Mexico

Chimera Energy Corp., which had seen its stock price increase substantially this summer based on its claims of a deal with Mexico’s state-owned petroleum company, has since lost both its CEO and almost all of its stock value in the wake of concerns about the accuracy of many of the company’s statements.

The United States will become the top producer of oil globally within five years, a net exporter of natural gas by 2020 and an oil exporter by close to 2030, all thanks to its massive unconventional resources, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Monday in its annual flagship publication, the World Energy Outlook (WEO).

In Montana in a “forgotten corner of the Williston Basin,” a Texas company is gathering up acreage with the expectation that it can turn what some call the False Bakken into a true gem. And if that doesn’t work, northeast Montana has more to offer in and near the Bakken Petroleum System.

Williams, whose natural gas midstream and pipeline infrastructure stretches from Canada into the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, is tweaking its earnings forecasts lower for the next two years based on conversations with customers that indicate activity will be slower in the short term.

Statoil ASA, which has natural gas and oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico and across North America, last Thursday began delivering its U.S. natural gas produced in the Marcellus Shale to Canada to secure better prices.

Williams, whose natural gas midstream and pipeline infrastructure stretches from Canada into the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, is tweaking its earnings forecasts lower for the next two years based on conversations with customers that indicate activity will be slower in the short term.

Statoil ASA, which has natural gas and oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico and across North America, on Thursday plans to begin delivering its U.S. natural gas produced in the Marcellus Shale to Canada to secure better prices.

A trial to determine various parties’ liability for BP plc’s Macondo well blowout in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, which destroyed Transocean Ltd.’s Deepwater Horizon rig and killed 11 men, has been delayed until Feb. 25 from Jan. 14 in New Orleans. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier cited tourist events — the NFL Super Bowl and the Mardi Gras festival — that would keep New Orleans’ hotels booked. However, Barbier declined to delay a Nov. 8 hearing on a settlement BP reached with the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee, which is composed of private parties (see Daily GPI, March 6). The tentative settlement for $7.8 billion would resolve a “substantial majority of legitimate economic loss and medical claims,” BP said.

BP plc last Thursday said it had confirmed the integrity of the deepwater Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as its associated relief wells. The producer said it conducted “an extensive subsea survey” to identify potential sources of a surface sheen near Mississippi Canyon Block 252, which is near the blowout site.