BOE Report

Oil posts biggest one-day gain since 2009, but analysts don’t anticipate sustained rally

NEW YORK - Oil soared more than 10 per cent Thursday, its biggest one-day gain since March 2009, lifted by resurgent global stock markets and a report showing the U.S. economy grew faster than previously reported in the second quarter.U.S. oil rose $3.96, or 10.3 per cent, to $42.56 in New York. That is the biggest gain since March 12, 2009, when oil gained 11 per cent. Brent crude rose 10.3 per cent to $47.56 a barrel in London.Oil had fallen to a 6 1/2 year low because of a global supply glut [Read more]

Schlumberger buying Cameron International in cash and stock deal worth about $12.71B

HOUSTON - Schlumberger is buying Cameron in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $12.71 billion that would create an oilfield equipment and service powerhouse.Cameron was the maker of the blowout preventer on the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon rig, which was rocked by an explosion and fire in 2010 that killed 11 workers and touched off an enormous oil spill.Cameron International Corp. shareholders will receive 0.716 shares of Schlumberger common stock and a cash payment of $14.44 for each of their [Read more]

World markets plummet

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock markets plunged in early trading Monday following a big drop in Chinese stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 1,000 points in early trading and the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell into correction territory, that's Wall Street jargon for a drop of 10 percent or more from a recent peak. Treasuries surged as investors bought less risky assets. Growing concerns about a slowdown in China had already shaken markets around the world on Friday, [Read more]

Opponents take aim at U.S. West Coast crude-by-rail projects in the works

CALGARY - To crude producers hankering for a route to market while pipeline proposals stall, a bevy of crude-by-rail projects planned on the U.S. West Coast may look enticing.But efforts to connect trainloads of crude to refineries and marine terminals in Washington, Oregon and California aren't having an easy time of it either.Big environmental organizations and small community groups have been teaming up to fight rail projects in various stages of development in the region. Among the concerns [Read more]

Feds allow Shell to drill for oil in Arctic Ocean off Alaska for first time in 20-plus years

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The federal government on Monday gave Royal Dutch Shell the final permit it needs to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska's northwest coast for the first time in more than two decades.The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced that it approved the permit to drill below the ocean floor after the oil giant brought in a required piece of equipment to stop a possible well blowout.The agency previously allowed Shell to begin drilling only the top sections [Read more]

$140M in conservation work proposed for Gulf of Mexico; money comes from 2010 BP oil spill

NEW ORLEANS - Ten watersheds around the rim of the Gulf of Mexico — from Florida to Texas — are being looked at as sites for $140 million in proposed conservation projects under a plan to restore the Gulf from BP's catastrophic 2010 oil spill.On Thursday the Gulf Coast Restoration Council, a body set up by Congress to handle money derived from fines from the spill, released a list of the projects it wants to fund.This money comes from a settlement with Transocean Deepwater Inc., a drilling [Read more]

With icebreaker repaired, Shell applies to drill into petroleum zones in US Arctic waters

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Royal Dutch Shell PLC has applied to amend its federal permit to allow drilling into oil-bearing rock in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska's northwest coast.Shell last month received permission to begin some drilling in the Chukchi (chuk-CHEE') Sea but was banned from digging into petroleum zones roughly 8,000 feet below the ocean floor.The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement limited the permit then because equipment was not on hand to handle a possible well [Read more]

4 key questions about the Iran agreement’s influence on global oil prices

1. Will the agreement with Iran affect global oil prices?The easy answer is yes. The more difficult response involves pinpointing when and by how much.Iran has by many estimates tens of millions of barrels of oil waiting in inventory to be sold. They will hit a market already dealing with a glut of oil and relatively low prices. Then the country will start increasing production, which could eventually add another 600,000 barrels of oil a day or more, but that production increase is expected to [Read more]