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Canadian bankruptcy filings by two block partners, Canadian Super Energy and Challenger Energy have raised doubts about the future of the key natural gas block offshore Trinidad and Tobago venture. This may lead the UK natural gas firm BG Group to buy out its Canadian partners, after they are protected by Canadian bankruptcy laws.

The state owned Oil Company Petrotin of Trinidad and Tobago is planning for a joint venture where the company will sell a minority stake in its refinery. The joint venture partner is expected to finance $750 million upgradation of the refinery.

Refineries in mainland China are operating at a loss due to surging international crude prices and capped domestic oil product prices. Margins fell below US$3/bbl (Yuan 182.5/mt), in contrast to about US$10/bbl refining margins at highly integrated refineries in the US.

ExxonMobil declares it's future plans to construct a 2 Bcf/d Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) receiving terminal at Texas, to take a 90% share along with Qatar Petroleum, in an LNG terminal in Italy, to construct an LNG terminal about 10 miles south of Port Arthur. ExxonMobil partnered with Qatar Petroleum and acquired a 90% stake in Edison Gas, which is reportedly having shortage of funds now, with project cost rising to $ 600-mil.

In a press conference held in Rome Russian President Vladimir Putin assured the EU officials that the Yukos Scandal would not effect the negotiations between Russia and EU.

Italy is banning tankers over 5,000 dwt, over 15 years old, and with single hull from ports and offshore terminals. The decree takes effect in April, 2003.

Eni S.p.A. signed a contract with Iran to develop the Darquain onshore oil field. The contract is worth $1 billion. Plans for the two-phase development are examined.

CEO Vittorio Mincato of Eni S.p.A. is comfortable with the increasing foreign ownership of the firm. Italy's treasury is selling its 30% stake, and 50% of the firm is already held by foreign investors.

Gilberto Dialuce, Italy's gas specialist for the Industry Ministry, said several natural gas projects are in the planning stages, including two pipelines and two liquefied natural gas facilities.

The reorganisation by Italy's oil group Eni of its gas division Snam is discussed. The changes introduced separate companies for storage and transmission of gas required under Italian deregulation law.

Edison will pursue its joint venture with ExxonMobil to construct an LNG terminal on Italy's northeast Adriatic coast, even though there has been local opposition. The facility will handle 4 billion cu mt a year.

The merger of petroleum majors Chevron and Texaco makes it important that other petroleum companies, particularly Eni of Italy and TotalFinaElf of France, find new partners in order to compete as major players.

Italian oil exploration company, Agip, are awaiting results of tests from Kurdashi wells to see whether oil reserves are indicated in the Caspian Sea. Projects in the Adriatic and Southern Apennines are also expected to proceed after the resolution of environmental concerns.

New environmental regulations in Italy may threaten the development of the Val d'Agri oil fields in the southern Appenines by Enterprise Oil and partner ENI.

Amoco would like to divest from its Opon project in Colombia. The gas location and power plant have suffered from decreased production and will probably continue to decrease. The site is valued at $214 million. Atlanta Richfield Co. is Amoco's partner in the project. Due to the problems at Opon and difficulties with rebels in the area, Amoco has been steadily reducing its number of employees in Colombia.

Colombian state company Ecopetrol has imposed a one-year sanction on Triton Energy because the firm violated its contract for the Sombrerillo and Guayabo B areas. Triton will not be allowed to bid on the next round of licensing in Colombia, which Ecopetrol has postponed until March and May 1999. The rare sanction prohibits Triton from signing any new contracts for one year.

Partners in the OCENSA pipe line in Colombia expect that the line will be able to return to normal operation later in Oct 1998 acording to British Petroleum Co officials. Production has not been affected at the oil fields which British Petroleum operates. It is alleged that attacks on the pipe lines have been the operation of the Colombian rebel National Liberation Army.

New Columbian energy minister Luis Carlos Valenzuela, in comments at a congressional meeting on the country's petroleum policies, said that, under new president Andres Pastrana, he plans to make exploration the top priority. He asserted that state oil firm Ecopetrol should concentrate on exploration and leave refining and other activities to the private sector.

Repeated guerrilla attacks against the Cano Limon-Civenas pipeline in Colombia has prompted Occidental Petroleum to consider reducing its staff in the country. The attacks have brought pipeline operations and production to a standstill, according to the company. Occidental officials say that they will review the employment of the 500 people who work at Cao Limon and decide what areas to cut.

BP has received approval from Ecopetrol on Mar. 19, 1998 to declare the Pauto field commercial. The field is part of the Piedemonte block, which has been under dispute for more than two years as Colombia's state company and BP argued over the sliding-scale agreement and principal hydrocarbon definitions. BP's production share starts at 40%, with royalties at 20%.

Petroleum industry sources say that Lasmo is preparing to drastically reduce its Colombian operations, or possibly to leave the country completely in the face of the tenuous security situation. Profitability and security concerns have already forced such multinationals as Canada's Petrolex Energy, BP and Shell to give up their Colombian properties.

Shell Oil Co has announced that it plans to divest itself from the Cano Limon field in Colombia as part of its selloff of Shell Co of Colombia, even though it has been in Colombia for 60 years. Occidental Petroleum Corp and state-owned Ecopetrol have been Shell's partners in the operation. The need for dynamic portfolio management was cited by Shell as the reason for the departure on Feb 9, 1998.

British Petroleum has launched a major cost-cutting initiative by downsizing more than one-third of its labor force in Colombia. Of the employees laid off, around 295 were Columbian, 150 were fixed-term and 105 were foreign. The cut is expected to reduce BP's payroll from 1997's total of $95 million to $55 million by 1999. Additional savings will come from reduced exploration.

Colombia is forming Empresa Colombiana de Gas (Ecogas), a state-owned company that will operate the nation's existing natural gas pipelines and continue development of the national gas transportation grid. Ecogas will be independent from the state oil company, Ecopetrol, but the two firms will coordinate their operations. The Colombian House of Representatives is expected to approve the start-up in June 1997. The Senate has already given its approval.

British Petroleum has stopped exploration and construction work at sites in the Cupiagua oil field in Colombia because of guerrilla attacks. Also, contractors and subcontractors have canceled labor contracts for about 1,000 workers after one worker was killed and injured several in the May 15, 1997, attack on buses carrying laborers. Work continues on Colombia's Cusiana field.

British Petroleum Company PLC and two other partners have agreed to join Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos SA (Ecopetrol) in the development of the Recetor block in Colombia. However, until development for the adjoining Piedmonte fields is approved, work on the Recetor block is stymied. About 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and from 600 mil to 1 bil barrels of condensate are believed to be held in these fields.

Trinidad and Tobago Energy Ministry Permanent Secretary Leroy Mayers stated August 20, 2010 that production of recoverable natural gas from the country's maritime border with Venezuela could start by early 2014. The offshore Loran/Manatee field contains a total estimated 2.7 trillion cubic feet on the Trinidadian side, with production of about 1.3 Tcf likely to start in 2014.

A draft proposal released by the Petroleum Fiscal Review Committee of Trinidad and Tobago on 21 August 2009 aims at providing and enabling a situation to encourage and promote exploration and development activities amid an improved sharing of economic returns. Oil and gas companies have been given a deadline of two weeks to comment on the draft proposal as per the Energy Minister Conrad Enill.

Swiss-based ASG Power has threatened to sue the Albanian government on hearing the news that it plans to give approval to a rival project to build an LNG import terminal and associated power plant in Albania. The Albanian government has informed that ASG has not yet secured the concession license, even after receiving authorization.

Trinidad and Tobago's energy industry is worried about the government's upcoming tax scheme for the energy sector. The finance minister has outlined the changes in the oil tax regime for the fiscal 2006 and has unveiled a costly spending list, including personal tax cuts, and anti-crime and social programs, to be partly paid for by a sharp increase in energy taxation.

A proposed overhaul of Trinidad's oil tax regime would result in BP, BG and other major companies, operating in Trinidad and Tobago, paying a substantial amount of back taxes. The proposed changes if approved by parliament would mean energy companies that have invested heavily in Trinidad might owe back taxes, while smaller operators may get a rebate.

Oil firms have proposed a voluntary ban on single-hull crude tankers in ports in Italy by 2004 or 2005. The proposal is aimed at preventing a tighter ban put forward by Italian environment minister Willer Bordon.

Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos SA (Ecopetrol) has granted British Petroleum PLC's request to designate as commercial the Florena Field in Colombia's Piedemonte Block. BP agreed to produce, in addition to petroleum, natural gas for the generation of power. A third party will build the power plant. Plans to develop other parts of the block remain under negotiation with Ecopetrol.

Occidental Petroleum Corp is waiting the Colombia government's decision about which land Occidental will continue to explore on the Samore block. Occidental has a contract to regain 25% of its former stake in the block under new terms from Colombia's Ecopetrol, but the U'wa Indians have prevented the transfer by claiming rights to land outside their reservation but in their migratory path. The Indians have threaten mass suicide if drilling occurs on the disputed land.

British Petroleum has been laying off employees in Colombia since January 1998 and by the end of 1999 will have reduced its labor in the country by half. The company is cutting costs in labor, exploration, drilling, and other departments in an effort to streamline the corporation and increase performance. Problems for BP in Colombia include high costs, attacks by rebels, and trouble with its contract for exploration in the Piedemonte area.

Chevron will try to stay in Colombia, according to Pres Rob Young of Chevron Petroleum Co. of Colombia. The company is assessing its holdings in the country, and may give up a contract in the north. Chevron is also negotiating to extend for 20 years its lease on two fields south of Bogota, plus licensing agreements with Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos. Young believes the security situation has improved.

British Petroleum Company PLC has been forced to reduce production as of May 21, 1998 due to the Colombian oil workers' union strike that has closed the OCENSA crude export pipeline. The transport of gas and reserves of propane gas in Colombia has become paralyzed as a result of the strike. Minister of Energy Orlando Cabrales has asked that the union cease activities that are disruptive of petroleum production and distribution in Colombia.

Colombian lawmakers are discussing how much acreage of British Petroleum's (BP) Piedemonte block it should return to the Colombian government. The block has been at the center of a number of contract disputes between BP and the Colombian government and the row has hindered the development of the block for several months.

Officials from state oil company Ecopetrol deny that the Colombian market is troubled by oil companies exiting due to rebel activity. Nine firms entered the market in 1997, including Conoco and Arco, and Ecopetrol has new contracts with Amoco and Texaco. Reports in the media, however, state that rebels have disrupted operations, causing at least one company to leave.

BP has released 50% of its Piedemonte block as the outcome of Colombia's state contract term review becomes doubtful. BP officials no longer anticipate improved terms and are now concentrating on development of the Florena and Pauto discoveries. BP plans to return all acreage yielding no discoveries by 2002, one 25% block in 2000, and a 15% block two years later.

Petrolex Energy Corp of Australia has suspended activities in its three oil fields in Colombia and is considering security options after a series of abductions of employees by Colombian rebels. One subcontractor and another four employees have been kidnapped at Petrolex activities during Sep 1997. Trucking operations and field developments have been suspended by Petrolex and most of its Colombia employees have been sent home.

Foreign oil company officials have expressed their concern over the lack of protection by Colombian security forces from guerrilla attacks. Colombian energy official Fernando Gutierrez says that while there are Colombian security forces in the oilfields, their reaction to attacks has been ineffective. He says foreign oil companies have accused the Colombian government of not taking adequate measures to protect oil installations.