Oil Industry Headlines: Week of February 8
How much is the opportunity to invest in Iraq’s oil industry worth? For Russia, the magic number is $12.9 billion. “Iraqi foreign minister Hoshiar Al Zibari, who is on a state visit to Russia, in turn, assured renewed opportunities for Moscow’s participation in the country’s lucrative oil sector,” reported RTTNews. The debt cancellation may help Russian oil company Lukoil convince the new government to honor contracts signed under the former regime.
In Nigeria, the government is ordering oil companies who evacuated employees from unsafe areas to return. “Minister for Special Duties Godsday Orubebe said it was now safe for them to resume production,” said BBC News. It’s unlikely that oil companies will agree: Just this week militants attacked a Naval escort boat in Southern Nigeria, blew up a major pipeline and kidnapped a government official’s wife. The government has threatened to block operations for companies who do not resume production but have not taken any formal legal action.
U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. has obtained orders from courts in the Netherland’s to freeze $12 billion in Venezuelan assets. The freeze is meant to ensure that Venezuela does not liquidate its assets as a preventative measure against possible judgments that could be awarded for as compensation for seized assets. Exxon Mobil is currently seeking reimbursement for it’s investment in Venezuela’s Orinoco Basin, which was nationalized last year. In response, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, stopped selling crude to Exxon Mobil. The United States affirmed it’s support of Exxon Mobil, prompting OPEC to threaten to cut off oil shipments.
Published Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 6:26 pm and filed under Industry News.