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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: oil exploration

oil exploration stories: 14 news summaries

(Newser) - A government-controlled Russian oil firm will be allowed to search for and extract oil from Cuba's portion of the Gulf of Mexico under a deal signed yesterday, the BBC reports. The Russian firm will work alongside Cuba's state-run oil monopoly a matter of miles off the coast of America. Cuba... More »

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Russia • oil • Cuba • Gulf of Mexico • oil exploration

(Newser) - Oil trapped deep in the Gulf of Mexico could help ease the US-Cuba trade ban and decades of strained relations, the Washington Post reports. With 5 billion to 20 billion barrels of crude lying untapped in Cuba's territorial waters, some experts argue it's time for US companies to help drill... More »

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Fidel Castro • Cuba • Raul Castro • Gulf of Mexico • oil exploration • oil drilling

 Oil's Slide as Chaotic as Its Rise 

Plunging crude prices can be almost as disruptive as their rise

Sep 17, 08 10:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Crude oil prices have fallen 38% from their July high of $147.27 a barrel, and the decline is causing nearly as much consternation around the world as its meteoric rise in the first half of the year, reports the Washington Post. Oil-dependent governments are worried about revenues and... More »

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alternative energy • business • crude oil • oil production • oil exploration • oil prices

 Supplies Drop as Big Oil's Power Shrivels

State-owned firms don't churn it out like Shell

Aug 19, 08 2:55 AM CDT
(Newser) - A rapidly changing world order has left the giant oil companies all monied up with nowhere to drill, the New York Times reports. The Western oil giants' share of production has plummeted from over half in the 1970s to just 13% today. Production is falling as oil supplies remain in... More »

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OPEC • ExxonMobil • Royal Dutch Shell • oil supply • oil exploration • oil companies • peak oil

 US Ship Joins Race
 for Arctic Resources

Mapping the continental shelf integral to oil and gas rights

Aug 12, 08 1:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Coast Guard cutter will this week begin mapping Alaska’s continental shelf, Reuters reports, in a first step toward mining data that could be used to establish rights to oil exploration in the Arctic. Melting ice caps, which one scientist calls "bad for the Arctic, but very very... More »

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Arctic • Coast Guard • Arctic race • oil exploration • Arctic oil • Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf

Obama Shifts Tack on Offshore Drilling 

Candidate says he would accept drilling as part of energy package

Aug 2, 08 6:10 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama softened his opposition to offshore oil drilling yesterday, telling the Palm Beach Post in an interview  that he would be willing to accept  "a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage"  it if necessary to avoid a deadlock on... More »

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Barack Obama • oil • oil exploration • oil drilling • offshore oil • energy policy

Opinion

 Save the Earth: Drill in the US 

Letting other countries produce oil cures nothing: Krauthammer

Aug 1, 08 12:21 PM CDT
(Newser) - Asked why she so vehemently opposes offshore drilling, Nancy Pelosi recently replied, “I’m trying to save the planet.” Which is a nice thought, Charles Krauthammer writes in the Washington Post, but it’s completely illogical. We’re not saving the planet by leaving the drilling to... More »

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Nancy Pelosi • ethanol • oil exploration • Arctic oil • oil drilling • environmental impact • Arctic National Wildlife Refuge • offshore oil

Bush Will
Lift Ban on Offshore Drilling

White House spins decision as attempt
to motivate Congress

Jul 14, 08 10:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - President Bush is about to lift the ban on offshore drilling that's stood since his father was in office, White House press secretary Dana Perino announced today. The move will be meaningless unless Congress follows suit, the AP reports. Two bans on the practice are in place: an executive order... More »

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Bush administration • George HW Bush • executive order • oil exploration • oil drilling • George W. Bush • offshore oil

Would-Be Oil Barons Venture Into Kurdistan

Northern Iraqi region awash in untapped black gold—and risk

Jul 9, 08 3:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Kurdistan, Iraq’s mostly autonomous northern region, is brimming with oil, but the big oil companies won’t touch it. The Kurdish government gladly hands out exploration contracts, but taking one invites the wrath of the central government in Baghdad. That’s left the forbidden fruit to “wildcatters,”... More »

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Iraq • Iraq oil • Kurdistan • Northern Iraq • oil exploration

 Hunt Is On for Florida Oil 

2006 compromise opened up protected area; others could soon follow

Jul 5, 08 10:01 AM CDT
(Newser) - The record-breaking price of oil is shifting public opinion toward lifting a moratorium on new offshore drilling, reports the AP. Four companies acquired rights to explore parcels of land off the Florida coast in March, under a 2006 Congressional compromise that opened up 8.3 million acres off the Panhandle... More »

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Florida • oil • gas prices • Bill Nelson • oil production • oil exploration • oil reserves • offshore oil

 GOP Going 'Green,'
 With Oil on the Side 

Party's newly crafted policy backs renewable energy—plus drilling

Jun 25, 08 5:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - An elite group of Republican senators met yesterday to craft an energy policy which the GOP claims is greener than the Democrats' plan, and more likely to control gas prices. Republicans will emphasize conservation—along with more nuclear plants and oil drilling—and have dubbed Barack Obama's opposition to increased... More »

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Barack Obama • John McCain • Democrats • nuclear power • Senate Republicans • gas prices • renewable energy • oil exploration • energy policy • energy conservation • oil shale extraction

Ship Shortage Stalls
Offshore Oil Drilling

Oil companies frustrated by inability to exploit new discoveries

Jun 19, 08 3:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - A severe shortage of deep-sea drilling rigs will hold up exploitation of offshore oil for years, the New York Times reports. Existing rigs are booked solid for five years, and shipbuilders around the world are scrambling to fill dozens of new orders. Oil companies are frustrated by their inability to... More »

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ship • oil exploration • oil drilling • oil reserves • oil rig • offshore oil

Seabed Rights Add Up to
Long Division

UN team weighs international claims on underwater territory

Feb 22, 08 3:01 PM CST
(Newser) - The UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf has a big job. As some 60 countries rush to claim the ocean seabed—and the oil reserves beneath—the 21-person team of part-time scientists must settle disputes, relying on geology and the sometimes arcane Law of the Sea. “... More »

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United Nations • Arctic race • oil exploration • seabed • Law of the Sea • Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf

There's Plenty of Oil Left: Study

Researchers say new discoveries more than offset worked-out fields

Jan 17, 08 9:37 AM CST
(Newser) - New oilfields being brought online more than offset losses from depleted fields, says an optimistic report released today. Though it cited an Iran-sized 4.5% annual loss, key oil industry adviser CERA contends “there is no impending short-term peak in global oil production," reports the Wall Street Journal.... More »

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Iran • Russia • oil • OPEC • crude oil • oil supply • oil exploration • CERA

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