The price of New York oil hit a record high $115.54 per barrel on Thursday, boosted by falling US energy reserves and a weak dollar, which attracts investors into commodities, analysts said.

New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, later stood at $114.50, down 43 cents from Wednesday’s close as profit-taking occurred.

Also Thursday, Brent North Sea crude for June delivery soared to a historic peak of $113.38. It later stood at $112.22, down 44 cents.

“Crude futures were supported (early Thursday) by last night’s (US oil stockpile) figures and with the dollar still holding near all time lows against the euro,” said Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov in London.

“Overall, it is quite clear that investors are not prepared to liquidate oil futures at the moment, with strong fund and speculator interest as they seek better returns in commodities. Read more

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN): Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras is studying the possibility of oil exploitation in Cuba, according to Director of International Operations Jorge Zelada.

Zelada said that the studies are based on a cooperation agreement signed with the Cuban Oil Company (CUPET) at the beginning of 2008, when the Brazilian president was in Cuba, reported DPA.

The study will look at areas in Cuban waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

Brazil’s state-owned Petrobras, BG Group and Repsol have discovered what could be the world’s third-largest oil and gas reserves, Haroldo Lima, director of the National Oil and Gas Agency (ANP), which regulates the sector in the country, said on Monday.

According to the ANP director, the field, temporarily named “Sugar Loaf,” in reference to Rio’s landmark, would be five times larger than Tupi, the giant field discovered in November 2007.

Tupi is regarded as the largest oil and gas reserve ever found in Brazil, bearing an estimated volume of 5-8 billion barrels of light oil. Petrobras’ press office has not confirmed the discovery yet, but informed that the Sugar Loaf field is located in block BMS-9 of the Santos Basin, west of the BMS-11, where Tupi was discovered.

ANP added that the field could not be classified as an “exploitation field” because it has not been declared commercially viable. The first trace of the existence of oil and gas in the field, located in the pre-salt layer, was found in Aug. 2007, but members of the consortium have not released any prospects of its total volume so far. Xinhua

Egypt has announced a plan to sell oil and gas exploration rights in the south of the country.

A leading natural gas producer, Cairo hopes to sell twelve new contracts to continue building on its already large gas capacity.

The companies will be able to buy information about the areas up for sale.

They include blocks in the red Sea, Gulf of Suez and the North African nation’s eastern and western deserts.
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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has expressed its willingness to help Sri Lanka in its oil exploration and refinery projects.

Saudi media reports said the Kingdom has made this announcement after bilateral talks between Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al Naimi and Sri Lanka’s Minister of Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Development A.H.M. Fowzie yesterday.

The Sri Lankan Minister following the discussion had revealed that Sri Lanka is expecting to get Saudi expertise for the proposed expansion of country’s refinery capability from 50,000 barrels per day to 100,000 barrels per day.

Also, the Minister had revealed that there is a high probability for finding oil in the Mannar basin that covers almost 35,000 square kilometers that stretch from Mannar to Kalutara, the reports added. Meanwhile, Saudi Minister of Petroleum has expressed his government’s readiness to exchange their expertise with Sri Lanka in the field of oil exportation. Read more

Philex Petroleum Corp., a wholly-owned unit of Philex Mining Corp., has acquired almost 20 percent of Petroenergy Resources Corp., the parent firm told the stock exchange Monday.

Petroenergy is a publicly listed company engaged in oil exploration and in providing technical services to other oil exploration firms in the Philippines. It has projects in various areas in the country and in Gabon, Africa.

Philex Mining said the acquisition would boost Philex Petroleum’s portfolio investment in oil exploration and production. It did not disclose the purchase price of the stake.

Philex Petroleum was incorporated in late December as Philex Mining’s primary vehicle for investments in oil projects. The subsidiary has an authorized capital of P2 billion.

Last year, Philex Mining bought 10.8 percent of Texas-based Pitkin Petroleum Ltd. for a total Read more

By Alejandro Lazo
Washington Post Staff Writer

Energy companies have recorded whopping profits as the price of oil has surged over the past year. But while shares of those firms have traditionally tracked oil prices, they haven’t kept pace this time around.

The cost of one barrel of oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange, for example, has doubled in a little over a year, rising from $50 in January 2007 to $101.84 last week. Yet the S&P Energy Index, which tracks the stocks of major energy companies, has risen only about 26 percent over the same period.

The reason, analysts said, is that oil prices have been driven to record highs by more than just demand for the product.
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