The Weekly Wrap: July 9, 2010
Cash-filled briefcases lead to $365 million fine for Eni. A U.S. probe brought to light the latest chapter in a Nigerian bribery scheme, this time involving the Italian energy company Eni Sp.A. and its oil services subsidiary Snamprogetti Netherlands. The bribes, which involved deliveries from Eni and Snamprogetti of cash-filled vehicles and briefcases to contacts in ...
Cash-filled briefcases lead to $365 million fine for Eni. A U.S. probe brought to light the latest chapter in a Nigerian bribery scheme, this time involving the Italian energy company Eni Sp.A. and its oil services subsidiary Snamprogetti Netherlands. The bribes, which involved deliveries from Eni and Snamprogetti of cash-filled vehicles and briefcases to contacts in Nigeria's oil ministry, were part of a larger scheme involving several oil groups building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Niger Delta.
Cash-filled briefcases lead to $365 million fine for Eni. A U.S. probe brought to light the latest chapter in a Nigerian bribery scheme, this time involving the Italian energy company Eni Sp.A. and its oil services subsidiary Snamprogetti Netherlands. The bribes, which involved deliveries from Eni and Snamprogetti of cash-filled vehicles and briefcases to contacts in Nigeria’s oil ministry, were part of a larger scheme involving several oil groups building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Niger Delta.
Chesapeake pitches to Chinese investors. Chesapeake Energy is making an appeal to Chinese and other Asian investors to buy stakes in several of its gas projects. Since Congress’s rebuff of a Chinese bid to acquire Unocal in 2005, Beijing has been wary of buying stakes in U.S. energy fields. A deal could signal a new trend regarding Chinese investment in strategic U.S. industries.
Preparing for the worst. Egypt and Saudi Arabia announced an oil spill exercise in the waters off the Egyptian coast near the city of Alexandria, scheduled for later this year. In the wake of the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the two countries want to demonstrate their ability to respond to and contain a major tanker spill in the Mediterranean or the Red Sea, among the most heavily trafficked waterways for global oil shipments.
Back to the future? The latest five-year energy prediction from the International Energy Agency estimated that the vast majority of growth in oil production between 2010 and 2015 would come from OPEC countries, illustrating the cartel’s increasing relevance over the long term in world oil markets. But the IEA has been wrong before in its predictions, and the development of unconventional sources of oil outside OPEC, as well as the greater interest in shale gas and LNG, could dampen any rising influence OPEC may gain.
Could the post-Macondo oil industry be self-regulated? That’s what William Reilly, the co-chairman of President Obama’s appointed commission investigating the BP spill, has hinted. Reilly draws inspiration from the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations, an industry group that has proposed and enforced standards for American nuclear power plants since the Three Mile Island accident. But an industry-run watchdog would not be the sole regulator for oil companies operating in the United States. Reilly has only suggested a self-regulating agency as "an addition, not as a substitute for regulation." The American public and Congress, however, are likely to be more skeptical.
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