January 2004

The following information contains a listing of the major energy events that have occurred in 2003. Simply click on a specific month to review the energy chronology for that month. Sources include: Associated Press (AP); Dow Jones (DJ); Energy Information Administration (EIA); Knight Ridder (KR); Los Angeles Times (LAT); New York Times (NYT); Oil Daily (OD); Reuters; USA Today (USAT); Wall Street Journal (WSJ); Washington Post (WP); and World Markets Reseach Center (WMRC). For information on energy events that took place in 2002, please click here.

January 2003	February 2003
March 2003	April 2003
May 2003	June 2003
July 2003	August 2003
September 2003	October 2003
November 2003	December 2003

January 3 The near-month crude oil futures price on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) reaches $33.08 per barrel, its highest settlement price since November 30, 2000, as the strike in Venezuela enters its second month, forecasters call for colder weather, crude oil stocks remain low, and traders fear possible military action in Iraq. (Reuters)

January 6 Venezuelan Minister of Energy and Mines Rafael Ramírez announces that the Venezuelan government plans to split state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PdVSA) into two separate entities as part of a large-scale restructuring of the company, most of whose 40,000 workers are currently on strike. Such a decentralization could limit the power of Caracas-based executives who have joined in the strike, which began on December 2, 2002. (NYT)

January 10 The U.S. Department of Energy, PG&E Corp.'s Pacific Gas & Electric, and Trans-Elect agree on a $300 million upgrade of electricity transmission lines on the Path 15 electricity route between Northern and Southern California. This area can be a bottleneck on the transmission grid, so the additional transmission capacity is expected to save $100 million in a normal year and $300 million in a dry year. (LAT)

January 11 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez fires 700 PdVSA workers, the first large group of workers that are fired in an effort to break the strike that began December 2. Previously, about 300 PdVSA managers had been fired by the government of President Chavez. (AP)

January 12 The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), meeting in Vienna, agrees to raise the aggregate production quota of its members (excluding Iraq) to 24.5 million barrels per day, up from the current 23 million barrels per day, effective February 1. Each member will receive a proportionately higher share of the quota, about a 6.5% increase. (NYT)

January 13 Two Norwegian North Sea oil fields, Gulfaks and Visund are temporarily shut in due to safety concerns resulting from technical problems with the fields' integrated flare system. Shutting in the two fields causes a 130,000 barrel-per-day disruption for two days. (Reuters)

January 14 Koch Industries cancels its planned $2.2 billion, 190,000-barrel-per-day project to develop oil sands in Alberta, Canada. Company officials cite problems reducing their 70% share in the project, the high cost of production, and problems complying with the Kyoto Protocol as reasons for the cancellation. (NYT)

January 16 Fourteen U.S. corporations or subsidiaries launch the Chicago Climate Exchange, a trading program wherein companies would be able to earn redeemable credits for exceeding emissions reductions goals of 4% of 1998-2001 average emissions over the next four years. Companies unable to meet the goals would buy the credits. The Exchange intends to create means to verify that actual reductions in emissions have taken place. (WP)

January 17 Iraq awards a contract to Russian company Stroitransgaz for a small oil field in western Iraq and sets aside two others for Russian companies. Some analysts interpret these awards as an attempt at rapprochement between Iraq and Russia after Iraq canceled a giant contract with Russia's Lukoil in December 2002. (NYT)

January 17 The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that Venezuela has permanently lost 400,000 barrels per day of production capacity owing to the country's ongoing general strike. (Reuters)

January 21 The near-month crude oil futures price on the NYMEX settles at $34.61 per barrel, the highest price since November 29, 2000. The market is experiencing a variety of higher price pressures, including the strike in Venezuela, fears of a conflict in Iraq, a cold winter in the United States, and low commercial oil stock levels in the United States. (USAT)

January 21 It is reported that oil tankers pilots in Venezuela have agreed to return to work on Lake Maracaibo, indicating that the general strike in Venezuela has lost some of its support. (Reuters)

January 22 One of Venezuela's key refineries, Refineria Isla, located on the island of Curaçao, resumes crude oil processing at partial capacity after being out of service for about one month due to the ongoing strike in Venezuela. The Curaçao refinery, which has a nominal throughput capacity of about 320,000 barrels per day is reportedly processing 32,000 barrels of crude oil daily. Two other refineries, Puerto La Cruz and Paraguana, are also reportedly processing at partial capacity, bringing the country's total crude runs to approximately 150,000 barrels per day, approximately 12% of the country's pre-strike refining capacity. (Reuters)

January 23 Average U.S residential heating oil prices reach $1.453 per gallon, the highest price in almost two years, as colder weather in many parts of the country increases demand, while rising crude oil prices increase the cost of production. (Reuters)

January 26 The government of India announces that it will sell large shares in two state-owned petroleum companies. The government will sell 34% of Hindustan Petroleum to another company and will list 35% of Bharat Petroleum to the public on domestic and international equity exchanges. A further 5% of each company will be allotted to employees. After the privatizations, the government's share of Hindustan will be 12% and the government's share of Bharat will be 26%. (WSJ)

January 27 Kazakhstan reaches an agreement with an international consortium led by ChevronTexaco over the financing of a $3.5 billion expansion of the Tengiz oil field in the Caspian Sea, already the largest single oil development project in the Caspian region. The expansion would raise production from a current 286,000 barrels per day to 460,000 barrels per day by 2006. (NYT)

January 28 The U.S. Department of Energy approves oil company requests to delay delivery of March shipments to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The announcement will allow 4.4 million barrels of crude oil designated for storage in the SPR, to be marketed to domestic refineries instead. (Reuters)

January 29 Striking managers at Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA confirm that oil production has surpassed 1 million barrels per day once again, after falling to as low as 200,000 barrels per day during the strike that began on December 2. On January 31, PdVSA President Ali Rodriguez announces that production is at 1.5 million barrels per day and that 5,300 striking workers have been fired. Opposition estimates of production are much lower at around 1.05 million barrels per day. (NYT, Reuters)

January 29 During his State of the Union address, President Bush proposes $1.2 billion in funding to support the research and development of hydrogen-powered vehicles. (Reuters)

January 29 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) releases a report stating that "Evidence indicates that price manipulation has occurred in certain natural gas markets and may be continuing." The FERC releases no details on the companies under suspicion, but indicates that investigations will continue. (LAT)

February 3 Indian Petroleum Minister Ram Naik announces that the government of India plans to boost the country's strategic crude oil reserves to 45 days from 15 days at an estimated cost of 43.50 billion rupees ($910 million). (Reuters)

February 4 It is reported that the government of Colombia has admitted that oil royalties from foreign companies operating in Colombia are being illegally channeled to leftist guerillas and other illegal groups. Oscar Muñoz, governor of the oil producing state of Arauca states that "Unfortunately, it does look like some of these oil royalties may be ending up in the hands of the rebels." As a result of the Colombian National Royalties Commission's investigation into these allegations, $40 million dollars in royalties assigned to Arauca, location of the Cano Limon field, are frozen. (WSJ)

February 4 Beijing-based industry newsletter "China OGP" reports that Chinese imports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) increased 28% in 2002 over 2001 to a record 6.26 million metric tons, on strong domestic demand. (Reuters)

February 6 Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh announces that phases two and three of the South Pars natural gas field are now on-line. These phases represent additional production of about 55 million cubic meters (1.9 billion cubic feet) of natural gas per year, 85,000 barrels per day of condensate, and 1 million metric tons (11.6 million barrels) of liquefied petroleum gas per year. The two phases are officially inaugurated on February 15. (DJ)

February 9 Iranian President Muhammad Khatami announces that Iran has mined uranium for use in nuclear power plants, though he also states that the uranium would only be for civilian uses. This is the first time that Iran has acknowledged having uranium ore reserves. President Khatami also states that uranium-processing facilities have been set up in Isfahan and Kashan. (LAT)

February 10 According to a spokesman for the Hovensa Refinery in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, the refinery has increased its runs to normal for the first time since the general strike in Venezuela began at the beginning of December 2002. The refinery, with a crude oil throughput capacity of 495,000 barrels per day, is the largest single refinery in the United States. The Hovensa Refinery is 50% owned by Amerada Hess and 50% owned by Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA. (DJ)

February 10 The U.S. Department of Energy awards three contracts, one each to ChevronTexaco Global Trading, Shell Trading (U.S.) Co., and Exxon Mobil Oil Corp., to begin providing a total of 116,000 barrels per day of royalty-in-kind crude oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) starting in May 2003. Also, beginning in April, the Department of Energy plans to begin receiving approximately 15,000 barrels per day of crude directly from producers offshore Texas that ship through the Hoover Offshore Pipeline System. Current plans call for 44.7 million barrels of crude to be supplied to the SPR by the end of January 2004, bringing the total stored in the reserve at that time to about 644 million barrels, or 7.5% more than the current level. (DJ)

February 11 BP invests $6.75 billion in Russia by creating a new joint venture company with TNK (Russia's fourth largest oil company) and Sidanco, of which BP already held a 25% stake. BP will have a 50% stake in the new company. TNK's shareholders, investment groups Alfa Group and Access-Renova, will hold the other 50% stake of the new firm, and board control will be balanced equally. The investment by BP is equivalent to almost 10% of Russian foreign exchange reserves and around 1.5% of Russian gross domestic product (GDP). (Reuters)

February 12 Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) show that U.S. commercial crude oil stocks have fallen to 269.8 million barrels for the week ending February 7, 2003. This is the lowest commercial crude oil stock level since 1975, and just slightly below the lower operational inventory level of 270 million barrels. The lower operational inventory level, while not implying shortages, operational problems, or price increases, is indicative of a situation where inventory-related supply flexibility could be constrained or nonexistent. (Reuters)

February 14 The lower house of the Russian Parliament (Duma) approves legislation that will allow the breakup of the Russian electricity monopoly, Unified Energy System. Although it is still unclear what will happen to shares after the breakup, eventually Russia's electricity sector will be reorganized into groups of power producers, distributors, and sales units. The government will retain control of the grid itself. Unified Energy System's grid is the largest in the world. (NYT)

February 18 Exxon Mobil begins construction of the $3 billion Kizomba B offshore development project in Angolan waters. The project, when completed, is expected to produce 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day, beginning in 2006, with total production over the life of the field estimated to be about 1 billion barrels. Besides Exxon Mobil, which has a 40% stake, the other stakeholders are BP (26.67%), Eni (20%), and Statoil (13.33%). The concessionaire is Angolan state oil company Sonangol. (Reuters)

February 21 Devon Energy agrees to buy Ocean Energy for $3.5 billion in stock and the assumption of $1.8 billion in debt. The combined company will produce 2.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 250,000 barrels of oil and natural gas liquids per day, making it the largest independent oil and natural gas producer in the United States. (WSJ)

February 21 A strike by public sector Nigerian oil workers ends after six days. Oil majors said the walkout by the PENGASSAN union and its blue-collar sister union, NUPENG, did not disrupt loadings at terminals. The replacement staff had taken over the duties of the strikers who monitor quality and volume of exports. (Reuters)

February 21 A gasoline barge explodes at an oil terminal on Staten Island, New York. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says there is "…absolutely no evidence and reason to think that this is anything other than a very tragic industrial accident." WTI near-month crude oil prices on the NYMEX rise $1.21 per barrel on the news, and finally settle $0.84 per barrel higher for the day at $35.58 per barrel. (Reuters)

February 21 OPEC Secretary-General Alvaro Silva announces that OPEC will assure that a supply shortage does not occur should hostilities in Iraq prevent Iraq from continuing its oil exports. According to Silva, "The Organization has been dealing with the problem of Iraq for the last 10 years, attending to Iraq's market when it was restricted under the oil-for-food deal. This Iraq situation has been handled before and if it were to happen again the Organization would be able to handle it." (Reuters)

February 21 Dissident workers of Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA acknowledge that Venezuela's oil production has risen just above 1.5 million barrels per day, the highest level they have acknowledged since their strike began in early December. The government of President Hugo Chávez estimates production at over 2 million barrels per day. (Reuters)

February 24 U.K. Foreign Minister Jack Straw indicates that the United States and Great Britain want a United Nations decision on Iraq within about two weeks of submitting a new resolution to the Security Council. "Early this week, we shall be tabling a second resolution in respect of Iraq and that will spell out that we are approaching the end of the final opportunity that Saddam Hussein was given in 1441 on November 8 to completely disarm in substance as well as process," states Straw. (Reuters)

February 24 Venezuela lifts force majeure for exports of some lighter grades of its crude oil as well as for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), though the government does not specify exactly for which crude grades the force majeure is lifted. Also, management of the 180,000-barrel-per-day capacity extra-heavy crude oil Sincor project announces that the project is in the process of restarting, and oil in storage is beginning to be processed. (Reuters)

February 25 The 108,000-barrel-per-day capacity Cerro Negro extra-heavy crude oil project in Venezuela restarts for the first time since the strike in that country began in the beginning of December. According to operator Exxon Mobil, initial production is 55,000 barrels per day. (Reuters)

February 26 The NYMEX near-month crude oil futures price settles at $37.70 per barrel, the highest price (in nominal terms) since October 1990. High winter heating demand, reduced output from Venezuela, low commercial crude oil stocks, and fears of war with Iraq are among the factors that have driven crude oil prices up. (Reuters)

February 26 It is reported that Turkey has decided to halt imports of Iraqi oil by overland tanker truck. Turkish oil company Tupras had planned to import about 19 million barrels of Iraqi oil by tanker truck over the course of 2003, according to statements made by company officials to the press. (Reuters)

February 28 Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov threatens to veto a U.N. resolution in the Security Council authorizing war in Iraq. According to Ivanov, "Russia does not support any resolution which could directly or indirectly open the way to an armed resolution of the Iraq problem. Naturally, Russia has the right of veto. If the interest of international stability demands it, Russia, of course will exercise its right." (Reuters)

February 28 The NYMEX near-month heating oil futures price settles at an all-time high of 125.59 cents per gallon, as many of the same market forces affecting the crude oil market also have driven up the price of heating oil, especially increased demand from the cold winter. High sulfur distillate fuel inventories (also referred to as heating oil) plunged more than 15% over the most recent four-week period to end the week of February 28, at 35.6 million barrels, 32% below the level for the same period last year. (Reuters)

March 2003

March 3 The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) releases data showing that national average retail diesel fuel prices were at a record high in nominal terms the previous week. EIA began collecting retail diesel price information in 1994. This is the third straight week of record retail diesel prices. (DJ)

March 5 U.N. Security Council permanent members France and Russia, as well as member Germany, pledge to block any proposal put forth in the Security Council that would authorize the use of force in Iraq because of non-compliance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, which calls for Iraq to give up weapons of mass destruction. (Reuters)

March 5 Some 500,000 bbl/d of Venezuelan production in the eastern region begins to come back on-line. It was shut off at the wellhead for a week because of bottlenecks at export terminals as Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA encountered problems in returning loading at terminals to pre-strike levels. The Venezuelan government claims that oil production is over 2 million barrels per day, while fired PdVSA workers claim production is at 1.1 million barrels per day. (Reuters)

March 5 International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Claude Mandil and Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi meet in Riyadh. Mandil receives a commitment from OPEC to meet "any further loss of supplies to oil markets in a swift and timely manner." Furthermore, according to the Saudi Press Agency, "In this situation, IEA agreed with OPEC opinion that the producers should utilize their spare capacity before resorting to the oil available in the strategic reserves by consumers." (DJ)

March 6 U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and officials from the European Atomic Energy Community (a part of the European Union) sign agreements for cooperation and joint research into nuclear power and hydrogen and fuel cell technology. (AP)

March 6 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announces that force majeure is henceforth lifted on Venezuelan oil exports. Venezuela had declared force majeure on its oil exports shortly after the national strike began on December 2, 2002. It is later revealed that this lifting does not apply to certain petroleum products. President Chavez also refuses to consider rehiring any of the over 15,000 fired PdVSA workers. (Reuters)

March 7 The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) puts into effect expanded price limits on its energy contracts and reduces to five minutes the time trading is halted when those limits are reached. Under the revised rules, the initial price limits for light, sweet crude oil futures will be expanded to $10 per barrel in all months from the current $7.50 in the first two months and $3.00 in all other months. The initial Henry Hub natural gas futures limits will expand to $3.00 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in all months from $1 in all months. The initial limits on heating oil, gasoline and propane futures will increase to 25 cents per gallon in all months from 20 cents in the first two months and 6 cents in all other months. (Reuters)

March 7 CNOOC Ltd., the publicly-traded Hong Kong subsidiary of the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation, announces that it is purchasing a $615 million, 8.33% stake in the North Caspian Sea Project from BG Group of the United Kingdom. The field's reserves are estimated at 13 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Mark Qiu, Chief Financial Officer of CNOOC, comments that "Adding CNOOC as a partner adds the possibility of marketing the production in China, which is thirsty for energy." (NYT)

March 7 Officials in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announce that new clean water regulations for smaller sites, to take effect March 10, will not apply to the petroleum and natural gas industries. Rather, these two industries will have a two-year exemption, because, according to the EPA, further study of the effects of these regulations upon these two industries is needed. (NYT)

March 7 British Foreign Minister Jack Straw announces a U.N. Security Council Resolution, supported by the United States and Spain as well, which authorizes the use of military force if Iraq does not cooperate fully with disarmament demands by March 17. The proposed resolution calls on Iraq to hand over to U.N. inspectors all weapons, delivery systems and support systems and structures banned by the United Nations and also provide information about the prior destruction of such items. (Reuters)

March 10 U.N. Security Council permanent member France pledges to veto the proposed resolution on the use of force in Iraq that was proposed by the United States, Great Britain, and Spain on March 7. States French President Jacques Chirac on the proposed resolution, "Whatever happens, France will vote 'no'." (Reuters)

March 11 The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets in Vienna and decides to maintain crude oil production quotas for its member countries (excluding Iraq) at 24.5 million barrels per day. Most analysts, including EIA, believe that OPEC-10's (excluding Iraq) actual production is higher than the quota amount. (NYT)

March 11 At an OPEC meeting in Vienna, swing producer Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi assures the world that "There will be no shortage of oil. The test is, when the need is there, whether we will use the capacity or not and I can assure you we will." However, OPEC Oil Ministers agree to leave output official limits at 24.5 million barrels per day "for the time being" and set another meeting for June 11 in Qatar. Also, OPEC President Abdullah al-Attiyah estimates OPEC spare capacity at between two and four million barrels per day. (Reuters)

March 12 The near-month (April) crude oil futures price at the NYMEX settles at $37.83 per barrel, the highest near-month settlement price (in nominal terms) since October 1990. This comes as EIA reports today that commercial crude oil inventories for the previous week declined by 3.8 million barrels to 269 million barrels. This is below the 270 million barrel lower operational inventory level, which, while not implying shortages, operational problems, or price increases, is indicative of a situation where inventory-related supply flexibility could be constrained or nonexistent. This heightens supply concerns before an impending war in Iraq. (WSJ)

March 15 The president of Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA, Ali Rodriguez, announces that Venezuela's crude oil production has surpassed 3 million barrels a day for the first time since a national strike began to affect Venezuelan oil production in early December 2002. He goes on to state that Venezuela will produce above its OPEC quota of 2.8 million barrels per day to make up for lost production in December and thus far in 2003. Executives fired from the state oil monopoly for participating in the strike put crude oil production at 2.1 million barrels per day. (AP)

March 16 Oil production from the Forcados and Escravos fields in Nigeria's Western Niger Delta is partially closed as violence occurs between Nigerian security forces and members of the Ijaw ethnic group. Some Ijaws had given a seven-day ultimatum to the Nigerian government to address their grievances or there would be "mass action." The ultimatum expired today. Exact details about how much production is affected are not available. (Reuters)

March 17 U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan orders U.N. oil inspectors and other staff for the Oil-for-Food program out of Iraq, as the likelihood of military action in Iraq is imminent. Though this means that oil loadings will cease at the Persian Gulf oil export terminal of Mina al-Bakr, there is the possibility of continued loadings at the program's other approved port, Ceyhan, in Turkey. Oil continues to flow through the pipeline to Ceyhan. Tanker loadings in Kuwait are continuing as normal. (Reuters)

March 17 EIA releases a report showing that the previous week's national price for regular unleaded gasoline averaged $1.728 per gallon, the highest nominal price since EIA began recording the data in August 1990. This comes as crude oil prices have been high in recent weeks and stock levels have been low. (Reuters)

March 17 U.S. President George Bush, in a nationally televised address at 8:00 pm, gives an ultimatum to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq within 48 hours or face military action to be forcibly disarmed at a time of the U.S. government's choosing. About 275,000 American, British, and Australian military forces are massed near Iraq's border or in the Persian Gulf. (Reuters)

March 18 The NYMEX near-month crude oil futures price drops 9.3%, to settle at $31.67 per barrel, as President Bush's ultimatum is perceived by the market as ending uncertainty about a military conflict in Iraq, and amidst speculation that the conflict will be short in duration. (Reuters)

March 19 Officials of the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Company indicate that they are now selling 300,000-350,000 barrels per day of additional crude oil to help stabilize prices ahead of a probable war in Iraq. (DJ)

March 19 Military action in Iraq commences with a bombing raid and missile attack on targets in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad (March 20 Baghdad time) by Coalition forces, given Saddam Hussein and his regime's rejection of U.S. President George Bush's March 17 ultimatum. Iraq launches several conventional missiles at Kuwait, but this has no effect on Kuwaiti oil production. However, the Kuwait Petroleum Company does implement an emergency plan to protect its workers and facilities. (Reuters)

March 20 Several oil wells in southern Iraq are set on fire. The last scheduled loading at Ceyhan of Iraqi oil, about 600,000 barrels, is completed. (DJ)

March 20 ChevronTexaco declares force majeure on its Escravos crude oil exports from Nigeria after shutting in 140,000 barrels per day of production. Royal Dutch/Shell shuts in 126,000 barrels per day of production, but does not declare force majeure. These shut-ins come as lethal violence continues to occur in the Niger Delta region between government soldiers intervening in conflicts between fighters of the Isekeri and Ijaw ethnic groups. (Reuters)

March 20 Indian Oil Minister Raim Naik announces that India has increased its oil stocks to two months. "We have presently crude oil, petrol, diesel stocks...kerosene and LPG gas which will last at least for two months." (Reuters)

March 21 British and American land forces enter Iraq, taking control of areas bordering Kuwait and parts of the Faw Peninsula. British marines seize some oil export facilities and U.S. armored columns push further into Iraq towards the Rumaila oilfields. About 7 oilfields are set on fire by Iraqi forces. U.S. special forces begin conducting significant operations with Kurdish units in the north of Iraq. A primary objective of Coalition forces is to take control of oil wells before they can be sabotaged by Iraqi forces. Coalition air strikes continue on military targets throughout the country. (Reuters, DJ)

March 21 Royal Dutch/Shell declares force majeure on the company's Bonny Light and Forcados exports. Production of these two crude streams is normally 800,000-900,000 barrels per day, though the force majeure does not mean that the two crude streams will be entirely shut in. Shell also shuts in an additional 50,000 barrels per day of production, bringing the combined Shell and ChevronTexaco production shut in to about 300,000 barrels per day. (Reuters)

March 23 Outbreaks of violence between soldiers and militants of various ethnic groups in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria prompt three major oil companies operating in the region - ChevronTexaco, Royal Dutch/Shell, and TotalFinaElf - to shut in operations in the area, totaling about 800,000 barrels per day. This represents about 40% of Nigeria's total production, including about 768,000 barrels per day in the West Niger Delta (all operations there for the three companies) and 50,000 barrels per day of Shell production in the East Niger Delta. (NYT, Reuters)

March 24 After Coalition forces have pushed further into Iraq securing most of the southern oilfields over the weekend, Kuwaiti fire fighters are able to enter Iraq and are able to extinguish one of the wellhead fires. Iraq's southern fields represent about 40% of the country's output. Damage is assessed to be relatively minimal. Some pockets or Iraqi resistance in the southern oilfields remain, however. Furthermore, heavy Iraqi resistance in some parts of Iraq gives rise to market speculation that the war could last longer than initially thought. The NYMEX near-month crude oil price rises 6.5%, to settle at $28.66 per barrel, as the war in Iraq as well as the situation in Nigeria have traders concerned. (Reuters, DJ)

March 24 Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA Chief Operating Officer Luis Marin announces that PdVSA has made a 1 billion barrel crude oil discovery. He describes the oil as light and of high quality, but does not indicate the location of the find. Marin also puts Venezuela's output at 2.95 million barrels per day, much higher than other estimates by industry sources, striking workers, and EIA. (Reuters)

March 25 The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) shuts down its 125,000-barrel-per-day capacity Warri refinery because its supplies from ChevronTexaco's production in the West Niger Delta have been halted. Shell begins to increase production of Bonny Light crude oil in unaffected parts of the Niger Delta in order to compensate for lost production. (DJ, Reuters)

March 25 China's new regulatory body for the electricity sector, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, starts operations. China now has a government agency tasked with: researching and drafting regulations for the electricity market; drafting national and regional development plans for the power sector; setting technical and safety standards for the industry; and handling commercial disputes among companies in the sector. This is an important role, as the Chinese energy market continues to experience reforms. (DJ)

March 25 U.N. data shows that Iraq's crude oil exports for the week ending March 21 were 443,000 barrels per day. This is a 75% drop compared to the previous week. A reduced amount of oil is still flowing to rapidly-filling-to-capacity storage tanks at the Ceyhan export terminal, but no ships are scheduled to load there for the time being. (Reuters)

March 25 U.S. President George Bush sends a $74.7 billion budget request to Congress to pay for the war with Iraq. Included in the budget is a request for $489.3 million to pay for repairs to damaged Iraqi oil facilities. (Reuters)

March 26 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) releases the results of its 13-month investigation into the causes of the 2000-2001 California power crisis. The report finds that about 30 companies attempted to manipulate the electricity and natural gas markets in California during that time period. These companies will have to show why they should not be sanctioned for their alleged market manipulation activities during this time period. These companies may have to refund as much as $1.5 billion. Three companies - Reliant, Enron, and BP Energy - may be prohibited from selling energy in competitive markets anywhere in the United States. (WSJ, WP, LAT)

March 26 The U.S. Navy announces that Iraq's Persian Gulf oil export terminal of Mina al-Bakr has escaped sabotage and is ready to resume operations. (Reuters)

March 27 U.S. Brigadier General Vincent Brooks states that "…over 600 oil wells at this point now fall into an area that is under Coalition control." He also states that there are still six oil wells on fire but work is continuing to put those out. Also, the U.K. military reportedly is negotiating with Iraqi oil workers to return to work in the country's North Rumaila oil fields. However, the NYMEX near-month crude oil futures price rises 6%, to $30.37, as market perceptions of the duration of the war in Iraq and the length of time before Iraqi crude oil exports will return grow, and production continues to be shut-in in Nigeria. (DJ)

March 27 A spokesperson for the Kuwait Oil Company announces that 22 wells at the northern Abdali oilfield near the border with Iraq will be reopened. On March 26, Kuwait reopened 17 wells at the nearby Ratqa oilfield. These wells, which were closed as a precaution prior to the initiation of the military conflict in Iraq, will restore production of about 85,000 barrels per day. (Reuters)

March 27 OMV of Austria announces that the consortium of which it is member, along with Lundin of Sweden, Petronas of Malaysia, and Sudapet of the Sudan, is renewing exploration activities in the Sudan after they had been suspended in January 2002 because of a deteriorating security situation. According to OMV, "As a result of the positive developments in the peace process and the improved conditions in its concession area (the consortium) has decided to carry out repair work on the existing infrastructure in Block 5A ... as a first step towards an eventual recommencement of activities." (Reuters)

March 27 Royal Dutch/Shell declares a secondary force majeure on export loadings from its Forcados terminal in Nigeria. "It will mean additional delays," says a Shell spokesman. (Reuters)

March 27 Exxon Mobil signs a $1.1 billion agreement with the state-owned Qatar Petroleum Company for the first phase development of natural gas block al-Kahleej Gas, or AKG-1. The project will produce 1.75 billion cubic feet a day of gas from Qatar's massive North Field, recovering associated condensates and natural gas liquids as byproducts. The AKG-1 project is expected to come on stream in the fourth quarter of 2005 and will be operated by Qatar's RasGas. (Reuters)

March 28 The U.N. Security Council gives U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan temporary authority to provide food and medicine to Iraq through a 45-day renewal of the Oil-for-Food program. The program had been suspended just before hostilities commenced in Iraq on March 19. (NYT)

March 28 MOL of Hungary completes a majority takeover of Slovak refiner Slovnaft, increasing its stake in Slovnaft to 70% for $360 million. (Reuters)

March 28 Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo orders Nigerian government security forces to arrest militants fighting in the Niger Delta. The fighting there has caused the deaths of over 100 Nigerians and shut in over 800,000 barrels per day of crude oil production, as well as one refinery. (Reuters)

March 28 A 280-mile crude oil pipeline opens in Kazakhstan linking the Kenkiyak northwestern wells with the two major pipelines from Kazakhstan to Russia, Atyrau-Samara and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. These transport crude from the Caspian Sea region to Baltic and Black Sea export outlets. The new pipeline will initially transport 120,000 barrels per day. It is owned and operated by Kazakhstan's state oil and gas firm KazMunaiGas and China's national oil company CNPC. (Reuters)

March 31 International oil traders report that Syria has cut its April export program by about 10%. Some officials in Syrian state oil company Sytrol attribute this to increased domestic demand, but most traders attribute this to the expectation of decreased crude oil imports from Iraq in April. (Reuters)

April 2003

April 2 The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) releases data showing that U.S. crude oil stocks (excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) rose by 6.8 million barrels, or 2.8%, in the previous week, to 280.7 million barrels. The EIA also reports that crude oil imports for the previous week increased to about 10.4 million barrels per day, the highest weekly average on record. (Reuters)

April 4 ChevronTexaco announces that "Operations staff and support workers are returning to the Escravos terminal in the Western Niger Delta area of Nigeria and a gradual return to production is beginning." ChevronTexaco shut in about 440,000 barrels per day of production on March 23 because violence between two tribal groups (with government forces intervening) made the Western Niger Delta area unsafe to operate in. The latest decision affects about 320,000 barrels per day of production. (Reuters)

April 4 Coalition forces continue to make progress against the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, with the U.S. military capturing Baghdad's main international airport. Also, according to the U.S. military, 80%-90% of Iraq's southern oilfield production is under coalition control, as well as all related export facilities, as of this date. (Reuters)

April 4 Royal Dutch/Shell restarts production and development work at the Soroosh and Nowrooz fields offshore southwestern Iran, after shutting down work at the two fields on March 19 because of fears that staff could be vulnerable to intentional or accidental attack, given the fields' proximity to the border with Iraq. Soroosh produces about 60,000 barrels per day, and the shut down has delayed the coming on line of the Nowrooz field, scheduled for later this year. (DJ, Reuters)

April 6 Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA announces the discovery of a light crude oil field in the eastern state of Monagas with estimated reserves of 350 million barrels, as well as 870 billion cubic feet of associated natural gas. (Reuters)

April 8 Syrian state oil company Sytrol informs customers that it will cut crude oil term export volumes by around 40% (about 150,000 barrels per day) as a result of the halt in Iraqi imports through the Iraq-Syria-Lebanon pipeline that is reported to have been shut down. Sytrol suggests that the reduction will continue for the rest of the year. (WMRC)

April 10 Kurdish Pesh Merga guerilla forces seize control of the key northern city of Kirkuk from Iraqi forces loyal to the regime of Saddam Hussein. Kirkuk is the hub for Iraq's northern oilfields. The previous day, April 9, U.S. military forces in Baghdad declared Saddam no longer in control in the Iraqi capital, though fighting in the capital continues. However, scenes of jubilant Iraqi citizens destroying propaganda of the Baathist regime, coupled with an absence of organized police or military units of the regime maintaining order in central Baghdad, signaled for many observers that today marks the effective fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein. Near-month crude oil futures on the NYMEX drop about 5%. (WP, AP, Reuters)

April 10 Royal Dutch/Shell announces that it has restarted 100,000 barrels per day of production in the south of the Niger Delta, in Nigeria. This still leaves about 200,000 barrels per day of the company's production in the area shut-in. (DJ)

April 10 The Presidents of Russia and Turkmenistan sign a deal under which Turkmenistan will pipe 1.8 trillion cubic meters (63.6 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas to Russia over a 25-year period. Under the terms of the deal, Turkmen state natural gas company Turkmenneftgas will deliver gradually increasing amounts of gas to Russia's Gazprom, at a set price of $44 per 1000 cubic meters (per 35,315 cubic feet), beginning in 2004. The gas will then be exported or swapped out for export. Turkmenistan is reliant on the Russian natural gas pipeline network in order to export its gas. (WMRC)

April 14 Pumping on the oil pipeline from Iraq's Kirkuk oilfields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan is halted as the storage facilities have reached their maximum capacity of about 6.5 million barrels. There has not been a loading of Iraqi crude oil at the port since March 20. (Reuters)

April 14 Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) shuts down for inspection the last of its 17 nuclear reactors still in operation. The shut downs result from the discovery last year that TEPCO had falsified data regarding reactor inspections, leading to the decision to shut down by Japan's nuclear authorities. Japan's largest power firm said that unless its reactors were started back up, there would be an electricity shortage of up to 9.55 million kilowatts during the summer, when electricity demand hits its peak. (Japan Times)

April 15 U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announces that the U.S. military has shut off an oil pipeline from Iraq to Syria that is alleged to have been carrying 100,000-150,000 barrels per day. "We have been told that they have shut off a pipeline," Secretary Rumsfeld told a Pentagon briefing. "Whether it's the only one and whether that has completely stopped the flow of oil between Iraq and Syria, I cannot tell you. ... I cannot assure you that all illegal oil flowing from Iraq into Syria is shut off. I just hope it is." (Reuters)

April 17 The Russian government is instructed by Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov to begin preparing a feasibility study for the construction of a privately-owned $4.5 billion oil pipeline to Murmansk and an oil terminal there. The planned pipeline would carry about 2.4 million barrels per day of crude oil from the Urals oil production region. This would be the first privately-owned pipeline in Russia. (NYT)

April 18 Dominion Virginia Power Company settles with U.S. government by agreeing to pay a $5.3 million fine and spend $1.2 billion on pollution abatement at eight power plants. This is the largest settlement ever by an electric power utility under the "new source review" provisions of the Clean Air Act. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had originally cited Clean Air Act violations at eight of Dominion's power plants. (NYT)

April 19 OPEC-member Nigeria holds a presidential election. Incumbent Olusegun Obasanjo is declared the winner several days later by a 2:1 margin, amidst allegations of vote rigging and intimidation. (Reuters)

April 21 For the first time since the start of the war with Iraq in March, an Iraqi oil refinery begins to process crude oil. The Daura Refinery, Baghdad's main refinery, begins operating at 40,000 barrels per day, about half of the refinery's capacity, with oil from storage. Also, the previous day, a team of U.S., U.K., and Iraqi engineers began to pump oil through Iraq's internal oil infrastructure, preventing a power plant from going offline. (Reuters)

April 22 Yukos Oil Company and Sibneft, Russia's first and fifth largest oil companies, respectively, in terms of production, announce that they will merge in a deal in which Yukos will pay $13 billion in cash and stock for Sibneft. The new company will be the world's fifth-largest publicly traded oil and gas company, with a production of 2.4 million barrels per day. The new company plans to become a major player outside of Russia as well. (NYT, WSJ)

April 22 Turkey indefinitely halts electric power imports from Bulgaria, alleging that Bulgaria had delayed a high profile hydro-power project and the construction of a stretch of highway to the border with Turkey, which are part of a bilateral energy deal. Bulgaria was exporting 3.5-4.0 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of power to Turkey per year, more than half of its total annual exports, under a 10-year energy deal, signed in 1998. (Reuters)

April 22 A spokesperson for Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA announces that the force majeure on gasoline exports was lifted sometime during the previous week. Force majeure has now been lifted on all Venezuelan crude oil and oil product exports. According to PdVSA, the company is in the process of restarting the flexicoking unit at the giant 940,000 bpd Amuay-Cardon plant, the last major refining unit still shut due to the strike. (Reuters)

April 23 According to the American military officer in charge of restarting Iraq's oil production infrastructure, Iraq's southern fields have begun to produce again. Four southern wells have begun producing a modest amount of crude oil, but according to Brig. Gen. Robert Crear of the Army Corps of Engineers, southern wells should soon be producing about 170,000 barrels a day. Initial production would go toward meeting domestic demand, especially as more refineries come back on line. The country's northern oilfields are still offline. (WSJ)

April 24 OPEC oil ministers, meeting for emergency talks in Vienna, decide to simultaneously reduce crude oil production by 2 million barrels per day, as of June 1, and increase their overall production quota by 900,000 barrels per day to a total quota of 25.4 million barrels per day. This is a tacit admission that OPEC production is well in excess of the previous quota of 24.5 million barrels per day. Iraq does not participate in the meetings and is not subject to the quota regime. (LAT)

April 24 The U.N. Security Council votes unanimously to extend the United Nations Oil-for-Food program for an extra three weeks, i.e. until June 3. It had been due to expire on May 12. Oil has not been sold through the Oil-for-Food program since the start of the war in Iraq on March 19. (NYT)

April 24 ChevronTexaco lifts the force majeure on crude oil exports from its Escravos Terminal in Nigeria. Production at fields that export their production through Escravos began again on April 4, and is now at 310,000 barrels per day. The terminal's normal export throughput is 440,000 barrels per day. (Reuters)

April 28 Russian oil company Lukoil announces that its proven oil and natural gas reserves have risen 15% over the past year through acquisitions and discoveries and that its reserves are now the second-highest held by a non-state-owned company in the world. The company, as of January 2003, had proven reserves of 19.3 billion barrel of oil equivalent compared with 16.8 billion as of January 2002, including 15.3 billion barrels of crude oil and 24.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. (Reuters)

April 29 Iraq's North Oil Company (NOC) announces that oil output resumed in the Kirkuk fields in northern Iraq on April 24 at 30,000-40,000 barrels per day. Because of war damage to machinery, looting and a lack of workers, it will likely be some time before pre-war output of 850,000 barrels per day is achieved. NOC is using extra stored oil to send 100,000 barrels per day down a pipeline to the Daura and Baiji refineries to feed Iraq's domestic fuel consumption. (Reuters)

April 29 Royal Dutch/Shell makes an announcement asserting that about 200,000 barrels per day of crude oil production is being stolen in Nigeria, 100,000 barrels of which is Shell's production. (Reuters)

April 29 Company and union officials reveal that 97 foreign oil workers have been held hostage by striking Nigerian workers aboard four offshore drilling rigs owned by Houston-based Transocean Inc. since April 19. (Reuters)

April 29 The United States Department of Defense announces that it is ending military operations in Saudi Arabia and removing virtually all of its forces from the kingdom by mutual agreement following the Iraq war. U.S. military forces had doubled to 10,000 personnel during the war in Iraq, but have already begun to pull out, according to the Defense Department. The Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Prince Sultan Airbase will be closed. (Reuters)

April 29 Qataris overwhelmingly approve a new constitution in a referendum that will lead to a more democratic government in the oil-and-gas-rich Persian Gulf emirate, including a mostly-elected parliament in 2004. (Reuters)

April 29 Brazilian state oil company Petrobras announces the largest-ever natural gas discovery in Brazil. The discovery, located about 85 miles off the coast of the state of Sao Paulo, is a field containing an estimated 2.47 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This field raises Brazil's natural gas reserves by about 30%, according to some estimates. (Reuters)

April 30 Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abderrahmane Chalgam states, in regard to the Lockerbie case, "We have taken on the responsibility for this case on the basis of the international law which states that the state takes on responsibility for what its employees do… The provisioning of that [compensation] fund with the decided amount has started." A Pan Am airliner exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988, killing 270 people. Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Basset al-Magrahi was convicted for the crime in 2001 by a court sitting in the Netherlands. Total compensation is expected to be about $2.7 billion. (Reuters)

April 30 In Saudi Arabia's third cabinet reshuffle in nearly 30 years, Ali al-Naimi is retained as oil minister, contrary to expectations that he would be replaced with a minister more receptive to foreign investment in the kingdom. (Reuters)

April 30 U.S. and Iraqi oil officials hold their first meeting to discuss rebuilding the country's oil industry. Few details of the meeting are released, though Gary Vogler, an advisor at the U.S. Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Affairs (ORHA), states that the two parties had "agreed upon how to reconstruct and rebuild this (oil) sector so that it performs its obligations towards the Iraqi people and towards the international market." (WMRC)

May 2003

May 1 U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended," and that "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11th, 2001, and still goes on." (WP)

May 3 Expatriate and Nigerian hostages are evacuated from offshore oilrigs where they had been held by striking Nigerian oil workers since April 19. Company officials and the striking workers' representatives negotiated the hostages' release May 2, after which the first captive was soon freed. (AP)

May 4 The U.S.-led civilian administration for Iraq selects Thamir Ghadban to run Iraq's oil ministry, with Phillip Carrol, former head of Royal Dutch/Shell in the United States, as head of an advisory board for the ministry. Thamir Ghadban was formerly a top official in Iraq's Southern Oil Company. (Reuters)

May 5 TotalFinaElf receives permission from Angolan state oil company Sonangol to begin development of the Dalia offshore oilfield. Estimated development cost of the Dalia field, due to come online in 2006, is $3.4 billion. Infrastructure will include 34 production wells and an FPSO (Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading vessel) capable of processing 240,000 barrels of oil per day. (Reuters)

May 6 A spokesman for the El Palito Refinery in western Venezuela announces that the refinery recently sent out its first shipment of unleaded gasoline to the United States since the national strike that began in Venezuela in the first days of December 2002. (DJ)

May 12 Tokyo Gas Company signs a 24-year supply deal with Sakhalin Energy of Russia for a maximum of 1.1 million metric tons per year of liquefied natural gas (LNG), starting in 2007. This is the first long-term LNG supply deal between Japan and Russia. (DJ)

May 12 A suicide-bomb and car-bomb attack on three residential compounds for foreigners in Saudi Arabia kills several dozen, including 10 Americans and several Saudis. The attack is blamed on Al-Qaeda. (Reuters)

May 14 The Chinese government's official news agency reports that the State Council has approved the construction of 13 new power plants with a combined capacity of 11,880 megawatts and a cost of 51.2 billion yuan. (DJ)

May 14 Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas reaches an agreement with BG LNG Services to provide 3 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year, starting in 2005. LNG from two trains under construction in Nigeria will be delivered to the Lake Charles, Louisiana import terminal, where BG has 100% of the capacity rights after 2005. (DJ)

May 14 The Nigerian government announces that it will privatize 51% the country's four petroleum refineries as well as deregulate unspecified parts of the downstream oil sector. This follows the recommendations of a committee set up to solve the problem of recurring fuel shortages in Nigeria, the world's seventh-largest oil exporter in 2002. Nigeria's refineries have a combined capacity of 445,000 barrels a day, but have been unable to meet local demand because of frequent breakdowns. (DJ)

May 19 Bulgaria launches electricity exports to neighboring countries Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), increasing total Bulgarian exports from 200 megawatts (MW) this month to 680 MW in June and 800 MW in July. The exports take the place of electricity exports to Turkey that were halted April 22 because of a dispute between the two countries. (Reuters)

May 22 The United Nations Security Council approves the immediate end of 13 years of economic sanctions on Iraq, dating from the time of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Resolution 1483 effectively grants the United States-led coalition forces control of Iraq until a new Iraqi government can be put in place. The end of the sanctions also makes it easier for Iraqi oil exports to resume without the auspices of the United Nations. (WP)

May 23 The Central Bank of Venezuela announces that the Venezuelan economy contracted by 29% in the first quarter of 2003, a record quarterly economic collapse for the world's fourth largest net oil exporter (2002). Much of the contraction is associated with a debilitating national strike that affected Venezuela's crucial petroleum sector and the imposition of tight currency controls. (Reuters)

May 25 The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Industry and Trade announces that it has created a new publicly-held energy services company, Industrialization and Energy Services, to provide operations and services to the petroleum, petrochemical, electric power, and desalination sectors. The new company's shares will not be traded until the company posts two years of profits. The start-up of this company has prompted some analysts to speculate that it may presage the privatization of some of Saudi Aramco's non-core activities. (NYT)

May 27 The U.S. Department of the Treasury lifts most remaining sanctions on Iraq, thereby implementing U.N. Security Council Resolution 1483. Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snow states that "It is no longer a crime for U.S. companies and individuals to do business with Iraq." (WP)

May 27 It is announced that the Iranian National Oil Company (NIOC) has concluded a 50-50 joint venture with BP to develop the Rhum natural gas field in the North Sea in a deal worth $525 million. This is the Iranian state oil company's first entry into the North Sea. The Rhum field has estimated reserves of 812 billion cubic feet and production is expected to commence in late 2005, at 300 million cubic feet per day. (DJ)

May 28 Iran and Norway agree to closer cooperation in the oil and natural gas sector. States Norwegian Oil and Energy Minister Einar Steensnaes "We signed a memorandum of understanding to increase cooperation in the sector of oil and gas… I understood from my contacts -- not least with the NIOC -- that Statoil will be invited for further engagement in the Persian Gulf." The Norwegian companies Statoil and Norsk Hydro are already active in Iran. (Reuters)

May 28 Olusegun Obasanjo is inaugurated to a second four-year term in office as president of Nigeria, following his reelection in April. OPEC member Nigeria ranked as the world's seventh-largest net oil exporter in 2002. (AP)

May 28 Yukos of Russia signs a $150 billion agreement with China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), wherein CNPC agrees to purchase 5.13 billion barrels of oil between 2005 and 2030 via a $2.5 billion pipeline from Russia's Western Siberia fields to China's Daqing field. (Reuters)

May 29 The Venezuelan government and representatives of opposition groups sign an accord that recommends holding a referendum after August 19, 2003 as the best way of ending political crisis in the world's No. 4 oil exporter. Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria also signed the agreement, as the organization had organized the talks leading up to the agreement. (Reuters)

June 2003

June 5 Saudi Arabia cancels the proposed $15 billion Core Venture 1 natural gas project, led by Exxon Mobil, after the Kingdom and the oil companies involved fail to agree upon financial terms of the project, particularly the returns on investment. This means that two other $10 billion natural gas ventures with foreign oil companies are also likely to be cancelled or significantly changed, according to industry analysts. (WP)

June 5 ChevronTexaco announces that it has restored 320,000-350,000 barrels per day of crude oil production that was shut in because of dangerous circumstances in Nigeria's Niger Delta in March. This is about 70% of the total Niger Delta output that was shut in. (Reuters)

June 6 Phillip Carroll, Chairman of the Advisory Board to Iraq's Oil Ministry, indicates that there is an organized campaign of sabotage against Iraq's oil industry. Carroll states that "It is very difficult for me to identify who they [the saboteurs] are and what their motives are. I can only say their techniques appear to be very professional and aim at causing harm to significant and important installations." A number of oil and natural gas pipelines in Iraq are bombed throughout the month of June. (Reuters)

June 10 Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan notes that rising natural gas prices in the United States could have a negative impact on the economy in the months ahead if prices remain at high levels. States Greenspan, "I have no doubt that...if we stay at these very elevated prices we're going to see some erosion in a number of macroeconomic variables which are not evident at this stage. A very significant amount of natural gas using infrastructure in the American economy was based on $2 gas. That means a lot of noncompetitive structures are sitting out there." (Reuters)

June 11 Oil Ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting in Qatar decide to keep OPEC crude oil production quotas unchanged for the ten members (i.e. not including Iraq) participating in the quota regime. The combined output quota for the ten members is 25.4 million barrels of crude oil per day. OPEC President Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, also Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry, says, "We don't want to cut for the sake of it. We should justify it." (Reuters, DJ)

June 12 Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) announces the results of its first export tender since the start of the war in Iraq that ended the regime of Saddam Hussein. SOMO awards 7.5 million barrels of crude oil to five companies. Terms of the tender are not released. (DJ)

June 12 Two explosions damage the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline, in what is later determined to be an act of sabotage. Several other Iraqi pipelines are damaged in acts of sabotage throughout the month, including a natural gas pipeline in the western desert on June 21, an oil pipeline west of Baghdad on June 22, and the now-stalled Iraq-Syria pipeline on June 23. (Reuters, AP)

June 13 Ecuador declares force majeure on oil exports. A strike by oil workers at state oil company Petroecuador, declared on June 9, has affected not only production at the state-owned company, but also the private operators that use Petroecuador's pipelines and need to mix lighter Petroecuador crudes with their heavier grades. Ecuador normally exports about 240,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The important SOTE pipeline shuts down June 15. The strike ends on June 17 and force majeure is lifted on June 19. (DJ)

June 14 ConocoPhillips announces that the company will proceed with its $1.5 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) development project at the Bayu-Undan fields after government officials of Australia and East Timor approved the project in the Timor Sea Joint Petroleum Development Area. Natural gas from the field will be piped to an LNG liquefaction plant in Australia's Northern Territory. (WSJ, NYT)

June 16 The United States and the European Union agree to a plan for the two parties to collaborate on hydrogen fuel cell research. Other countries are expected to be invited to collaborate in the future as well. (NYT)

June 16 The parliament of Hungary passes legislation that will partially liberalize the country's natural gas market at the start of 2004. About 40% of the market, i.e., that which represents consumption by large industrial and electricity generating companies, will be opened to competition. (Reuters)

June 17 Unocal announces that it is planning to build a new deepwater oil port about 100 miles off the coast of Texas. The port, to be called Bulk Oil Offshore Transfer System (BOOTS), could be completed by as early as 2007, according to the company, and would have the capacity to deliver 1.2 million barrels per day to on-shore refineries. (Reuters)

June 17 The head of Iraq's North Oil Company, Adil al-Qazzaz, states that Iraq's main north-south crude oil pipeline, the so-called Strategic Pipeline, will not be operable for some time, especially because the K-3 pumping station was badly damaged during the recent war. Al-Qazzaz goes on to state that because the pipeline is not working, "[W]e don't have export flexibility, and that will have an impact." (WSJ)

June 19 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) calls on Iran to allow stricter inspections of nuclear sites in the country. Iran is called upon to "promptly and unconditionally conclude and implement an additional protocol to its Safeguards Agreement, in order to enhance the agency's ability to provide credible assurances regarding the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities." Iran initially rejects this request. However, on June 21, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's atomic energy program says, "We will definitely try to cooperate more than before with the IAEA and give them the necessary assurances about Iran's activities." (NYT, Reuters)

June 20 Nigeria announces that funding for further investment in improving the output of its four refineries has been exhausted and that gasoline prices will increase by 65%. Despite Nigeria being one of the world's major exporters of crude oil, the country has had to import gasoline, which was subsidized by about $2 billion in government spending. About $700 million was spent repairing and modernizing the refineries, but capacity utilization has only reached about 53%. Furthermore, two of the refineries are shut-in because of a ruptured supply pipeline. (Reuters)

June 22 Iraq exports oil for the first time since March 20, the first day of the war that eventually toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein. The crude oil, 1 million barrels, was part of the June 12 tender and will be sold to Turkish refiners from oil in storage at the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Loading of the oil onto a tanker begins today. (WP)

June 26 Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, meeting with the Norwegian Oil Minister in Norway, announces the re-launching of Saudi Arabia's natural gas initiative. However, instead of three unified ventures, the projects are now being split along upstream gas development and downstream industry lines as stand-alone ventures. The largest of the previous unified ventures was canceled on June 5. (Reuters)

June 26 It is announced that Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol will be split into three companies. The newly created National Hydrocarbon Agency would handle exploration and oil production. Ecopetrol S.A. will deal with refinery operations, while a third company will handle "nonstrategic" investments. All three will remain publicly owned. According to Ecopetrol president Isaac Yanovich, "We think this is a very positive sign for both foreign and national capital that want to come or continue working in our country's exploration areas." Colombia's oil production has been declining in the last few years. (Reuters)

June 30 A general strike over rising fuel prices begins in Nigeria, though oil production and exports are not immediately affected. Police fire live ammunition and tear gas at crowds of protestors in Lagos and Abuja. (Reuters)

June 30 The Syrian government signs a deal with Royal Dutch/Shell and Petro-Canada to increase Syria's oil output by 30,000 barrels per day as part of the country's plans to raise overall output by 100,000 barrels per day by 2006. (Reuters)

June 30 The 2,000-megawatt capacity Bureya dam on the Amur river in Russia's Far East begins producing power. The $800 million dam was developed without project financing by Russian electricity monopoly Unified Energy System. This is one of the largest hydroelectric dams to come on line in the past 15 years. (Reuters)

July 2003

July 2 Thieves cut into one of Iraq's main oil pipelines in the south, near Najaf, causing a fire and an oil spill that close the pipeline. The underground pipeline is used for both transporting oil for export and for supplying Iraqi refineries and power plants. (AP)

July 2 The European Parliament votes to cap European industry's carbon dioxide output and let firms trade the right to pollute. As of January 2005, many plants in the oil refining, smelting, steel, cement, ceramics, glass and paper sectors will need special permits to emit carbon dioxide (CO2). "It means that the largest emissions trading scheme in the world to date will be a reality from 2005, and that the architecture foreseen under the Kyoto Protocol is coming to life," according to European Union Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom. (Reuters)

July 3 Main Hungarian oil and gas company MOL and Russian oil giant Yukos sign a deal for 7.2 million metric tons (52.3 million barrels) of crude oil per year for MOL's Hungarian and Slovakian refineries. At crude oil prices of $20 per barrel, this is worth at least $7.5 billion per year, as MOL has the option to purchase even more oil. The deal is to take effect January 1, 2004, and will supply 55% to 60% of MOL's refinery capacity. (DJ)

July 3 A group of 20 Polish companies, led by state-owned Polska Nafta, sign a joint venture agreement with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown, and Root, one of the main U.S. contractors rebuilding the Iraqi oil industry. On July 2, Poland sent some 250 soldiers to Iraq to set up a Polish-commanded postwar occupation zone expected to involve more than 9,000 troops from at least 15 countries. (AP)

July 3 An offshore exploration and possible production agreement between Pakistan and French major Total is signed by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. This represents the first foreign investment in offshore oil and gas exploration in Pakistan. Analysts describe this as a major turning point in the Pakistan's effort to become more self-reliant in oil and natural gas, as well as for the future of foreign investment in the country. (Reuters)

July 3 Sakhalin Energy Investment Company announces that it has loaded the first-ever cargo of crude oil from the Russian Far East for delivery to the West Coast of the United States at its Vityaz production complex offshore Sakhalin Island. Most of the crude oil will go to a Tesoro refinery in Washington State. (DJ)

July 7 ChevronTexaco announces that two of its flowstations abandoned during ethnic unrest during March in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria have been vandalized and are badly damaged. The need to repair the flowstations, Olero and Dibi, will likely further delay the restoration of some 140,000 barrels per day of ChevronTexaco's Nigerian production still shut-in. (Reuters)

July 7 According to OPEC's news agency, Opecna, Russia's Energy Minister Igor Yusufov and Iranian official Mohammad Forouzandeh sign a protocol in Moscow to cooperate more closely in the energy sector. The agreement is expected to result in construction of power plants, as well as oil and gas exploration and production. (DJ)

July 8 Leaders of the umbrella Nigeria Labour Congress announce that they are ending a general strike begun on June 30 to protest rising fuel prices in Nigeria. The Labour Congress states that a compromise deal has been struck with the government to increase the fuel price from the previous level of 26 naira ($0.20) per liter to 34 naira, rather than the 40 naira originally announced. Analysts and companies operating in Nigeria had believed that the strike would begin to affect Nigeria's oil production and exports if it went on much longer. (Reuters)

July 8 Iraq's main oil export pipeline to Ceyhan, Turkey, is damaged over the weekend by an explosion (most likely sabotage), according to officials of the de facto Iraqi Oil Ministry. It is estimated that repairs will take two weeks, further delaying the restoration of Iraqi oil exports. (Reuters)

July 9 European Union (EU) energy regulators agree to eliminate the  0.50 per megawatt charge on cross-border electricity sales within the bloc from 2004. The decision is a major breakthrough in the EU's attempts to open its  250 billion energy markets to competition. EU Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio said the agreement demonstrated the commitment of EU countries to an "integrated electricity market without "artificial barriers" to trade." (DJ)

July 9 The government of Chad announces that it has begun its first-ever crude oil production, as wells began pumping on July 1. It will still take weeks before crude is shipped from the $3.5 billion project through a 650-mile pipeline to the Atlantic coast in neighboring Cameroon. The government does not announce the initial flow rate, but eventual production is expected to reach 225,000 barrels per day. Oil begins flowing through the pipeline on July 15. (Reuters)

July 10 The U.S. Army invites bids for two contracts to rebuild Iraq's oil industry, one for the North and one for the South. The contracts, worth up to $1 billion, will replace a no-competition contract awarded in March to Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton. Non-U.S. companies can bid on the contracts, for which the bidding deadline is August 14. The new contracts include extinguishing oil fires, environmental assessments and clean-up at oil sites, the distribution of oil products, maintaining oil fields and the marketing and sale of Iraqi crude oil and refined products. (Reuters)

July 10 Data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows a 111 billion cubic foot build in U.S. natural gas stocks, the sixth consecutive week showing a build. Near-month NYMEX natural gas futures fall 26.2 cents, about 5%, to settle at $5.258 per million Btu. Total U.S. natural gas stocks of 1.773 trillion cubic feet are still 580 billion cubic feet below last year and 317 billion cubic feet below the five-year average. (Reuters)

July 10 The Paris Club of sovereign creditors announces that debts owed by Iraq to its member states amounted to $21.018 billion through August 2, 1990, as well as a similar amount in interest arrears. The largest creditor is Japan, at $4.1 billion dollars. The United States is owed $2.19 billion. The Paris Club numbers do not take account of several key classes of debt, mostly to Gulf States, which amount to some $35 billion, depending on whether they are treated as loans or aid, nor does it take into account commercial debt. (Reuters)

July 11 The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) signs a $2.5 billion agreement with ChevronTexaco for the development of the Agbami oilfield. A deepwater offshore field located on Oil Prospecting Lease 216, Agbami is expected to commence production in 2006 at around 200,000-250,000 barrels per day. (DJ)

July 11 ConocoPhillips announces that it is taking a major stake in one train of the planned Qatargas-3 liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. Total cost of the project is expected to be $5 billion, and will include a liquefaction facility in Qatar, tankers, and a regasification terminal in the United States. It would have two 7.5-million-metric-ton per year trains, together capable of delivering more than 2 billion cubic feet of regasified LNG per day, possibly starting in 2008 or 2009. (OD)

July 12 Sakhalin Oil Development Corporation, the Japanese partner in an international consortium in the Sakhalin-1 project, announces that oil drilling offshore has begun. The project, which may eventually see $12 billion invested in oil and natural gas development, is potentially the largest direct foreign investment in Russia. Total recoverable reserves at the Sakhalin-1 area are estimated to be 2.3 billion barrels of oil and 17.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. (DJ)

July 13 The new Iraqi National Council is introduced in a televised ceremony in Baghdad. The Council's makeup was formed from negotiations involving U.S. officials and Iraqis who had opposed former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The 25-member governing council brings together Iraqi Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and ethnic Turks. It has the power to name ministers and approve the 2004 budget, but L. Paul Bremer, civilian administrator for Iraq, has the last word on Iraq's affairs. (AP)

July 14 According to Abolhasan Khamoushi, general director of Iran's state-owned Oil Development and Engineering Company, there has been a major new oil find in Iran. The three new neighboring fields, near the southern city of Bushehr, contain estimated reserves of 38 billion barrels of oil. However, the crude has a low API gravity, and estimated recoverable reserves have not yet been determined. (Reuters)

July 15 The operator of Israel's Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, a bi-directional pipeline linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, announces that the pipeline is operational. The pipeline, with a current capacity of 400,000 barrels per day, but a design capacity of 1.2 million barrels per day, provides an alternative to the Suez Canal, as both Israeli ports can handle VLCCs, whereas Suez cannot. Perhaps even more importantly, with the new southerly flow, Russian crude on small tankers from the Bosporus will be able to eventually load onto VLCCs bound for East Asia. (Reuters)

July 15 Hurricane Claudette hits the Texas coast about 80 miles southwest of Houston. According the U.S. Minerals Management Service, an estimated 2.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas had been shut in by Claudette, or about 18% of the Gulf's total gas output. Also, about 330,000 barrels per day of oil, or some 21% of the Gulf of Mexico's daily oil production, has been shut down. Production is quickly restored in the next few days. (Reuters)

July 15 Major energy company Mirant files for bankruptcy in Fort Worth, Texas, in what is expected to be the largest bankruptcy in the United States this year. Atlanta-based Mirant has $20.6 billion in assets and $11.4 billion in debt. (OD)

July 16 Italian oil and gas major Eni announces that it has begun exporting oil production from the giant Karachaganak field in Kazakhstan to the Novorossiysk terminal on the Black Sea. In addition, Eni said that it and its partners had completed pipelines and treatment facilities so that output from the oil field could grow by the end of the year to 380,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the current 220,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. (DJ)

July 16 Royal Dutch/Shell and Total successfully conclude the first deal with Saudi Arabia giving Western companies access to its hydrocarbon reserves since the nationalization of its petroleum industry. The agreement, which is smaller than the original Core Venture Three being negotiated with ConocoPhillips (which has dropped out of the current project), is a natural gas exploration and development deal covering 77,000 square miles in the Kingdom's Empty Quarter. (Reuters)

July 18 United Nations inspectors detect traces of enriched uranium at the Iranian nuclear facility near Natanz, south of Tehran. The Iranian government is constructing a massive uranium processing plant at this location. The inspectors, part of the International Atomic Energy Agency, are preparing to collect additional samples, as the confirmation of the discovery of such materials could indicate a breach by Iran of its agreements under the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. (WP)

July 21 The Brazilian government unveils a new plan for its power sector to reduce risks of shortages and to expand investment. It will involve setting up two different trading systems, one of which would pool old and new electricity sources wherein distributors design mixed contracts to reduce costs for final consumers. The other trading system would set up bilateral contracts between generators and large industrial consumers. Brazilian Minister of Energy and Mines Dilma Rousseff comments, "We want to protect consumers from abrupt price increases but we also want to increase free competition [in the first system]… The independent buyer [in the second system] will be able to negotiate power contracts at its own risk, because that won't affect electricity prices for final consumers." (DJ)

July 22 Iraq's State Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) announces that it is in negotiations for the first post-war term contracts for its oil exports. Since the end of the war, all Iraqi exports have been spot tenders, but SOMO plans term contract sales of Basra crude to refiners from its southern fields. SOMO also says that it will announce monthly prices for its Basra term sales in the first 10 days of each preceding month. On July 27, SOMO signs 10 term contracts to supply over 20 million barrels of Basra crude a month to global oil majors and refineries and expects to sign several more deals in the next few days, according to SOMO head Mohammed Al-Jiboury. (Reuters, DJ)

July 23 The president of São Tomé and Príncipe, Fradique de Menezes, returns to the West African island nation after signing a deal with coup leaders that ends a week-long military takeover. It is believed that the islands may contain large hydrocarbon reserves.

July 23 Exxon Mobil announces that condensate and natural gas liquid (NGL) production from its Oso terminal in Nigeria restarted sometime in the middle of July after being shut-in since a fire in April. Company officials noted that a "significant amount" of the unit's 95,000 barrels of crude oil equivalent per day of condensates and 45,000 barrels of crude oil equivalent per day of NGLs was back in production. (DJ)

July 25 The first delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) since 1980 is made to the reactivated Cove Point LNG regasification plant in Maryland, as a tanker from Trinidad arrives carrying 22 million gallons of LNG. According to Dominion, owner of the facility, the plant will be able to supply 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, and will be the largest LNG regasification facility in the United States. (WP)

July 25 It is reported that China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has discovered 2 billion barrels of oil in the Sudan, of which 600 million are estimated as recoverable. The discovery was made in two blocks that CNPC shares with Qatari Gulf Petroleum Company and two Sudanese companies. Production is expected to commence in 2005, with annual production capacity near 60 million barrels (about 164,000 barrels per day).

July 31 The Republican-majority U.S. Senate passes an energy bill that was originally drafted by Democrats last year, an unusual occurrence after there were numerous difficulties passing a Republican-drafted measure. The bill will now go to conference, as Senate and House leaders reconcile their versions of an energy bill. (WSJ)

July 31 Oil Ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), meeting in Vienna, decide to keep their crude oil production quotas unchanged until their next meeting, on September 24. The combined quota for the ten members participating in the quota regime (i.e. excluding Iraq) is 24.5 million barrels per day. (WSJ)

July 31 The governor of Nigeria's Delta state announces that theft of petroleum in Nigeria is estimated at about 300,000 barrels per day, which is costing Nigeria $3.6 billion per year in lost revenues. (Reuters)

August 2003

August 5 Turkey and Russia reportedly reach a preliminary agreement on natural gas shipments through the Blue Stream pipeline from Russia under the Black Sea. Russia had initiated legal action in July in response to Turkey's move to stop gas imports through the line and to demand a lower price than previously agreed to. (WMRC)

August 7 The United States estimates that restoring Iraq's oil sector to its pre-war status will cost at least $1.1 billion and take nine months to complete. Prior to the war, Iraq was producing around 2.5-2.6 million barrels per day and exporting around 2.0-2.1 million barrels per day. Current production is closer to 1 million barrels per day, with exports of about 600,000-700,000 barrels per day. (LAT)

August 7 Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi says that Saudi Arabia expects $20 billion worth of foreign investment in natural gas projects over the next 6 years. Following the apparent collapse of the giant Saudi Gas Initiative back in June 2003, the country signed an upstream natural gas deal with Shell and Total, and in general appears to be continuing its efforts at attracting foreign investment to its gas sector. (WMRC)

August 8 An oil pipeline near Tucson, Arizona, which ruptured on July 30, is shut down completely, halting the flow of gasoline into Phoenix from refineries in the El Paso area. In following weeks, gasoline prices in the area skyrocket. (LAT)

August 11 DaimlerChrysler and General Motors agree to drop lawsuits against California regarding clean air regulations requiring production of millions of low-emission vehicles. This does not resolve another issue however, namely California's decision in 2002 to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. (OD)

August 12 Trinidad and Tobago reaches agreement with Venezuela on a Memorandum of Understanding regarding development of natural gas reserves in their maritime border area. This agreement could facilitate development of Venezuela's offshore Deltana Platform, thought to hold as much as 38 trillion cubic feet of natural gas on Venezuela's side and a slightly lesser amount on Trinidad's side. (DJ)

August 14 Libya reportedly has agreed to compensate families of the 1988 Lockerbie airplane bombing with $2.7 billion total. The money is to be released in three tranches, the first following a lifting of United Nations sanctions, the second after possible lifting of U.S. sanctions, and the third after Libya is removed from the U.S. State Department's state sponsors of terrorism list. (WMRC)

August 14 A huge electric power blackout hits large parts of the northeastern United States, the Midwest, and southern Canada late in the afternoon. Power is out for at least several hours in major cities like New York, Detroit, Cleveland, and Toronto. President Bush calls the blackout a "wake-up call" and promises, "we will figure out what went wrong and we will address it." Some analysts blame the country's aging power transmission grid. (WSJ)

August 14 Russia approves a $13 billion merger between Yukos and Sibneft, creating "YukosSibneft," Russia's first "supermajor" and one of the world's largest publicly traded oil companies. (WMRC)

August 14 Japan and Russia reportedly have agreed to study the possibility of constructing an oil pipeline connecting Angarsk in eastern Siberia to Russia's Pacific Coast port of Nakhodka, from where the oil could be exported by tanker to Japan. The pipeline is expected to cost $6 billion. (WMRC)

August 15 Iran reportedly aims to have 7,000 megawatts of nuclear power generating capacity by 2020, and has given the go-ahead for construction of a second nuclear power plant at the Bushehr complex. The United States opposes Iran's nuclear program, which Iran claims is for peaceful purposes. Iran's power demand is growing around 7% per year, but the country is also rich in natural gas and oil reserves, calling into question the need for nuclear power. (WMRC)

August 15 Iraq's crucial northern oil pipeline from Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan is attacked, stopping flows on the line just two days after it reopened for the first time since the war. The pipeline had a pre-war capacity of 1.1 million barrels per day, but sustained significant damage during hostilities and had started pumping at only around 200,000 barrels per day. Repairs to the line from the latest attack may take weeks, while full restoration of the pipeline's pre-war capacity could take months. (WMRC)

August 15 Oil output from the huge offshore Kashagan oilfield in Kazakhstan is likely to be delayed until 2007, or two years later than originally planned. This could have implications for oil flows through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which is scheduled to open in early 2005. (WMRC)

August 19 U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham says that his agency will head up a sweeping investigation into what caused the huge power blackout of August 14. Abraham adds, "The electric transmission grid is quite possibly the most vital piece of infrastructure we have." (NYT)

August 19 Two of China's largest energy companies - CNOOC and Sinopec - agree to cooperate in what could be China's largest offshore natural gas project ever. The area to be developed is located around 250 miles southeast of Shanghai in the Xihu trough. China is attempting to increase its usage of natural gas, which currently makes up only around 3% of the country's energy consumption, and this project would serve the booming Shanghai area. (NYT)

August 25 Russia's government had approved a joint venture merging BP's assets in Russia and Ukraine with Russian oil major Tyumen Oil (TNK). TNK-BP will be Russia's largest multinational corporation, with a value of around $19 billion. (NYT)

August 25 U.S. gasoline prices reach a national average of around $1.75 per gallon, following a sharp four-week spike. Gasoline prices are now at their highest ever in nominal terms, but when adjusted for inflation, they remain far below their highs reached in the early 1980s. In 1981, for instance, gasoline prices reached $2.88 per gallon in today's dollars, adjusted for inflation (WP; EIA)

August 27 According to the United Nations, Iran has admitted receiving significant foreign assistance in building a secret nuclear enrichment facility south of Tehran. (WP)

August 28 According to the United Nations, Iran has admitted receiving significant foreign assistance in building a secret nuclear enrichment facility south of Tehran. (WMRC)

August 29 The United States, North Korea, and four other countries (China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia) end three days of talks on resolving the North Korean nuclear issue, with no resolution but a decision to meet again. (NYT)

September 1 Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, a former Iraqi exile, is appointed Iraq’s first post-war oil minister by the country’s Governing Council. Uloum replaces Thamir Ghadban, who had been the acting oil minister since early May. (Reuters)

September 2 Russia and Saudi Arabia sign a pact pledging to cooperate to maintain stability in world oil markets during a visit by Crown Prince Abdullah to Moscow, marking the first official visit of a Saudi leader to Russia since the 1930s. Saudi Arabia and Russia are the world’s first and second largest oil exporters, respectively. (WSJ)

September 3 The House of Representative’s Energy and Commerce Committee launches an investigation into last month’s massive power blackout in the U.S. Northeast and Midwest. (AP)

September 5 Brazilian state oil company Petrobras significantly revises reserve estimates from its April 2003 hydrocarbon discovery off the coast of São Paulo. The revision, from 2.5 trillion cubic feet to 14.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could triple Brazil’s total natural gas reserves if confirmed. (WMRC)

September 10 The Inter-American Development Bank approves financing for Peru’s Camisea natural gas project. The Camisea fields were discovered by Shell in 1986 and are estimated to hold 13 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 660 million barrels of condensate, possibly transforming Peru into a net energy exporter. (DJ, WP, WMRC, EIA)

September 11 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves a plan for the new Cameron liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Cameron represents the first such project in the United States in over 20 years. (NYT)

September 11 An accident forces Shell to shut in all four of its platforms located in the North Sea Brent field, affecting approximately 50,000 barrels per day of production according to press reports. Shell restarts one of the platforms on September 15, while the U.K. Health and Safety Executive investigates the other three. (Platts)

September 12 The United Nations (U.N.) Security Council lifts 11-year-old sanctions against Libya. Development of Libya’s sizeable oil resources has been hindered by the sanctions, which were imposed in 1992 in an effort to extradite two Libyans indicted for the 1998 bombing of an American plane over Scotland. (AP)

September 12 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) imposes an October 31 deadline on Iran to answer all of the agency’s questions about its nuclear program. Iran is suspected to be developing nuclear weapons facilities, indicating non-compliance with the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which could lead to United Nations sanctions. (AFP)

September 16 El Paso Corporation confirms that it has reduced production runs at its refinery at Eagle Point, New Jersey, by roughly 50% due to delays in crude oil deliveries associated with Hurricane Isabel, which hit the East Coast on September 18. Motiva also announced that it will moderately cut throughput at its 175,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Delaware City, Delaware, as a precautionary measure. (Reuters)

September 19 Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh announces that the deal which granted a Japanese consortium preferential rights to develop Iran’s Azadegan oil field has expired. The consortium was granted the rights in late 2000, but had yet to negotiate and sign a contract. The Azadegan field is estimated to hold some 26 billion barrels of oil. (Platts)

September 21 Iraq’s leadership council announces free-market reforms for the country, allowing for, “up to 100% foreign ownership in all sectors except natural resources.” In the past, the Iraqi economy was predominantly state controlled. (AP)

September 22 Eni (Italy) declares force majeure on loadings at the Brass River oil terminal in Nigeria after a pipeline connecting to the terminal’s onshore field ruptured. According to Platts, production in the region is reduced from 200,000 barrels per day to 40,000 barrels per day. (Platts)

September 23 The second U.S.-Russia Energy Summit ends in St. Petersburg, Russia, with both sides agreeing to enhance cooperation and encourage Russian oil and gas exports to the United Sates. Russian oil production has been growing rapidly in recent years, reaching 7.65 million bbl/d in 2002--a 26% increase over the 1998 level. (AFP, EIA)

September 23 The State of Connecticut appeals a decision by the U.S. Department of Energy to keep the Cross Sound Cable, which runs between Connecticut and New York across the Long Island Sound, in operation. The previously inactive cable was powered up on orders of the Department of Energy on August 15 owing to the northeast blackout and has remained in operation on the orders of Secretary Abraham. (AP)

September 23 U.S. authorities in Iraq appoint Robert E. McKee as senior U.S. advisor to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, succeeding Philip Carroll who had served in the position since May. (WSJ)

September 24 OPEC members agree to cut the output ceiling for the ten member countries, excluding Iraq, by 900,000 barrel per day to 24.5 million barrels per day, effective November 1. Iraq attends the OPEC meeting for the first time since 1990. OPEC cited concerns that the world oil market will be oversupplied in 2004 leading to lower prices. (Reuters)

September 25 Under the direction of the Secretary of Energy, the National Petroleum Council, which is made up of representatives from the oil and gas industries, releases a report on the U.S. natural gas industry calling for increasing domestic gas exploration and boosting U.S. capacity for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG). (WMRC)

September 29 Indonesia’s oil minister, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, says that OPEC hopes that non-member oil producers will cut production by a combined 500,000 barrels per day following the cartel’s decision last week to cut by 900,000 barrels per day. (Reuters)

September 30 The Chicago Climate Exchange announces its first auction of emission allowances. Although emissions cuts are still voluntary, the exchange is considered an important prototype. (WMRC)

October 2003

October 1 Federal regulators at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charge American Electric Power Inc. with attempting to manipulate the energy markets by falsely reporting the prices of thousands of natural gas trades from 2000-2002. (WP, NYT, WSJ)

October 2 British Energy, Britain's biggest power generator, reaches an agreement with its creditors on a $2.5 billion government bailout and debt-for-equity swap. The agreement will help the company avoid filing for bankruptcy protection. (NYT)

October 2 North Korea announces that it has already processed 8,000 spent fuel rods that could be used in the production of nuclear bombs. If true, the material in the rods would give North Korea access to enough plutonium to make five or six devices. (NYT)

October 3 Chad's President Idriss Deby announced that the new Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline is officially "onstream." Chad began pumping oil into the pipeline in July 2003 from the Doba field. The $3.7 billion Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline represents the World Bank's single largest investment ever in sub-Saharan Africa. (NYT)

October 4 The Russian oil companies Yukos and Sibneft complete a $45 billion merger, creating YukosSibneft, the world's fourth-largest private oil producer. The news is accompanied by rumors that major American firms are interested in making a deal with YukosSibneft in order to gain access to the Russian energy market. (WP)

October 7 The State of New Hampshire sues 22 major oil companies for their use of the gasoline additive MTBE, which has been linked to water pollution. The suit alleges that the oil companies have been using increasing amounts of the additive despite knowing that it would contaminate water supplies. (NYT)

October 7 The European Union reports that it has reached agreement with the Italian oil major ENI and the Russian gas giant Gazprom regarding a prolonged dispute over sales restrictions in natural gas contracts. Under the agreement, ENI will be allowed to resell gas it has purchased from Gazprom, while Gazprom will be free to sell gas to other Italian customers without having first received ENI's permission. (WSJ)

October 7 Environmentalists and Native American groups reach an agreement with PPL, a power company, to close two dams and decommission a third on the Penobscot River in Maine. The coalition hopes to resuscitate the river and to revive its Atlantic salmon population. In exchange for the dams' closure, the coalition will pay PPL about $25 million. (NYT)

October 9 Inspectors at a New Hampshire nuclear plant find a leak in the containment dome similar to one found at the David-Besse plant in Ohio in March 2002. Spokespeople for both the New Hampshire plant and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission say that the leak poses no danger and was detected early enough to prevent any serious damage. (NYT, WP)

October 13 Abdullah al-Attiyah, president of OPEC, warns that crude oil prices could collapse in 2003-2004 because of the increased flow of Iraqi oil. In al-Attiyah's opinion, this collapse could be avoided if Russia, the second largest exporter, and other large non-OPEC-members cut production. (NYT)

October 14 Bowing to protests, Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada announces he will not pursue a plan to export more than one billion cubic feet per day of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the United States through Chile. The proposal had led to massive popular protests in Bolivia, resulting in the deaths of at least 16 people. (WSJ, WP, NYT)

October 16 Spokesmen for both ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch/Shell (RDS) announce that they are separately investing in natural gas projects in Qatar. RDS plans to invest between $4 and $5 billion dollars in an offshore development project and an onshore gas-to-liquids plant. ExxonMobil's deal could supply more than 15 million tons of LNG to the US market, and involves an investment of at least $10 billion in the expansion of Qatar's Ras Laffan Liquefied Gas Co. plant. (NYT, WSJ, DJ)

October 22 Iran agrees to suspend its uranium enrichment program and accepts a tighter inspection program. The decision comes after months of resistance by Iran to demands from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and others regarding its nuclear program. (WSJ, NYT)

October 22 Congressional Democrats allege that Halliburton subsidiary KBR is paying significantly more than local buyers to bring fuel into Iraq where it has a controversial infrastructure contract. (DJ)

October 23 ChevronTexaco goes on trial in Ecuador, accused by 30,000 alleged victims of systematically dumping hazardous waste during its 20 years of operations in the country. (NYT)

October 25 The owners of the Gorgon plant in Western Australia agreed to supply around $21 billion of LNG over 25 years to China's state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). Gorgon is owned by ChevronTexaco (57 percent), Royal Dutch/Shell (29 percent), and ExxonMobil (14 percent). CNOOC plans to buy a stake in Gorgon, according to officials there. (NYT, WSJ)

October 26 Washington State authorities and the U.S. Department of Energy say they have come to an agreement regarding cleanup of the Hanford nuclear complex, the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States. (NYT)

October 26 Russian authorities arrest Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, head of the Russian oil giant Yukos, jailing him on charges of fraud and income tax evasion. The arrest caps a months-long governmental probe into the oil company, and prompts some industry members to question the desirability of investing in the Russian energy sector. (NYT)

October 27 British Petroleum (BP) and the state-owned Algerian oil company Sonatrach sign an agreement with the British transmission system operator, National Grid Transco, to transport 500 million cubic feet per day of liquefied natural gas (LNG) into the United Kingdom starting in 2005. (WMRC)

October 28 A coalition of twelve states and several cities that oppose changes to the Clean Air Act sue to block the revisions that would make it easier to upgrade power plants, factories and other facilities without also installing pollution controls. (WSJ, NYT)

October 30 The Russian government seizes 44.1% of oil firm Yukos' stock. Government prosecutors indicate that the shares are being held to be used as payment in the event that a court rules against the company's jailed president Mikhail Khodorkovsky. (WMRC, DJ)

October 31 A consortium of international energy firms agrees to build Nigeria's second natural gas liquefication facility in conjunction with the state owned Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Eni/Agip, ChevronTexaco and ConocoPhillips each will take a 17% stake, with the NNPC taking the remaining 49%. The facility will be built on the Brass River in the central Niger delta. (WMRC)

November 2003

November 4 Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Chief Executive Officer of Russian oil major Yukos, resigns after being arrested on October 25 on charges of fraud and tax evasion. Yukos is Russia's largest oil company in terms of production and has been feuding with the Russian government since July, when Platon Lebedev, an associate of Mr. Khordokovsky was also arrested. (WMRC, NYT)

November 4 The International Finance Corporation, the private lending division of the World Bank, approves a $250 million loan for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The 1-million-barrel-per-day pipeline will enable crude oil exports from the land-locked Caspian Sea region to reach world markets through the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. (WSJ, EIA)

November 6 The Michigan Public Service Commission releases a 107-page investigative report on the causes of the massive electricity blackout which beset parts of the United States and Canada on August 14, 2003. The report criticizes a lack of communication between several regional utility companies as well as the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO), an electricity grid reliability coordinating organization based in Carmel, Indiana. (WP)

November 7 Iran declares that it will stop manufacturing the Shahab-4 missile, which is thought to be capable of threatening both Europe and Israel. The move is seen as an effort to assuage mounting concerns over Iran's nuclear program. (WP)

November 11 The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development approves its $250 million loan for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline following a similar decision by the International Finance Corporation on November 4. Securing financing from these two international donor organizations could facilitate more commercial loans which will allow the project to proceed according to schedule. (WMRC)

November 12 Iran's representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ali Akbar Salehi, acknowledges that his country had failed to comply with international nuclear non-proliferation rules as suggested in a confidential IAEA report. He adds, however, "The failures that Iran has been reproached for are minor, and are only on the order of the gram or milligram." The IAEA investigation reportedly indicates that Iran manufactured small quantities of enriched uranium and plutonium as part of a secret nuclear program. (WP)

November 15 Saudi Arabia signs a 40-year natural gas exploration agreement with international oil companies Royal Dutch/Shell and Total. Previ