General Interest – Quick Takes

By Anonymous

Japan offers loan to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure

The Japanese government has agreed to lend Iraq some 102.8 billion ($862 million), “with just over half of it earmarked for reconstruction of Iraq’s oil pipelines, refineries, and export terminal facilities.

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said 50 billion would be used to upgrade Iraq’s oil export facilities, while another 2 billion will enable refurbishment of a refinery in Basra on the Persian Gulf.

The ministry released a statement that Iraq boasts the world’s third-largest crude oil reserves and that it is important for Japan to build a long-term strategic partnership with Iraq.

In February, Japan imported 290,973 kl of crude oil from Iraq out of total worldwide imports of 18.7 million kl.

The ministry said another 32.6 billion in loans will go toward rebuilding Iraq’s power sector, and some 18 billion, for the repair and redevelopment of a fertilizer plant.

The loans are repayable over a 40-year term, with a 10-year grace period.

DOE rejects bids to supply oil to SPR

The US Department of Energy rejected initial bids to supply the Strategic Petroleum Reserve with as much as 4 million additional bbl of oil. DOE’s fossil energy office said the bids were too high. A second solicitation will occur in mid-April, it indicated on Apr. 4.

The solicitation was the first of a series to replace 11 million bbl sold from the reserve in fall 2005 after Hurricane Katrina damaged supply lines. The purchases would be the first for the SPR since 1994 and will be financed with the $584 million of proceeds from the emergency sale, DOE said.

It said the SPR, which has a 727 million bbl capacity, currently has 689 million bbl of inventory. DOE said it plans to stagger solicitations over several months to minimize market impacts and hopes to achieve a moderate fill rate of 100,000 b/d.

MMS makes proposal to resolve pipeline disputes

The US Minerals Management Service proposed regulations Apr. 6 to establish processes for resolving offshore oil and gas pipeline access disputes.

The proposed regulations are designed to establish a “way for shippers of oil and gas from federal leases on the Outer Continental Shelf to notify MMS if they believe they have been denied open and nondiscriminatory access to pipelines on the OCS, the agency said in a notice published in the Federal Register.

The rules also would provide MMS with tools to assure that pipeline companies provide open and nondiscriminatory access to their systems, it added.

MMS noted that the OCS Lands Act mandates that pipelines provide such access to both owner and nonowner shippers. It said the proposed rules would implement complaint procedures and alternative measures for shippers who allege they have been denied such access. It said it would accept comments on the proposal through June 5 and on its reporting burden by May 7.

UK gasoline sales up in ’06 after long slide

Gasoline sales in the UK reversed a 10-year slide last year, reports the Energy Institute, London.

In line with a well-established European pattern, diesel sales increased by much more than gasoline.

UK gasoline sales climbed in 2006 by 572,000 tonnes, or 3.1%, the Energy Institute reported in its UK Retail Marketing survey. Gasoline sales had fallen each year since 1997. Diesel sales last year grew by 1.6 million tonnes, or 8.4%.

Total motor-fuel sales increased by 5.8% to a record 40.5 million tonnes in 2006 as registered UK vehicles grew by 0.6% to an all- time high of 3 3.1 million.

While product sales grew, the number of retail outlets in the UK and Northern Ireland fell to 9,382, the lowest since the 1920s.That number was 382 below the end-2005 total.

The Energy Institute study reported increases in the numbers of retail sites owned by supermarkets and small retailers and decreases in oil-company, main-retailer, and other unbranded sites.

Here are last year’s changes in retail outlets by the leading UK oil-company marketers: BP down 20 to 1,212, Texaco down 13 to 1,041, Esso down 46 to 910, Total down 1 to 909, and Shell down 34 to 872.

Copyright PennWell Publishing Company Apr 16, 2007

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