
A full fledged effort to search for more natural gas in the extreme south of Chile has been undertaken by the Chilean government and the private sector. The plan anticipates the drilling of 22 new wells, 120 kilometres to the north east of Punta Arenas in the Dorado-Riquelme quadrant, which already has a daily production of 450.000 cubic metres.

British Petroleum announced Wednesday a giant oil discovery at its Tiber Prospect in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The well, located in Keathley Canyon block 102, approximately 400 kilometres south east of Houston, is in 1,259 metres of water.

PetroChina plans to acquire a majority stake in Canada’s Athabasca Oil Sands which holds the largest lease in Alberta’s oil sands. The 1.7 billion US dollars deal with Asia’s largest oil company means taking control of 60% of the 1.3 million acres of oil sand leases held by Athabasca.

The Brazilian government is set to unveil on Monday a sweeping reform of regulations covering the oil and natural gas industries Monday. The regulatory framework will delineate how recently discovered offshore sub-salt oil deposits should be developed, who will develop them and who will reap the rewards.

A British Foreign and Commonwealth security consultant whose work will assist the Falkland Islands Government to progress the drilling of offshore exploration wells spent a week in the islands earlier this month.

An initial study on Chile’s tidal energy capacity confirms the country has “unique global potential” for this renewable energy source. According to the report, published by Chile’s National Energy Commission (CNE), even if only 10% of this renewable resource is harnessed, it would exceed the existing installed capacity of Chile’s central electricity grid, or SIC.

The Economic Times from Mumbai published on its online edition an article informing that Indian government owned energy company ONGC Videsh Ltd and its overseas investment branch, OVL, is having conversations with three Russian companies -Rosneft, Lukoil and Gazprom- for acquiring a substantial stake in YPF, the Argentine arm of Spanish oil major Repsol YPF SA.

Over 800.000 Argentines left the country following the 2001 economic debacle, according to the latest report from the International Organization for Migration, which in the last decade represents 2.1% of total population.

General Motors officially unveiled the Volt, which according to the company can travel up to 40 miles on a single battery charge. The car will likely start production later this year. According to GM, the Volt will get city fuel economy of at least 230 miles-per-gallon, and come packaged with a flex fuel-powered engine-generator. The range of the Volt will be 300 miles, GM said.

A fragile global economic recovery will be hurt if oil prices stay at 70 USD per barrel or rise higher, according to International Energy Agency (IEA) Chief Economist Fatih Birol. The IEA advises 28 industrialised countries.