Since May 2006, a massive mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia has left at least seven people dead, swallowed several villages, displaced 15,000 residents and destroyed 20 factories, all resulting in economic stagnation in the region. On Thursday, Indonesian police investigating the mudflow have pointed to poor management of oil drilling operations as the cause […]

The State oil company of Mexico, Pemex is in trouble, reports the New York Times. Its production and proven reserves are falling, and it has no money to reverse the slide.
This is important for the US because Mexico is the second-largest supplier of imported oil to the United States, after Canada. If the […]

Oil giant Exxon Mobil says it will spend some of its record profits on over 20 new global projects in the next three years. The investments are expected to add one million oil-equivalent barrels a day to the company’s volumes at peak production.
CEO T-Rex Tillerson said the company’s capital spending would be about US$20 billion […]

The oil industry is finding it harder to expand upstream capacity, a new report by the Centre for Global Energy Studies has warned.
“Development costs are up sharply, essential equipment and skilled labor are in short supply and host governments want a bigger share of the proceeds,” it concludes.

Oil and gas production in the North Sea is now expected to be about 10 per cent lower over the next few years than previously thought, according to the annual survey from the UK Offshore Operators’ Association.
The main reason is described as “poor reservoir performance”: in other words, wells not yielding as much oil and […]