the size of its petroleum reserves by as much as 30 percent since the 1970s, and indicate that Mexico's latest reserves estimates are more in line with outside estimates such as the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's. This is based on an analysis of a statistical report, released earlier this month, in which Mexico reduced its estimates of proven reserves in the Bay of Campeche to 15 billion barrels of crude oil and 9.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas (from previous estimates of 23.5 billion barrels of crude oil and 11.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 1996). The report was the first Mexican reserves report to be audited by independent experts. The Bay of Campeche currently accounts for about 80 percent of Mexico's oil and natural gas production. Reserve studies of other major petroleum areas (including the Chincontepec and Tabasco-Chiapas fields) are not expected to be completed until 1999. (NYT)

March 18 Mobil announces the start-up of oil production from the second production facility on the Wandoo field (the Wandoo B platform) on Australia's North West Shelf, which will boost the field's production to 40,000 barrels per day by May 1997 (current production is 8,000 barrels per day). Australia's Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics reports several other projects are expected to approach full production capacity in the next fiscal (July 1997­ June 1998), boosting the country's total production by 5.7 percent. New production will be concentrated in the Gippsland Basin offshore southeastern Australia. Other projects expected to come on stream after 1998 include the Elang/Kakatua and the Laminaria/Corallina fields in the Timor Sea, which together could add a further 170,000 barrels per day of production. (DJ)

March 18 Iraq grants Russia most favored nation status to receive Iraqi oil exports in exchange for humanitarian goods. Of the first 37 contracts approved by the United Nations in the oil-for-food sale, 7 went to Russian companies representing almost 20 percent of the volume of oil in the sale. (DJ)

March 18 The United Nations approves the 38th and 39th contracts for the sale of Iraqi oil under Resolution 986, the Iraqi oil­for­food sale, bringing the total dollar value of contracts approved to date to about $1.9 billion of oil (out of a total value of about $2.14 billion allowed over the first 6 months of the oil sale period). According to a Western diplomat, Iraq had shipped 55.9 million barrels of crude oil worth about $1.11 billion under the agreement through March 14, including 4.3 million barrels worth about $77.5 million since the second 90­day period began on March 10. Most of the oil (about 63 percent) has been shipped through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline from Kirkuk to Yumurtalik. (DJ)

March 18 An explosion damages Colombia's Cano Limon­Covenas oil pipeline near the Venezuelan border, the second attack on the country's oil facilities in less than two days. On March 17, an explosion affected three pipelines used to carry oil, natural gas, and petroleum products to Colombia's largest refinery in Barrancabermeja. British Petroleum asks Colombian President Ernesto Samper to beef up security near the Cusiana field, the country's largest (with estimated reserves of 1.6 billion barrels of crude oil). Earlier this month, Colombia's state oil company Ecopetrol reported that the Cano Limon­Covenas pipeline was attacked 12 times in January and February, and the Vasconia­Covenas pipeline was attacked once in February. The attackers reportedly are members of the National Liberation Army, a pro­Marxist group that opposes the government's oil policies. (DJ)

March 18 India's oil minister T.R. Baalu announces a new oil policy aimed at increasing investment in the country's oil sector. The new policy allows -- for the first time -- oil exploration ventures that are 100-percent private and foreign-owned. The previous policy required companies to form joint ventures that gave state­run partners up to 40-percent equity when they bid for acreage. (DJ)

March 19 The Czech government announces a 20-year agreement to purchase 1.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from a Norwegian consortium of natural gas exporters (Norsk Hydro, Saga Petroleum, and Statoil). Shipments will begin May 1 at the rate of 49 million cubic feet per day, increasing to 290 million cubic feet per day (106 billion cubic feet annually). Currently, Russia's Gazprom is the only supplier of natural gas to the Czech Republic. The contract represents the first time Norwegian natural gas will enter a market in central Europe. The agreement is part of the Czech government's strategy to diversify its imports of natural gas. (DJ)

March 19 Texaco announces that it has received approval from the United Kingdom (U.K.) Department of Trade and Industry to develop the Galley oil and gas field in Block 15/23a of the U.K. North Sea. Initial production will begin in the first quarter of 1998 and reach 43,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent. (DJ)

March 20 China's official news service reports that China hopes to build an annual natural gas production base of about 1.1 trillion cubic feet by 2005 (compared with current production of about 600 billion cubic feet) and double its known onshore reserves of natural gas by 2000 (to about 70.6 trillion cubic feet). Exploration and development work will focus on gas­rich regions such as the Shaan­Gan­Ning Basin in central­western China (with proven natural gas reserves currently estimated at about 8.1 trillion cubic feet), the Tarim Basin in the far west (with estimated proven reserves of about 5.6 trillion cubic feet), and Sichuan province in the southwest (with estimated proven reserves of 7.1 trillion cubic feet). In addition, another 1.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas was recently identified in the eastern part of Qinghai province, just east of Xinjiang. (DJ)

March 20 Yemen's Oil Minister Mohammad Said al­Attar reports that he expects Yemen's 1998 oil output to rise to 420,000 barrels per day from a current average of 360,000 barrels per day. (REU)

March 20 Colombia's Mines and Energy Minister Rodrigo Villamizar reports that his country's oil output will top 800,000 barrels per day by the end of 1997. (REU)

March 21 Great Lakes Gas Transmission announces plans to double its capacity to transport Canadian natural gas to pipeline interconnections in the United States no later than the winter of 1999-2000, at a cost of $2.5 billion. The project, which involves about 1,000 miles of pipeline and associated gas compression facilities along the entire length of the company's pipeline system, will allow shipment of an additional 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas primarily to markets in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada. (WSJ)

March 22 Iraqi Oil Minister Amer Rashid announces the establishment of a new Iraq/Russian oil company which will work independently of Iraq's national oil company, and reports that other agreements would be signed with France and China. Russia and France were Iraq's main arms suppliers before the Gulf War. (DJ)

March 24 Royal Dutch/Shell reports that local protesters have detained 127 of its staff operating in western Nigeria and taken over six flow stations, disrupting 100,000 barrels per day of crude oil production at six fields. The company plans to maintain oil production at approximately 900,000 barrels per day by increasing production from other fields in the eastern region. (DJ)

March 24 Presidents Geidar Aliev of Azerbaijan and Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine sign 17 economic, cultural, and military cooperation agreements, including a memorandum on cooperation in the oil and gas industries under which Ukraine will build platforms for a future Caspian Sea drilling project. (DJ)

March 25 The United Arab Emirates appoints Obeid bin Saif al­Nasiri oil minister, replacing Rakadh Bin Salem who had served as acting oil minister since May 1995. (DJ)

March 27 Trinidad and Tobago signs a production sharing agreement with British Gas, Agip, and Deminex for the North Coast Marine Area, a new hydrocarbon province off Trinidad's northern coast. The consortium plans to drill two exploration wells in the next 6 months. The area includes four undeveloped gas fields (Hibiscus, Orchid, Iris and Poinsettia) with potential reserves of more than 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. (DJ)

March 27 Shell reports it is losing 210,000 barrels per day of production due to protests at its oil installations in Nigeria (twice as much as originally estimated) but that exports are not being affected because the company has large crude oil stockpiles in the country. (DJ)

March 30 The state­owned Dubai Natural Gas Company opens a new methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) plant with a capacity of 500,000 metric tons a year. The company's chairman, Hussain Alsayegh, reports that most of the output from the $250 million facility will be exported to the United States. (DJ)

April 1 A Shell spokesman confirms the company will declare force majeure at its Nigerian Bonny terminal due to local protests which disrupted 210,000 barrels per day of the company's oil production. Although the protests have ended and production is returning to normal, the backlog is temporarily delaying loadings by 3 days. (DJ)

April 1 Enron begins producing natural gas from the Tapti field offshore India. Production is expected to reach 150 million cubic feet per day by the end of 1997 and continue for 25 years. (DJ)

April 2 The U.S. Department of Energy announces plans to offer two types of interest in the sale of the government portion of the giant Elk Hills oil and gas field near Bakersfield, California: a single "operating working interest" (representing about three quarters of the government's interest) and separate "non-operating working interests" (each representing 2 percent of the government's interests). The sale, scheduled to be completed by February 10, 1998, is one of the largest divestitures of federal property in the nation's history. Current ownership is divided between the U.S. government and Chevron. (DOE)

April 2 The Potential Gas Committee of the American Gas Association estimates that 1996 U.S. natural gas reserves had risen 6 percent from 1994 -- to 1,039 trillion cubic feet (representing about 55 times the current yearly U.S. production levels). The estimate includes: 165.1 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves as estimated by the U.S. Department of Energy; 190.9 trillion cubic feet of probable gas reserves from current fields; 240.7 trillion cubic feet of possible gas reserves from new fields; 309.8 trillion cubic feet of speculative gas reserves from frontier fields; 13.4 trillion cubic feet of probable coalbed­methane reserves; 36.3 trillion cubic feet of possible coalbed-methane reserves; and 82.6 trillion cubic feet of speculative coalbed-methane reserves. The committee also presents a higher estimate (1,232 trillion cubic feet) calculated using the statistically aggregated mean values for reserves rather that its traditional methodology. (DJ)

April 2 EssoProduction Malaysia announces the start-up of production and sales from the Lawit gas field (150 miles offshore Malaysia), whose production is expected to reach about 450 million cubic feet per day upon completion of development drilling later this year. The company plans to install compression facilities in 1998 to achieve design capacity of 700 million cubic feet a day. (DJ)

April 3 Colombia Gas System announces plans to build a $600 million natural gas pipeline to carry Canadian natural gas to U.S. markets in the northeast. The 380-mile Millennium Pipeline would carry at least 650 million cubic feet per day beginning in early 1999. (NYT)

April 3 TransCanada PipeLines and Northern States Power Co. announce plans to build a $1 billion pipeline to pump natural gas from Alberta, Canada to the U.S. Midwest. The 800-mile Viking Voyageur Gas Transmission project would carry up to 1.2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas through Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. (WSJ)

April 7 Express Pipeline begins shipments of Canadian crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta to the Platte Pipe Line in Casper, Wyoming. The 785-mile pipeline gives Canadian producers access to U.S. markets in the Rocky Mountain and Midwest regions. Initial design capacity is 172,000 barrels per day. (DJ)

April 8 Nigeria's military government approves the first gasoline imports since September 1996, in response to a 2-week-old fuels shortage. A dusk-to-dawn curfew in response to communal troubles near the country's Warri refinery is impeding fuel deliveries. (WP)

April 8 Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov names Deputy Prime Minister Batyr Sardjaev as the new oil and gas minister. (REU)

April 9 Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea announces plans to close 10 large state companies in the next few weeks, including two oil refineries -- Petromidia Navodari in the Black Sea port of Constanza and the Darmanesti Rafinaria in Bacau. The closures are expected to reduce 1997 refining capacity by about 47 percent, to about 363,000 barrels per day. (DJ)

April 11 China and Vietnam conclude three days of expert-level talks with no resolution over rights to potentially oil­rich waters claimed by both countries in the South China Sea. Earlier in the week, a Chinese oil rig left an offshore area between Vietnam's north coast and China's Hainan Island after completing one month of exploration and drilling. (DJ)

April 14 Australia's minister for resources and energy, Warwick Parer, announces the release of 34 new offshore oil and gas exploration areas -- including 11 areas adjacent to the Zone of Cooperation between Australia and Indonesia in the Timor Sea and 6 areas in the Browse Basin offshore Western Australia. The minister notes that this action "is in keeping with the government's strategy to encourage more intensive exploration in Australia's vast continental shelf." (DJ)

April 14 An Iraqi Oil Ministry official reports that Iraq expects to earn more than $80 billion from its contract with Russia for the development of the West Qurna oil field in southern Iraq. The contract, which was initialed in March and approved by Iraq's National Assembly on April 13, calls for 560 wells which will produce 4.4 billion barrels over 23 years. According to the official, the part of the field being developed with Russia has 11.5 billion barrels in reserves and the entire West Qurna field has reserves of 38 billion barrels. The official states that production will begin "soon" (initially about 250,000 barrels per day, increasing to 600,000 barrels per day). (DJ)

April 17 Royal Dutch/Shell Group estimates Nigeria's proven oil reserves rose to 24 billion barrels at the end of 1996 (8.3 percent higher than the 22 billion barrels estimated in 1995) and reports that Nigerian production could reach 3 million barrels per day by 2002 (and 4 million barrels per day by 2010) with an annual investment of $4­$6 billion (DJ)

April 18 An annual ranking of the world's top oil companies by the Price Waterhouse World Energy Group and Petroleum Intelligence Weekly indicates state­owned oil companies continue to dominate the upstream sector of the world oil industry and are beginning to catch up to the major publicly traded companies in the downstream sector. Based on 1995 data, state-owned companies accounted for 17 of the top 20 companies in terms of oil reserves, 8 of the top 10 companies in terms of oil production, and 4 of the top 10 companies in terms of refining capacity. However, 4 state­owned companies (Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., Saudi Aramco, Indonesia's Pertamina, and Kuwait's KPC) increased their refining capacity by more than 1 million barrels per day in the 1993­1995 period, accounting for about half of the net global increase in refining capacity during that time. (DJ)

April 19 A senior Iranian oil industry official reports that Iran and Russia signed three agreements on cooperation in the oil and gas industries: 1) an agreement whereby Russia's Gazprom would invest directly in joint operations in the development of Iranian gas fields, production capacity, refining, liquidation, and transport of natural gas and associated extraction industries in the Persian Gulf and other areas; 2) an agreement between a newly formed Russian consortium and the National Iranian Oil company (NIOC) for drilling in Iran's continental shelf; and 3) an agreement between NIOC and the oil company of Tatarstan for cooperation in pre­extraction and post­extraction industries. (DJ)

April 21 Occidental Petroleum reports that Colombia's main oil pipeline (Cano Limon-Covenas) was bombed 21 times in the first quarter of 1997 (compared with a total of 45 attacks in all of 1996) and that the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) is growing increasingly active in the region near its operations. Occidental operates the Cano Limon field in partnership with Ecopetrol (Colombia's national oil company) and Shell. As a result of the repeated attacks, Occidental plans to spend $20 million on security in 1997, including a cooperation contract with the Colombian armed forces. (DJ)

April 22 U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright announces sanctions to bar new U.S. investment in Burma (also known as Myanmar) because of the continued oppression of opposition activists by the country's military rulers. About 20 U.S. companies have direct investment or employees in Burma, and the eight largest investors are oil or mining companies: Atlantic Richfield, Baker Hughes, East Asia Gold, Halliburton, McDermott International, Newmont Mining, Texaco Inc., and Unocal. U.S. companies have a total of $240 million in investment in Burma. Unocal, the single largest investor, is a partner in a $1.2 billion joint venture led by Total of France to develop several offshore blocks with significant natural gas reserves. (DJ)

April 23 Pakistan's government approves a plan to privatize 13 state­owned companies (including its electrical and natural gas holdings) over the next 6 months. (DJ)

April 24 Russian President Boris Yeltsin names reformist First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov to the additional post of minister of fuel and energy. Nemtsov, who has called for radical liberalization of the energy sector, replaces Pyotr Rodionov, who resigned in March. (DJ)

April 24 Norwegian and British authorities agree on a natural gas treaty covering the Frigg pipeline running from the North Sea to St. Fergus in northern Scotland, reopening the way for exports of Norwegian gas to the United Kingdom and Ireland. Disagreement between the two governments on the use of the pipeline had previously stopped Norway from making new gas sales. The Frigg pipeline currently transports 230 billion cubic feet of gas per year, but capacity can be boosted to 424 billion cubic feet per year. In addition, the two governments reached a framework agreement on the use of connector pipelines to facilitate the use of new oil and gas pipelines which tie installations together on both sides of the British and Norwegian gas sectors. (DJ)

April 25 Shell Nigeria declares force majeure on loadings of Forcados crude oil, effective April 29-May 20, due to the loss of about 90,000 barrels per day from the usual daily production of 450,000-460,000 barrels per day of Forcados crude oil production. The disruption is the result of an escalation of fighting between local communities in the Warri region of Nigeria. (DJ)

April 25 Russian President Boris Yeltsin signs a decree in support of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC). The decree gives CPC a 16-year special exemption from rules mandating it must convert foreign­exchange revenues into rubles as part of a package of support for the venture -- on condition that the company reinvest its revenues in the project. The CPC is a $2 billion joint project of the governments of Russia, Kazakstan, and Oman and a group of private oil companies set up to build a 932-mile pipeline (planned capacity is 1.5 million barrels per day) from Kazak oilfields on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea across southern Russia to an export terminal near the Black Sea port of Novorossisk. (DJ)

April 28 The Middle East Economic Survey reports that Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) is continuing to hold negotiations with international oil companies, despite the fact that the 50 sales contracts approved so far have reached the $2 billion target for the first 180 days under the oil­for­food agreement with the United Nations. According to United Nations statistics, Iraq has sold 121.164 million barrels (averaging 673,000 barrels per day for the 6­month period ending June 7) worth a projected $2.142 billion (including $142 million in pipeline fees for Turkey). (DJ)

April 28 Russian President Boris Yeltsin signs a decree ordering sweeping reforms in the country's natural gas, electric, rail and telecommunications sectors aimed at reducing rates and stimulating investment. At a news conference announcing the decree, First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov explains that the state will retain control over these key natural monopolies and will not break up their national supply networks. With respect to natural gas, the government will retain its 40-percent equity stake in the monopoly RAO Gazprom indefinitely and work to strengthen Gazprom's international position and boost its share price. Gazprom will lose its monopoly right to develop new gas deposits (which instead will be allocated at tenders open to competitors), will offer equal access and competitive rates on its national pipeline network to all producers (giving oil and other companies the opportunity to compete in the gas business), and will be required to ensure transparency of its finances with detailed annual financial reports. (DJ)

April 28 Turkey signs a $12 billion agreement to boost its imports of Russian natural gas (from the current level of 212 billion cubic feet) by 18 billion cubic feet in 1997, 71 billion cubic feet in 1998, 106 billion cubic feet in 1999, and 159 billion cubic feet in 2000. By the year 2001, Turkey's total gas purchases from Russia will reach 494 billion cubic feet per year. The gas will be shipped through the existing pipeline, which will be expanded by two new joint ventures which will invest $1.5 billion to add compressor stations and new stretches of pipe to double the capacity. (DJ)

April 29 The U.S. Department of Energy begins soliciting public comment regarding the future of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which will be incorporated into a Statement of Administration Policy on the SPR to be issued in September 1997. (DJ)

April 29 In a report to Congress, the U.S. State Department estimates that the Caspian Sea basin contains proven recoverable oil reserves of 15.6 billion barrels and possible reserves of an additional 163 billion barrels (compared with more generally used estimates of 27.5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and an additional 40-60 billion barrels of estimated reserves). According to the report, Kazakstan has the largest reserves in the region (10 billion barrels proven, 85 billion barrels possible), followed by Turkmenistan (1.5 billion barrels proven, 32 billion barrels possible), Azerbaijan (3.6 billion barrels proven, 27 billion barrels possible), Iran (no proven reserves, 12 billion barrels possible) and Russia (no proven reserves, 5 billion barrels possible). (WSJ)

April 30 For the fourth year in a row, three Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Iran, Iraq, and Libya) are named on the U.S. State Department's list of the top sponsors of international terrorism (other countries on the list are Cuba, North Korea, Sudan and Syria). Appearance on the list automatically triggers U.S. government sanctions, including: a ban on military sales and aid; controls over export of dual­use items that can be used for either military or civilian purposes; prohibitions on economic aid, and miscellaneous financial and other sanctions. (DJ)

April 30 Shell Nigeria reports that four out of the five flow stations that had shut in 80,000 barrels per day of Forcados crude oil production in the Western Delta area of Nigeria since April 25 have been re­opened. The Warri River flow station is the only one that is still shut­in. (DJ)

May 1 In its regular 60­day review, the United Nations Security Council votes to maintain sanctions on Iraq. This is the 37th review since sanctions were first imposed in 1990. This vote, however, does not affect the humanitarian oil sales. (DJ)

May 2 Shell Nigeria announces the release of 15 contractor staff held hostage for 12 days by a local community in Nigeria's Western Delta and the reopening of flow stations that had been disrupted by unrelated civil unrest in the area since April 25. The company expects output of Forcados crude oil, which initially was disrupted by 80,000 barrels per day, to return to normal within a few days. (DJ)

May 2 South Korea Development Corporation buys a 15-percent stake in the North Sea's Captain field from Texaco Inc. The purchase will provide a steady supply of high-sulfur crude oil that will be refined into fuel oil for Korean power generation and will enable the country to develop a strategic fuel reserve. (NYT)

May 2 British Petroleum announces a new oil discovery, the Liberty field, off the north coast of Alaska. Recoverable reserves are estimated at 120 million barrels. (NYT)

May 4 Chinese deputy Vice Premier for trade Li Lanqing and Iranian vice­president Mohammad Hashemi sign a new trade protocol under which exports of Iranian crude oil to China would be increased from the current level of 70,000 barrels per day to 100,000 barrels per day (200,000 barrels per day by 1999). China also accepts an offer from Iran to equip a Chinese oil refinery to handle high-sulfur Iranian crude oil. (DJ)

May 5 The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) adds Colombia's Cusiana crude oil as a deliverable for its light, sweet crude oil futures contract, effective with the July 1997 contract. (DJ)

May 6 The Energy Information Administration releases the International Energy Outlook 1997 which forecasts worldwide demand for crude oil and natural gas will grow steadily through 2015. Crude oil demand is projected to average 77.8 million barrels per day by 2000 and 104.6 million barrels per day by 2015. Natural gas demand is projected to reach 98.1 trillion cubic feet by 2000 and 144.5 trillion cubic feet by 2015. This represents an average annual demand increase of 2.1 percent for crude oil and 3.1 percent for natural gas between 1995 and 2015. (DJ)

May 6 The director of exploration and production for Petrobras, Brazil's state­owned oil company, reports that the company plans to spend $3 billion per year to increase its production to 1.6 million barrels per day by 2001 (from the current level of 900,000 barrels per day and a projected level of 1.2 million barrels per day in 1998). Editor's note: The Energy Information Administration estimates that Brazil produced 840,000 barrels per day of crude oil and 35,000 barrels per day of natural gas plant liquids in March 1997. (DJ)

May 7 Mexico's energy regulatory commission (CRE) awards the concession to distribute natural gas in the northern state of Sonora to a U.S.­Mexico consortium, including U.S. company KN Energy Inc. (DJ)

May 8 Elf Petroleum Nigeria begins construction of its Obite Gas Project, which will supply 253 million cubic feet per day of natural gas to the Nigeria liquefied natural gas plant being constructed at Bonny. The project, which is scheduled for completion in 1999, also involves the construction of an 87-mile pipeline to Bonny and production of about 18,000 barrels per day of condensates. (DJ)

May 9 Colombia's national oil company, Ecopetrol, reports that guerrillas have attacked the country's largest oil pipeline (Cano Limon­Covenas) 24 times so far in 1997, spilling a total of 78,000 barrels of crude oil and reducing production by 500,000 barrels. Colombian armed forces blame the National Liberation Army for 460 separate attacks since the pipeline started operating in 1986. (DJ)

May 10 General Binford Peay, head of the U.S. Central Command, warns that U.S. forces will respond if Iran tries to make good on a threat to close the Persian Gulf's Strait of Hormuz if it felt threatened by the United States. Iran issued the threat earlier in May, following reports that U.S. officials were considering missile strikes against Iran if it was found responsible for a truck bombing that killed 19 American servicemen in Saudi Arabia in 1996. In addition, Iran held military exercises in the Gulf to demonstrate its naval capability. The United States has 18,550 Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine personnel on 14 ships or at installations in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain. The Strait of Hormuz is the gateway to about one­fifth of the world's oil supply. (DJ)

May 10 Qatar Liquefied Gas Company (Qatargas) signs a contract with Spain's Enagas for the sale of 420,000 tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) -- 32,300 tons per month for delivery over a 13-month period, beginning September 1997. This will be the company's first LNG sale to the European market. Current capacity is 6 million tons of LNG per year, with most of the output committed to Japan's Chubu Electric Power Company under a 25­year contract. (DJ)

May 10 Turkey and Iraq sign a preliminary agreement to build an 807-mile pipeline to carry Iraqi natural gas to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. The project must secure $2.5 billion in financing prior to implementation. (DJ)

May 10 Libya's oil minister reports that his country has lost about $3 billion in oil revenues since the United Nations imposed sanctions in 1992. The sanctions (which limit diplomatic contacts, ban arms sales, and prohibit air traffic in and out of Libya) are intended to force the surrender of two Libyan suspects wanted in connection with the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which 270 people were killed. Editor's note: In November 1993, United Nations sanctions were extended to include a freeze on Libyan funds overseas, a ban on the sale of equipment for oil and gas export terminals and refineries, and tougher restrictions on civil aviation and the supply of arms. (DJ)

May 13 Russian President Boris Yeltsin signs a decree substantially increasing the state's role in managing natural gas giant RAO Gazprom. The order names First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov to head a special commission charged with setting government policy at the 40-percent state­owned company (Russia's largest) and calls on the government to draft new regulations on foreign investment in Gazprom shares. (DJ)

May 14 Yemen's oil minister, Mohammed al­Attar, reports that his country's oil production capacity is expected to increase to 500,000-550,000 barrels per day by 2000. Editor's note: The Energy Information Administration estimates that Yemen produced 410,000 barrels per day of crude oil in March 1997. (DJ)

May 14 The leaders of Iran, Turkey, and Turkmenistan sign an agreement under which 1.059 trillion cubic feet per year of Turkmen natural gas would be exported to Turkey, via Iran, for shipment to European markets. (DJ)

May 15 Turkish Energy Minister Recai Kutan reports that Turkey's state pipeline company, Botas, has started construction work for the first phase of a pipeline that will transport Iranian gas into Turkey. He adds that Iran has also begun building its part of the pipeline under the $20 billion, 22­year gas project announced by the two countries in August 1996. (DJ)

May 15 The managing director of Shell Exploration and Production Namibia reports that the company has applied to Namibia's Ministry of Mines and Energy to have the Kudu gas field declared an official petroleum field. This marks the first step in developing the field, located off the country's southern Atlantic coast, which is believed to contain sufficient natural gas to power a planned 750-megawatt power plant in Namibia for at least 20 years. (DJ)

May 15 The Canadian Gas Potential Committee estimates that Canada has 570 trillion cubic feet of discovered and undiscovered natural gas in conventional and unconventional reservoirs (including coalbed methane, tight gas reservoirs, and shale gas). The reserves represent approximately 50 years of supply from conventional sources and another 50 years from unconventional sources. Most of the natural gas is located in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. (DJ)

May 15 Tosco Corporation announces the reopening of its Marcus Hook refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania, after a $100 million refurbishment program. Tosco bought the refinery in 1995 from British Petroleum, and shut it down in January 1996 after failing to reach an agreement with union workers over a new labor contract. In 1996, Tosco said it was cutting the refinery's crude processing capacity to 150,000 barrels per day from the previous level of 190,000 barrels per day. (DJ)

May 16 A final agreement creating the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) is signed by project participants: Russia (24 percent), Kazakstan (19 percent), Chevron Corp. (15 percent), AO Lukoil/Arco Corp. (12.5 percent), Mobil Corp. (7.5 percent), AO Rosneft/Shell Corp. (7.5 percent), Oman (7 percent), Agip SpA (2 percent), British Gas PLC (2 percent), Oryx Corp. (1.75 percent), and Kazakstan Pipeline Ventures, a joint venture of Kazakstan's state oil company and Amoco Corp. (1.75 percent). The Russian government plans to transfer its stake to two Russian oil companies, AO Lukoil and AO Rosneft. CPC plans to begin building a 932-mile pipeline to transport crude oil from the Caspian region to Russia's Black Sea coast in 1998 and begin shipping around 558,000 barrels per day of oil in 1999 (planned peak capacity is 1.4 million barrels per day). (DJ)

May 16 USX Corp. and Ashland Inc. announce plans to combine most of their downstream oil businesses, creating one of the largest U.S. refiners and continuing an industry trend to consolidate gas station operations. This would be accomplished by a joint venture (for which Ashland Petroleum Co. has signed a letter of intent with Marathon Oil Co., a unit of USX) involving 5,400 gas stations and 6 percent of U.S. refining capacity. (WSJ)

May 20 President Clinton signs an executive order barring new U.S. investment in Burma (also known as Myanmar), effective May 21 and renewable annually. U.S. companies have invested about $250 million in Burma, primarily in the oil and gas sector. The biggest U.S. investor is Unocal, which is building (with France's Total) a $1.2 billion pipeline from Burma's Yadana natural gas field to an electric power plant in Thailand. (DJ)

May 21 The U.S. Department of Energy authorizes its financial advisors to begin contacting prospective bidders for the Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve, one of the largest producing fields in the lower 48 states. Bids must be received by October 1, 1997, and the sale is expected to close by February 10, 1998. (DJ)

May 22 A Mobil Oil executive reports that his company has relocated three rigs outside Nigeria, and may relocate a fourth, because of the Nigerian government's failure to maintain payments for its share of joint venture production costs. Most of Nigeria's oil production (currently 2.2 million barrels per day) comes from joint ventures with international oil groups led by Shell, Mobil, and Chevron. (DJ)

May 23 The International Energy Agency (IEA) issues a communique reaffirming that oil security remains a serious concern, particularly given the prospect of increasing import dependence and the increasing concentration of remaining oil reserves in the Middle East. The IEA states that spare crude oil production capacity is now lower than before the 1990 Gulf crisis, and the potential for further fuel switching has diminished. The communique was issued following a meeting of the IEA's Board of Governors, at which Hungary was welcomed as the organization's 24th member. (DJ)

May 24 Mohammad Khatami, a moderate cleric, is declared the winner in Iran's presidential election. He will succeed President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who steps down in August after two, four­year terms. (DJ)

May 27 Former Iraqi oil minister Issam Al­Chalabi estimates Iraq needs $5 billion of outside investment and two to three years for its oil industry to restore production to the level prior to the imposition of United Nations sanctions (3.8-4.2 million barrels per day). He also indicates that it would take 5 years and $30-50 billion to achieve production capacity of 5.5 million barrels per day. (DJ)

May 28 The United Kingdom is reported to have added at least 161,000 barrels per day of new offshore oil production in 1997. New oil field start­ups could add up to 190,000 barrels per day more by the end of the third quarter of 1997, and another 84,000 barrels per day at the beginning of the fourth quarter. (DJ)

May 28 West Africa magazine reports that a widespread, complicated series of inter­ethnic claims and conflicts stretching across state and local government boundaries in Nigeria's Niger Delta leaves many onshore and offshore oil and gas projects vulnerable. This area produces about 37 percent of Nigeria's onshore oil production. (DJ)

May 28 Russian President Boris Yeltsin signs a decree designed to limit foreign investment in natural gas giant RAO Gazprom. (DJ)

May 28 Royal Dutch/Shell Group (RD) reports that the Cornea oil structure, located in the Browse Basin offshore northwestern Australia, could contain up to 2.67 billion barrels of oil. (DJ)

May 30 Iraq's Oil Minister, Amer Mohammed Rasheed, reports that the full allotment of $2.14 billion in Iraqi oil (including $140 million for maintaining oil pipelines) has been exported under the United Nations' 6-month oil­for­food program. Oil sales totaled 120 million barrels under 51 contracts with international companies. The United Nations is expected to renew the agreement, which began in December 1996 and expires in early June. (DJ)

June 1 Oman and Iran agree to draw up a joint development plan for the Bukha/Hengam oil field which is jointly owned by the two countries. (DJ)

June 1 Shell Oil Company and Mobil Corporation combine their California exploration and production units into a joint venture company, Aera Energy LLC (58.6 percent Shell, 41.4 percent Mobil). With proven reserves of about 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent and production of about 250,000 barrels per day, the venture is now the largest oil producer in California. (WSJ)

June 2 Amoco Corporation announces plans to sell about 15 percent of its domestic oil and natural gas reserves to allow the company to focus future efforts on six regions: Trinidad (where it is expanding a liquefied natural gas plant); Venezuela; the Eastern Mediterranean (especially Egypt's Nile Delta); the Caspian Sea; heavy oil projects in Alberta, Canada; and deep-water projects in the Gulf of Mexico. The reserves -- located in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico -- total about 450 million barrels of oil equivalent (about two-thirds natural gas) and provide about 10 percent of the company's domestic production. (WSJ)

June 3 Japan's Minister of International Trade and Industry says Japan needs to diversify the sources of its oil supplies further to improve its energy security. (DJ)

June 4 In a unanimous vote, the United Nations Security Council renews for another 180-day period its "oil­for­food" initiative with Iraq. Under the resolution, Iraq may sell $2 billion worth of oil to buy food, medicine and other necessities to alleviate civilian suffering under the sanctions imposed when it invaded Kuwait in 1990. (WP)

June 4 China signs separate agreements with Kazakstan and Iraq to secure oil supplies into the next century. The agreements cover a $4.3 billion investment in Kazakstan's Aktyubinsk oil enterprise over the next 20 years, a planned oil pipeline from Kazakstan to China, and the development of the Ahdab oil field in southern Iraq (1 billion barrels at a cost of $1.2 billion). (WP)

June 5 Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alfred Kokh announces plans to sell an additional 15 percent share of state-owned oil producer AO Lukoil. No details are provided. (WSJ)

June 6 Australian Prime Minister John Howard announces that his country will phase out the use of lead in automobile gasoline by 2010. (DJ)

June 6 Venezuela completes a 5-day auction of 20 marginal oil fields in its third round of sales to foreign investors, earning about $2 billion (twice as much as expected). Successful bidders receive a 20-year production contract with certain minimum investment levels and must pay set royalties and fees for each barrel of oil produced. They include U.S. companies Atlantic Richfield, Chevron, Pennzoil, and Phillips Petroleum; British company Lasmo; and the China National Petroleum Company. (WSJ)

June 10 Chevron Corporation signs a production-sharing agreement to perform seismic tests and drill wells deep beneath China's second largest oil field (Shengli). This is the first onshore exploration pact in China for Chevron, which already has offshore leases in China's Bohai Gulf and the South China Sea. (WSJ)

June 10 The National Iranian Oil Company agrees to spend $250 million to upgrade a large refinery in southern China to increase its capacity for processing Iranian crude oil. (WSJ)

June 10 Kazakstan and Azerbaijan agree to build a 1600-mile pipeline along the floor of the Caspian Sea to ship 315-350 million barrels per year of Kazak oil via Turkmenistan to Baku in Azerbaijan. The pipeline would continue overland across Georgia and Turkey to the Mediterranean Sea. Construction is slated to begin in 2000 and be completed within 3 years. (WP)

June 11 Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien names Ralph Goodale the country's new natural resources minister. (DJ)

June 13 Triton Energy reports that it expects combined production from Colombia's Cupiagua and Cusiana fields to reach 500,000 barrels per day in early 1998 (currently 185,000 barrels per day). The company had planned to achieve this goal by the end of 1997, but has recently encountered problems in construction and drilling operations in the Cupiagua field. (WSJ)

June 18 Turkey and Ukraine sign a deal to build a pipeline from Turkey's Mediterranean coast to its Black Sea coast for oil shipments to Ukraine. (DJ)

June 19 The U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of the Federal Government in an 18-year-old boundary dispute with Alaska over control of offshore areas along the Arctic coast. The decision effectively prevents development of the area's oil and natural gas reserves, as the Federal Government has said it would not permit drilling off the coast of wildlife refuges. (NYT)

June 19 Exxon appeals the $5.3 billion verdict awarded in 1994 to fishermen, native Alaskans, and others harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. (NYT)

June 20 Talisman Energy receives permission to develop the Ross oil field in the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea. The field, which contains estimated reserves of 60-100 million barrels of oil and 20-30 billion cubic feet of natural gas, is expected to begin producing in September 1998 and reach peak production of 40,000 barrels per day in 1999. (WSJ)

June 20 Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders cuts of up to 40 percent in natural gas prices for businesses that pay their overdue Gazprom bills in cash by the end of the year. High customer debt (estimated at $12.15 billion) makes it difficult for the company to pay its national tax arrears. (WSJ)

June 24 Russia's State Duma (lower house) approves a long-awaited law that would allow production-sharing agreements for development of major natural resource deposits, including five oil fields (Samotlor, Krasnoleninsk, Romashkinskoye, Prirazlomnoye, North Sakhalin), the Kuranakhskoye gold field, and the Yakovlevskoye iron-ore deposit. Investment in these projects is expected to total $16 billion. The legislation now goes to the upper house for consideration, which is expected to consider the measure this fall. (DJ)

June 25 Partners in Australia's Stuart Oil Shale project announce that they have obtained financing to proceed with the first phase of development for what could become the world's first commercial project extracting crude oil from oil shale. If successful, the project would produce 85,000 barrels per day within 10 years. Partners are Canada's Suncor (50 percent) and two Australian companies (Southern Pacific and Central Pacific, 25 percent each). (WSJ)

June 26 The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) extends its current output ceiling of 25.033 million barrels per day of crude oil through the end of 1997. The official communique indicates quota adherence will be "closely monitored" and announces that the next meeting would take place November 26 in Jakarta, Indonesia. OPEC Secretary General Rilwanu Lukman tells a news conference after the meeting that OPEC's target price remains at $21.00 per barrel. Individual quotas remain as follows (in millions of barrels per day): Saudi Arabia, 8.0; Iran, 3.6; Iraq, 1.2; Venezuela, 2.359; Nigeria, 1.865; Indonesia, 1.33; Kuwait, 2.0 ; Libya, 1.39; United Arab Emirates, 2.161; Algeria, 0.75; and Qatar, 0.378. (DJ)

June 26 Iranian Oil Minister Gholamreza Aghazadeh reports that U.S. sanctions to deter Iran's ability to attract outside capital "haven't worked at all" because creative financing methods allow foreign companies to avoid punishment under the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act (which was passed in 1996 and applies to investments of $40 million or more). He cites the use of buyback contracts under which companies pay for development rights in oil rather than in dollars, and direct financing by foreign banks (which are not covered by the sanctions law). (DJ)

June 26 The government of Portugal confirms the sale of a 27.5 percent stake in petroleum company Petrogal to Saudi Aramco. Under an agreement scheduled to be finalized by the end of 1997, Saudi Aramco would supply Petrogal's sour crude requirements under a long-term contract. Petrogal operates two refineries (with capacity totaling 300,000 barrels per day) and supplies 50 percent of the country's petroleum products. Portugal's government retains a 45 percent stake (down from 55 percent) and Petrocontrol, a private consortium of shareholders, retains a 27.5 percent stake (down from 45 percent). A leading Portuguese newspaper estimates the reference value of the Saudi share at $1.4-1.5 billion. (DJ)

June 27 International Energy Agency head Robert Priddle says he "regrets" the previous day's action by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee approving a $209 million sale of crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Priddle notes that U.S. strategic stocks have already dropped from a 90-day supply to less than 70 days currently, following earlier sales of 30 million barrels of crude oil. (DJ)

June 27 China's Premier Li Peng and Russia's Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin sign a series of agreements to boost trade and economic relations between their countries. Included is a planned $4-5 billion project involving the development of Russian natural gas reserves in the Irkutsk region of western Siberia to supply up to 1 trillion cubic feet per year via pipeline to China's coast. (DJ)

June 30 Iran's top military commander says his country does not intend to start a war with the United States, but promises to turn the Persian Gulf into a slaughterhouse if attacked. The pledge follows a series of U.S. warnings about Iran's potential to use missiles to close the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers and other shipping. (DJ)

June 30 Nigeria's government authorizes the Nigerian National Petroleum Company to swap 100,000 barrels per day of crude oil for petroleum product imports, reversing a year-earlier decision banning the practice due to widespread abuses. The action comes one week after the government authorized importing 33 cargoes of oil products to ease fuel shortages associated with problems at domestic refineries. (DJ)

July 1 The Russian government begins offering many of its remaining oil-industry holdings in a series of auctions and investment tenders expected to raise $780 million by mid-December 1997. The privatizations, which are open to foreign bidders, include Russia's stakes in AO Vostsibneftegaz (38 percent), AO Vostochnaya Neftyanaya (51 percent), AO Sibur (36.28 percent), AO Tyumenskaya Neftyanaya (48.68 percent), AO Komitek (27.1 percent), and AO Norsi-Oil (45.45 percent). (WSJ)

July 1 The British colony of Hong Kong reverts to Chinese rule as a Special Administrative Region. Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng declares Beijing's rule of law will protect foreign interests in post-handover Hong Kong. China has promised laissez-faire oversight under the principle of "one country, two systems." (DJ)

July 5 China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) reports plans to intensify exploration in eight basins that contain 80 percent of the country's onshore oil and gas reserves while continuing its efforts to secure overseas supplies. According to CNPC, the company has verified 25.6 billion barrels of crude oil reserves and 22.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves in the past 6 years. (DJ)

July 6 The government of India approves the sale of shares in four state-run companies, including Gas Authority of India Ltd. and Indian Oil Corp. (DJ)

July 9 Corpoven (a unit of Venezuela's state-owned oil company) signs a formal agreement with three U.S.-based companies (Atlantic Richfield, Phillips Petroleum, and Texaco) creating a $3.5 billion joint venture to extract and upgrade 197,000 barrels per day of extra-heavy crude oil in the Hamaca Zone of Venezuela's Orinoco Belt. Drilling is expected to start in late 1998, with oil production beginning in 1999 at an initial rate of 35,000-40,000 barrels per day. The first of two upgrading facilities, designed to produce a grade similar to Alaskan North Slope crude oil, is scheduled to be completed by 2002. (DJ)

July 11 The German cabinet approves a supplementary budget that includes proposals to sell part of the government's strategic oil reserves to meet European Monetary Union criteria for a budget deficit of 3 percent of gross domestic product. Germany plans to sell about $224 million worth of reserves in 1997 (roughly 15 million barrels of oil), and additional volumes in 1998 and 1999. (DJ)

July 11 A tripartite agreement on the transportation of Caspian Sea crude oil via the Baku-Grozny-Novorossiysk pipeline is signed in Baku by Russian Oil and Energy Minister Boris Nemtsov and representatives of Azerbaijan's state oil company and the Chechen oil company. The pipeline, which will pump oil from Azerbaijan across Chechnya to a Russian export terminal in Novorossiisk, is expected to be operational within one month. (DJ)

July 15 The president of the Colombian Petroleum Association declares that repeated attacks on Colombia's oil installations have led to a "critical" situation for private oil companies operating in the country. This is in reaction to three attacks in the last 10 days, which forced state-owned oil company Ecopetrol and field operator Occidental Petroleum Corporation to close down production and declare force majeure for all export commitments in the Cano Limon field. The Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline has been attacked 470 times since it began operations in 1986, causing damage in excess of $1.5 billion; however, this is the longest time field operations have been suspended due to the attacks. (DJ)

July 15 Guatemala awards oil exploration contracts in its northern Peten province to four foreign firms (including U.S.-based Oil Technology Service) and one Guatemalan company. Minister of Energy and Mines Leonel Lopez Rodas expects company investments of $128 million in nine potential fields in 1997 and 1998 will make Guatemala self-sufficient in energy supply. Guatemala previously awarded 23 drilling contracts to private firms. (DJ)

July 16 The Brazilian Senate approves the creation of a regulatory body (the National Petroleum Agency) required for implementation of a 1995 constitutional amendment allowing private domestic and foreign enterprises to compete with federally controlled oil conglomerate Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras). The legislation also creates a National Energy Policy Council. (DJ)

July 16 Tengizchevroil, operator of Kazakstan's Tengiz field, awards a $250 million contract for construction of a new oil and gas processing plant that will increase production capacity by 30 percent (from 160,000 barrels per day currently to 240,000 barrels per day by the end of 1999). (DJ)

July 17 Texaco, the government of Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. unit of Royal Dutch/Shell agree to merge their U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast refining and marketing businesses in a joint venture company pooling four refineries (with total capacity of 823,000 barrels per day) and 14,717 gasoline stations currently owned by Shell and Star Enterprise (a joint venture between Texaco and Saudi Aramco). Under the agreement, Shell would own 35 percent of the new company, and Texaco and Saudi Arabia would hold 32.5 percent each. (WSJ)

July 19 Iran opens an oil jetty for petroleum product exports at Nowshahr port on the Caspian Sea. According to Iran's managing director of Ports and Shipping Organization, the country plans to increase its total port capacity to 4 million barrels per day by the year 2022 (currently 800,000 barrels per day). (DJ)

July 22 The first shipments of oil produced from Kazakstan's Tengiz field arrive at terminals on the Black Sea in Novorossiysk (Russia) and Batumi (Georgia) for subsequent export through the Bosphoros Strait. Volumes total between 100,000 and 150,000 barrels per day. (DJ)

July 23 A senior official with Royal Dutch/Shell reports that the company plans to spend at least $10 billion in Latin America by the year 2005, primarily in four countries: Peru, Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina. Major projects include Peru's Camisea fields and the Bolivia-Brazil natural gas pipeline. (DJ)

July 23 The U.S. State Department rules that Turkey's August 1996 agreement to purchase $23 billion worth of natural gas from Iran over a 20-year period does not violate the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act. In a May 1997 memorandum of understanding with Iran and Turkmenistan, Turkey modified the original arrangement so that the natural gas will be purchased from Turkmenistan rather than Iran. (DJ)

July 23 Officials from Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Unocal, and Delta (a Saudi oil company) sign an agreement to build a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan (871 miles). Under the agreement, a consortium will be formed by October 1997, construction will begin by December 1998, and the project will be completed by 2001 at an estimated cost of $2.0-2.7 billion. The pipeline will carry up to 706 billion cubic feet of natural gas annually from Turkmenistan's largest natural gas fields, at Daulatabad. (DJ)

July 24 The government of Chile approves CMS Energy Corp.'s $650 million Atacama project, which will transport natural gas via pipeline from northern Argentina across the Andes Mountains to two new natural gas-fired electric generating units at Mejillones in northern Chile. The project is being built in conjunction with Chile's Empresa Nacional de Electricidad SA. Construction of the pipeline will begin in the fourth quarter of 1997 and commercial operations will begin by early 1999. (DJ)

July 25 Presidents Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada of Bolivia and Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil sign construction contracts for the longest natural gas pipeline in South America -- a 1900-mile pipeline from Rio Grande, Bolivia to three Brazilian cities (Sao Paolo, Curitiba, and Porto Alegre). The 32-inch diameter pipeline, estimated to cost about $2 billion, is scheduled to begin operating in 1999 at an initial rate of 283 million cubic feet per day, increasing to 565 million cubic feet per day after 7 years. Major contractors include Enron, Bechtel and Royal Dutch/Shell. (DJ)

July 26 Iran's President Hashemi Rafsanjani formally inaugurates the 232,000-barrel-per-day Bandar Abbas refinery -- the country's eighth oil refinery. The facility, which will run Iranian Heavy crude oil, has partially started up and is scheduled to be fully operational in March 1998. Iran hopes to become self­sufficient in gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel, and diesel, and begin exporting petroleum products at that time. Domestic petroleum demand averages about 1.1 million barrels per day. The country's refining capacity (excluding Bandar Abbas) totals about 1.2 million barrels per day. (DJ)

July 28 Egypt's Petroleum Minister Hamdy el-Banbi announces that the private sector will be allowed to launch distribution networks for natural gas as part of the government's plan to substitute natural gas for oil. (DJ)

July 28 Azerbaijan's President Heydar Aliyev, on his first visit to the United States, repeats his support for Turkey's port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea to be the main export route for his country's Caspian Sea crude oil. (DJ)

July 29 State-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) signs agreements turning over operating contracts for 17 marginal crude oil fields to 17 national and international consortiums, the winners in the country's third round of auctions for 20 marginal oil field contracts held in June 1997. The auction raised $2.08 billion. Two fields received no bids and the winning bid on one field (Mata) was later revoked by PdVSA. (DJ)

July 30 The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves several natural gas pipeline projects for delivery of Canadian natural gas to the United States: 1) the U.S. portion of Alliance Pipeline Ltd.'s new $3.6 billion pipeline from British Columbia and Alberta to the Midwest (conditional upon Canadian regulatory approval); 2) expansion and extension of Northern Border Pipeline from the Canadian border to the Chicago area; and 3) a portion of the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline from Sable Island, Nova Scotia, to markets in New England. (DJ)

July 31 Russian state-owned oil company AO Rosneft announces it is pulling out of a $1 billion oil deal (signed July 4) to develop Azerbaijan's Kyapaz field, in the Caspian Sea. The deal has been challenged by neighboring Turkmenistan, which claims the field as its own (under the name Serdar). (DJ)

August 1 Azerbaijan signs production-sharing contracts with Chevron Corporation, Exxon Corporation, Mobil Corporation, and Amoco Corporation. Officials from Azerbaijan value the Caspian Sea projects at more than $10 billion. Mobil will develop the Oguz exploration area, Chevron the Zeynabdin Tagiyev area, Exxon the Nakhchivan area, and Amoco the Inam Prospect. (WSJ)

August 1 United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan approves Iraq's request to add the Iraqi-Syrian border as an entry point for food and humanitarian aid under the oil-for-food program. The request provides further evidence of re-established official ties between the two countries. Ties were severed after Syria supported Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war, and this new link between Iraq and Syria follows the reopening in mid-June of three border points that were shut in 1980. (DJ)

August 1 Mobil Corporation announces a favorable $78.3 million judgement in litigation with the federal government. The lawsuit involved Mobil's offshore North Carolina federal Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leases. The company said that the judgement recognizes Mobil's right to terminate five Outer Continental Shelf leases, and recover the purchase price. Mobil sued the federal government in 1992 for the government's failure to allow development of certain oil and gas leases offshore Alaska, Florida, and North Carolina. The Alaska and Florida parts of the litigation were settled in 1995. (DJ)

August 1 Russia annuls a $1 billion oil deal with Azerbaijan in support of Turkmenistan's protest that the deal is illegal. On July 4 Russia's Rosneft and Lukoil signed a deal with Azerbaijan's Socar to develop the Kyapaz field at the edge of Azerbaijan's zone in the Caspian Sea. The Turkmen government protested claiming the field, which Turkmenistan calls Serdar, as its own. (DJ)

August 2 Shell Netherlands B.V., a unit of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, unexpectedly shuts down part of Europe's second largest oil refinery. A company spokesperson indicated that the unit at Shell's Pernis refinery near Rotterdam could be closed all month, but did not give a reason for the shutdown. (NYT)

August 4 Mohammad Khatami, a cleric viewed as moderate, is sworn in as Iran's new president. (DJ)

August 4 In Colombia, Occidental Petroleum, a California-based international oil company, and Ecopetrol, Colombia's national oil company, declare force majeure on all oil exports from the Cano Limon field. The declaration comes after a series of attacks dating back to July 30 knocked out a major oil pipeline transporting oil from the field to the Caribbean port of Covenas. The pipeline has been attacked 45 times this year which is equal to the total number of attacks for 1996. Responsibility for the attacks has not been determined, but leftist guerrillas from the National Liberation Army are usually blamed for such attacks. The force majeure declaration does not apply to the oil contained in the 2 million barrel storage facility at Covenas. (DJ)

August 4 United Nations (U.N.) Secretary-General Kofi Annan approves a revised Iraqi aid distribution plan under the U.N. oil-for-food program. The oil-for-food program allows Iraq to sell approximately $2 billion of crude oil every six months. Sale periods are divided into two 90-day intervals. The proceeds from the oil sales are paid into a U.N.-run escrow account from which humanitarian supplies are purchased for the Iraqi people. The program went into effect in December 1996 and was renewed for another six months on June 8, 1997. However, since late May 1997, Iraq has refused to sell any oil until the U.N. approved the revised aid distribution plan which is designed to speed up the procedure for approving shipments of humanitarian goods. The next step for Iraq is to gain U.N. approval of an oil pricing formula, and then the U.N. must approve purchase contracts from buyers. Following these two approvals, Iraq can resume its oil exports. Iraq has until September 5, 1997 to sell $1.07 billion of oil under the current 90-day period. (DJ)

August 5 Mobil reveals that production at Nigeria's 100,000 barrel per day Oso condensate field has been completely shut-in since the previous week to repair faults in the gas reinjection wells. Bolts securing one offshore injection wellhead sheared, and as a precaution, Mobil decided to replace all the bolts securing offshore injection wellheads. Officials expect delays to Oso condensate loadings, but could not specify how many days' cargoes would be delayed. (DJ)

August 6 Nigeria's government releases $145 million to the state petroleum corporation to begin repair work on its oil refineries. All four of the country's refineries were either closed or had production severely reduced in May due to maintenance problems. These problems have forced Nigeria to import oil to meet domestic needs, despite its position as the world's sixth-largest producer of crude oil. Repairs are expected to begin October 1 and take at least 60 days. (DJ)

August 7 Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea announces the closure of three of the country's nine oil refineries. Petrotel, Vega, and Darmanesti will close immediately in order to reduce a surplus of oil refining capacity and cut government spending. (DJ)

August 7 Exxon Corporation confirms that it has been chosen as sole foreign partner in a proposed multi-billion-dollar project to expand oil refining and build a major petrochemical plant in Fujian province, China. The joint project, involving Exxon and Fujian Petrochemical, includes increasing oil refining capacity at Xiaocuo from 80,000 barrels per day to 240,000 barrels per day and constructing a 600,000-metric-ton-per-year ethylene plant. In addition, the plant will include a 450,000-ton-per-year polyethylene plant and a 300,000-ton-per-year polypropylene plant. Exxon has a 50 percent share in the joint venture. (DJ)

August 7 Nova Corporation, a Canadian natural gas services and petrochemicals company, officially opens the GasAndes pipeline. The pipeline will initially transport 140 million cubic feet per day of natural gas from Argentina to Chile. The volume will increase to 250 million cubic feet per day by fall 1998. The new pipeline will supply three new gas-fired power plants in Chile that are set to open in October 1997, spring 1998 and fall 1998. The power plants are part of a program to improve the air quality in the Chilean capital, Santiago, by switching from coal-fired to natural gas-fired electrical generation. Nova holds a 56 percent interest in the GasAndes project. (DJ)

August 8 The United Nations approves a sale-price formula for Iraqi crude oil sales under the oil-for-food plan. The approval cleared the way for Iraq to resume limited oil exports immediately through the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea and Iraq's Gulf port of Mina al-Bakr. The United Nations will also begin reviewing contracts for Iraqi crude oil purchases. Iraq has until September 5 to raise the $1.07 billion allowed under the existing 90 day oil-for-food plan window. Iraqi officials state they will boost exports to 2 million barrels per day to meet the sales target. However, industry experts say that Iraq's export capacity is untested beyond 1.4 million barrel per day. (DJ)

August 8 Shell Nigeria announces that it expects to produce 7 percent to 8 percent less oil than had been originally planned for 1997. Officials cite a reduction in hard currency available to its joint venture partners as the reason for the decrease. A cutback in production would reduce output by approximately 70,000 barrels per day to 856,000 barrels per day. (DJ)

August 11 Colombia's national oil company, Ecopetrol, lifts the force majeure declaration on all oil exports from the Cano Limon field. A company spokesman states that crews completed repairs to the Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline on Saturday August 9 and that normal operations have resumed. (DJ)

August 12 A spokesman for Saga Petroleum ASA announces that oil production from the Snorre oil field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea has been restarted and that it should return to full production within a day. A restart date for the Vigdis field, which was also shut down, has not been set. Production at the two fields was stopped on August 11 following the discovery of a production fault. Snorre produces 200,000 barrels per day while Vigdis has been gradually working towards 40,000 barrels per day following repairs to the gas compressor. (DJ)

August 12 Exxon Corporation shuts down a catalytic cracking unit at its refinery in Baytown, Texas because of an unspecified operating problem. Exxon declined to say when the unit, which produces more than 100,000 barrels per day of gasoline components, is expected to return to service. (NYT)

August 14 Stefan Balabanoff, acting head of economics and finance in the OPEC research division, predicts that OPEC's share of the world oil market will rise from a current level of about 40 percent to 52 percent by 2020. Balabanoff estimates that OPEC's production capacity must rise to 50 million barrels per day to meet the increased demand. From 1995 to 2000 he sees oil demand increasing by an average of 2.1 percent per year and from 2000 to 2010 demand is forecast to rise by 1.4 percent per year. Asian and Pacific countries are predicted to lead the increases in demand. In addition, Balabanoff forecasts growth for non-OPEC supply centered on the North Sea, non-OPEC developing countries, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. (DJ)

August 18 Three international groups confirm that they plan to bid on Petroleos Mexicanos' (Pemex) Cantarell project in the Yucatan peninsula. Pemex, the Mexican state-owned oil monopoly is seeking to boost oil production by injecting nitrogen into the terrain of Campeche state and into the sea floor beneath Campeche Bay in the Gulf of Mexico. Dresser Industries Inc. of Dallas will submit a joint bid with U.S. companies Marathon Oil and Praxair Inc., Nova Gas International of Canada, and Bufete Industrial of Mexico. Shell Oil Company entered a joint bid with Enron Corporation and Air Products and Chemicals Inc., both from the U.S., and Japan's Mitsui and Company. The third group is led by BOC Group PLC of Britain. Industry officials estimate the price of the project at $950 million. (WSJ)

August 18 A spokesman for Saga Petroleum ASA reports that production at the Vigdis oil field in the Norwegian section of the North Sea was restarted despite the absence of a replacement gas seal. A temporary measure of transferring gas from the field to the Snorre field for processing enabled the company to restart Vigdis. The replacement seal is in production and scheduled to be completed by August 25. (DJ)

August 20 The Iranian parliament, the Majlis, confirms all 22 of President Mohammad Khatami's nominations for his cabinet. The confirmations are seen as a strengthening of Khatami's mandate to move towards a less strict society and a weakening of the hard-liners' power base in parliament. One of the nominees has advocated direct talks with the United States. Editor's note: The new Iranian Oil Minister is Bijan Namdar Zaganeh. (DJ)

August 20 Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo inaugurates the first U.S.-originated natural gas delivery to the Mexican state of Baja California. The new gas distribution system in Mexicali, the state capital just across the United States border, is the first under the Mexican government's natural gas privatization program. A binational consortium comprised of Enova International, Pacific Enterprises International and Proxima Gas, S.A. de C.V. will distribute the gas for the next 30 years. The deal is valued at $20 million over the first three years for the supply more than 10 billion cubic feet of gas. (DJ)

August 20 The Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) shut down its 300,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery on the Persian Gulf for maintenance. Aramco expects the shutdown to continue until September 17. Reports suggest that the shutdown will result in the release of extra supplies of Arab Light and Extra Light crude oil for export in August and September. (DJ)

August 20 YPF SA, an Argentine energy company, and Amoco Corporation sign an agreement to operate U.S. natural gas fields with estimated reserves of 989 billion cubic feet of gas. YPF reveals that the joint venture includes 2,000 productive wells in the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma, two processing plants with combined daily capacity of 230 million cubic feet of gas, a 932-mile distribution system and 889,560 acres of leased land for exploration. The companies have set up a 50-50 holding company called Crescendo Management LLC to operate the joint venture. (DJ)

August 21 The United Nations approves the pricing formula for September crude oil exports under the United Nations/Iraq oil-for-food sale. Shipments of Iraqi Kirkuk crude oil headed for Europe will increase 20 cents per barrel, and shipments of Basrah Light crude oil to the Far East and United States, as well as Kirkuk crude oil to the Unites States, will increase 10 cents per barrel. (DJ)

August 22 An analyst with Calgary's First Energy Capital Corporation reports that western Canada's natural gas production is declining for the first time in many years and that demand could outstrip supply soon. In addition, the analyst estimates that natural gas reserves in western Canada are declining between 17 percent and 18 percent per year. Ontario Hydro's recent decision to close seven of nineteen nuclear power plants could increase the demand for western Canadian natural gas thereby exacerbating the potential shortage. (WSJ)

August 26 Enterprise Oil announces that it has received approval from the British government for a development plan for the Pierce Field in the central North Sea. The company expects the first oil from the field in August 1998 with an initial rate of production of 20,000 barrels per day. Enterprise expects a continuous rate of 45,000 barrels per day shortly thereafter. In addition, Enterprise reveals that it completed a deal with British Petroleum which increases its stake in the Pierce Field to 75 percent. (DJ)

August 26 China plans to spend $600 million combining onshore and offshore exploration activities at its biggest offshore oil field, Suizhong 36-1 in Bohai Bay. The Bohai Oil Company will build facilities for oil and gas processing, storage, and marketing as well as a new oil berth. Suizhong 36-1 covers 18.5 square miles and has proven oil reserves of 2.1 billion barrels. (DJ)

August 26 The leader of Norway's oil workers union, Terje Nustad, said that the union plans to expand a strike already affecting five oil rigs on the Norwegian continental shelf. The expansion will start after September 10 and will include the West Epsilon rig, the Transocean rig, and the Poly Saga rig. Approximately 340 oil workers went on strike August 24 after rejecting a 7.8 percent raise offered by the Norwegian Shipowners' Association. The strike has not slowed daily oil production because the five affected rigs are mainly used for drilling new wells. However, if the strike is expanded, the annual maintenance stoppage at Statfjord B in the North Sea could be extended. Moreover, the restart of Norne field production, scheduled for September, could be delayed. (DJ)

August 27 Consulting firm Arthur Anderson reports that world oil companies increased spending on U.S. exploration and development to $21.6 billion in 1996, an increase of 24 percent over 1995. Major oil companies spent $11.1 billion in the U.S., a 13 percent increase, while independent companies spent $10.5 billion, a 37 percent increase. Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Texaco Inc., and Amoco Corporation led the major companies in 1996 U.S. exploration expenditures. Independent spending leaders were Union Pacific Resources Group Inc., Burlington Resources Inc., and Enron Oil & Gas Company. (WSJ)

August 27 The United Nations Security Council announces that it will discuss a possible rollover of Iraqi oil sales from the current 90-day period to the second 90-day period under the renewed oil-for-food program. The existing six month period of the oil-for-food program began on June 8, 1997, but Iraq stalled on the oil sale until mid-August 1997. The delay makes it impossible for Iraq to sell $1.07 billion of oil during the first 90-day period which is set to end on September 5, 1997. If the rollover gains approval, it could prevent Iraq from losing an estimated $400 million in sales because of the late start. (DJ)

August 28 Russian officials annul a high-profile deal with Exxon Corporation to develop huge oil deposits in Russia's far north. Late last year Exxon's affiliate, Exxon Arkhangelsk, beat out several international consortia for a 50 percent stake in oil fields in the Timan-Pechora province. Russian officials cite five undisclosed violations committed by Exxon during the tender process as the reason for scrapping the agreement. Some analysts suggest that the cancellation of this $1.5 billion investment project could shake investor confidence in Russia's energy sector and may deter private investment in Russia. (DJ)

August 29 A spokesman for Enterprise Oil confirms that production at Enterprise's North Sea Nelson oil field is to be halted at midnight while an unexploded World War II bomb is removed from close to the Nelson pipeline. The work may take as many as five days to complete; however, Enterprise hopes to restart production on September 1 Normal production from the field is 160,000 barrels per day. (DJ)

August 29 Russia and Turkey sign an agreement to build an underwater pipeline across the Black Sea to transport Russian natural gas to Turkey. The proposed 225-mile pipeline would run from the Russian port city of Tuapse to the Turkish port city of Samsun, and initially carry 280 billion cubic feet of gas. The amount will reportedly double by 2003. Construction of the pipeline is scheduled to start next year and is expected to be complete by 2000. (DJ)

September 1 South Korea's state-run Daehan Oil Pipeline Corporation (DOPCO) dedicates a 593-mile oil pipeline and a large oil storage terminal in Songnam, 20 miles south of Seoul. DOPCO has invested about $890 million over seven years to complete the two projects. The storage terminal is capable of storing 1.97 million barrels of petroleum products and loading 186,000 barrels of oil per day. The pipeline will transport oil products from five domestic refineries including Yukong Ltd. and Hyundai Oil Refining Company. (DJ)

September 1 Saga Petroleum, a Norwegian upstream oil company, reports that production stoppages at the North Sea Vigdis Field, caused by gas compressor problems, have reduced this year's output target from 25 million barrels to 16 million barrels. (DJ)

September 1 Shell Nigeria resumes operations at Nembe Creek flow stations following repairs of a pipeline leak. Nembe Creek flow stations are a major trunk line feeding Nigeria's Bonny terminal. Shell officials suspect that the line had been sabotaged to force Shell to pay compensation to the local communities for other pipeline leaks. Shell confirms that negotiations are under way with the local communities. (DJ)

September 3 Japanese and Russian governors sign an oil and gas development agreement at a meeting on economic cooperation between three Russian Far East regions and Japan's northernmost prefecture. The agreement targets development of the Sakhalin continental shelf and encourages private companies to participate in offshore oil and gas drilling projects. Commercial production is expected as early as 1999. (DJ)

September 3 After months of negotiations, Chechnya and Russia reach a compromise on transporting Caspian Sea oil across Chechnya. The last issue holding up the agreement was disagreement over tariff rates for the use of the existing Chechen pipeline. (DJ)

September 3 Workers from Colombia's oil, banking, and judicial sectors launch a 24-hour strike to protest government plans to privatize state-held assets. The oil workers are also protesting the detention of 17 oil workers, on charges of bombing Colombia's oil installations and talks between Ecopetrol and British Petroleum to renegotiate a contract to develop the Piedemonte field. (DJ)

September 5 Amoco Corporation announces an agreement to merge its oil and natural gas business in South America's southern region with Bridas Corporation of Argentina. The deal will create what will be Argentina's second-largest oil and natural gas company with more than $3 billion in assets. The new company is currently unnamed with Amoco holding a 60 percent interest and Bridas the remaining 40 percent. The venture will focus on exploration and production in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay. (WSJ)

September 5 Mobil Oil Canada and Chevron Canada Resources enter a strategic alliance for exploration and development of 29 million acres in the Grand Banks area, offshore Newfoundland. The companies indicate the alliance enables them to move more quickly on proposed exploration and development plans. (DJ)

September 8 YPF SA, Argentina's largest energy company, confirms that its board approved a previously announced agreement with Amoco Corporation to operate U.S. natural gas fields with an estimated 989 billion cubic feet of gas reserves. The venture will be called Crescendo Resources LP, with YPF holding an indirect 64 percent interest and Amoco the remaining 36 percent. (DJ)

September 8 China National Oil Development Corporation, a unit of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), and Pan-China Resources Ltd., a unit of Canada's Ivanhoe Capital Corporation, sign a production-sharing contract to develop oil reserves in China's Hebei province. The two firms will develop the 34.9-square-mile Kongnan block of the Dagang oil field, located 62 miles south of Tianjin. The contract is CNPC's latest effort to stabilize production in China's eastern oil fields. (DJ)

September 10 Norway's state-owned Statoil AS and United Kingdom's (U.K.) Enterprise Oil sign a deal to develop and produce the Pierce oil field located in the U.K. sector of the North Sea. According to Statoil, the deal is worth around $280 million and will last for a minimum of 5 years. The Pierce field has recoverable reserves of 84 million barrels of oil. When it comes on stream in the fall of 1998, it is expected to produce 45,000 barrels per day. (DJ)

September 11 China completes a natural gas pipeline from Shaanxi province to Beijing. The 534-mile pipeline is the county's longest land pipeline. The project cost about $475 million and will supply gas from the Changqing field in northwest China's Ordos Basin. The pipeline is expected to supply Beijing with 10.6 billion cubic feet of gas in 1998 and eventually deliver 212 billion cubic feet of gas annually. (DJ)

September 11 Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a freeze on a major natural gas deal with Russia, which includes the construction of an underwater pipeline to transport the gas from Turkey across the Mediterranean to the Israeli coast. Prime Minister Netanyahu cites suspicions that Russia is helping Iran develop ballistic missiles as the reason for the freeze. (DJ)

September 11 Colombia's President Ernesto Samper inaugurates a natural gas pipeline stretching from the southwestern city of Cali to the city of Mariquita. The 211-mile pipeline cost $312 million and has a maximum capacity of 200 million cubic feet of gas per day. The line will transport gas to 3 million people in about 47 municipalities. (DJ)

September 12 The United Nations Security Council passes a resolution that allows Iraq to reach the $2.14 billion oil sales limit under its oil-for-food program by December 5. The current 6-month oil sales window, running from June 8 to December 5, will be split into a 120-day segment and a 60-day segment instead of two 90-day segments. During each segment Iraq can sell $1.07 billion worth of oil. The resolution should enable Iraq to make up for lost revenues during a delay in the start of oil sales during the first two months of the current six month sale period. (DJ)

September 15 U.S.-based Bechtel, Peru's Cosapi, and Brazil-based Odebrecht win a $2 billion contract for the design and construction of a natural gas pipeline stretching from Peru's Camisea gas fields to the capital city, Lima. The field is being developed by a joint venture between Royal/Dutch Shell and Mobil Corporation. (DJ)

September 16 Amoco Exploration Company announces a major North Sea drilling program designed to increase reserves and production from its central and northern United Kingdom (U.K.) oil and natural gas fields. The cost of the program is expected to exceed $160 million and extend over a three-to-five year period. The program will initially concentrate on additional development drilling in Amoco's Arbroath field and then continue on to other fields in the central and northern U.K. sector. The program will also utilize new drilling rigs built to operate in harsh conditions. (DJ)

September 17 One day after sending money to Chechnya for repairs to a war-torn pipeline, a Russian commission announces a decision to construct a new pipeline that would bypass Chechnya. The new 176-mile pipeline will run along the Chechen border in the Dagestan republic to the Stavropol region, and then on to Russia's oil terminal at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov estimates the cost of the project at $220 million. (DJ)

September 22 Texaco Inc. confirms that is has agreed to sell all of its assets in Burma to the United Kingdom based Premier Oil PLC for $260 million. Texaco holds a 42.9 percent interest in the Yetagun natural gas field and a 50 percent interest in Block M-10, a nearby exploration area. Premier will reportedly sell most of the interests to Petronas, Malaysia's state-owned oil and gas company. (DJ)

September 23 Greenpeace begins legal proceedings against the United Kingdom Department of Trade & Industry in an attempt to block oil and gas exploration west of the Shetland Islands and Scotland in the Atlantic Frontier. Greenpeace is asking for a full judicial review of operating licenses awarded in April's 17th Offshore Licensing Round. The environmental group contends that the European Habitats Directive requires special consideration be given to reef habitats before licenses are granted. If Greenpeace is successful, a full judicial hearing could be held in November. (DJ)

September 24 A four-week-old Norwegian oil strike intensifies as the Norwegian Shipowners' Association threatens to lock out oil workers from 13 floating oil rigs beginning on October 8. The strike began on August 24 and has mainly affected exploration drilling rather production. However, on September 22 the strike forced the closure of the 35,000-barrel-per-day North Sea Yme field. The oil workers union called the strike after rejecting a 7.8 percent pay increase offered by the Shipowners' Association. (DJ)

September 25 Dominique Simondon, chief of conceptional engineering for Elf Aquitaine on the Girassol project, reveals that reserve estimates for Elf's Angolan block 17 oil discoveries have been increased to 3 to 4 billion barrels. Initial reserve estimates of 1 to 3 billion barrels had already made it one of the largest finds offshore west Africa. The Girassol field is due to begin producing oil in the second half of 2000 and is expected to have a production capacity of 200,000 barrels per day. (DJ)

September 25 Russia's State Property Co