World

Key Energy Services Inc., the world’s largest rig-based, onshore well service company, said Monday it has completed the sale of the majority of its U.S. land drilling assets to Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. of Snyder, TX, for approximately $62 million in cash.

With major projects around the world scheduled to ramp up in the next few years — including two in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico — ChevronTexaco Corp. expects its oil and natural gas production to grow at a compounded average rate of 3% a year over the next five years to reach 3 MMboe/d by 2009.

With major projects around the world scheduled to ramp up in the next few years, including two in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, ChevronTexaco Corp. projected Tuesday that its oil and natural gas production will grow at a compounded average rate of 3% a year over the next five years to reach 3 MMboe/d by 2009.

With major projects around the world scheduled to ramp up in the next few years, including two in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, ChevronTexaco Corp. projected Tuesday that its oil and natural gas production will grow at a compounded average rate of 3% a year over the next five years to reach 3 MMboe/d by 2009.

ConocoPhillips last week won an auction with a bid of nearly $2 billion for the Russian government’s 7.6% stake in Russia’s Lukoil — the world’s No. 2 oil company by reserves. ConocoPhillips offered $1.988 billion, only slightly above the $1.928 billion starting price. Immediately following its winning bid, the company announced that it planned to increase its stake in Lukoil to 20%. It also announced that it had offered to buy a 17.5% stake in a production sharing agreement allowing Lukoil to develop Iraq’s, four billion barrel West Qurna field, and would pay another $374 million to secure a 30% stake in a new joint venture to tap into rich Siberian oil reserves in the Timan Pechora region. The price tag of the Lukoil bid made it the single largest cash deal in the history of Russian privatization.

ConocoPhillips on Wednesday won an auction with a bid of nearly $2 billion for the Russian government’s 7.6% stake in Russia’s Lukoil — the world’s No. 2 oil company by reserves. ConocoPhillips offered $1.988 billion, only slightly above the $1.928 billion starting price. Immediately following its winning bid, the company announced that it planned to increase its stake in Lukoil to 20%. It also announced that it had offered to buy a 17.5% stake in a production sharing agreement allowing Lukoil to develop Iraq’s, four billion barrel West Qurna field, and would pay another $374 million to secure a 30% stake in a new joint venture to tap into rich Siberian oil reserves in the Timan Pechora region. The price tag of the Lukoil bid made it the single largest cash deal in the history of Russian privatization.

Production has ramped up on schedule in the Red Hawk field in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) using the world’s first cell spar facility, according to Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp., which operates the field and is joint owner with Devon Energy Corp. The development, located in 5,300 feet of water on Garden Banks 877, has an estimated resource base of 250 Bcf.

Given the realities of the post-9/11 world, South Dakota-based NorthWestern Energy Corp. Monday elevated routine annual natural gas pipeline inspections to another level, publicly announcing that its utility personnel in Montana will be checking its gas pipeline infrastructure throughout the state — southwest, northwest, east and south/north central.

Natural gas is the fastest growing primary energy source in the world and gas demand is projected to grow by 2.4% per year through 2020 as its share of worldwide energy use shoots up to 25% of the total from its current level of about 20%, said Scott Nauman, gas marketing manager for the Americas at ExxonMobil.