It seems like a suitable day to jump back into Petropulse blogging - what with oil prices hitting $74 a barrel this morning on the UK’s trading exchanges.
Iran, Nigeria, tight US gasoline inventories and continued high demand are all contributing the on-going price crunch.
It seems odd to me, that while there is a lot of discussion about Nigeria/Iran. . .little, if anything, has been done on Sao Tome and Principe, this nation in the Gulf of Guinea could become the next Kuwait, especially, if Nigeria continues to be unstable. . .The US already has a base deal with this nation’s government.
Comment by peconomist — April 20, 2006 @ 11:39 am
Wow… almost 2 months with no posts!
I work in Angola, have been working for the last year in a half. From what I understand, there is alot of off-shore oil in “Sao Tome e Principe” but it’s at depths never explored before. It looks like there have to be some technology improvements before you can start extracting it at a resonable profit. Of course rising oil prices will speed things up, but there will only be one Kuwait. In the middle East (actually lived in Saudi Arabia for 4 years) they just pumb this stuff from the ground, at practically no cost! And its the kind crude refiniries like, pure and easily refined into gasoline.
Comment by Alex Goncalves — April 21, 2006 @ 1:32 pm
This is the quandary faced by all oil companies Alex - there’s plenty of oil out there but it tends to be in places that are really expensive and tricky to drill. That means all the “cheap oil” - the stuff that’s easily accessible will continue to come from the Middle East.
Comment by matthew — April 21, 2006 @ 1:36 pm
Ah Matthew. . .that hits the spot “cheap oil”, and “refining capacity”, LOL listening to politicians declaring tax holidays and rebates.
I agree the M.E. Oil is the cheapest to produce, however, I remember the 1979 oil shock, causing what were considered “marginal” areas (North Sea, and so on) to become profitable. . .now the places that are left will NOT suffice to meet current/future global demand.
There technologies such as dispersed power generation that MIGHT help increase efficiency in the medium/long term. What has always struck me as tragic was the abdication of National Leadership in Energy by the Reagan Administration (I heard of many promising projects having their funding pulled the moment the 1980 election results came in.
Comment by peconomist — April 27, 2006 @ 11:32 pm