Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Reuters: Big Oil renews Asian crude hunt as reserves dwindle

Some say there have been no short supply of oil, and that present prices of oil reflects “speculative or terror” premium.

Well, it looks like major oil companies have been sifting through even from the least prolific fields as signs of desperation to add up on their depleting reserves.

An excerpt from Reuters...

"It may have a long way to go before rivalling hotspots such as West Africa or Libya, but growing resource nationalism in the rest of the world -- from the Middle East to Russia to Latin America -- is giving Asia an edge, especially as Big Oil struggles to replace its dwindling reserves.

"Because there are opportunity constraints, companies are willing to look at areas that had not previously interested them," said Mark McCafferty, head of South East Asia research at energy consultants Wood Mackenzie.

"People are looking at the Philippines, for example, despite the fact there have been no recent successes. Companies are now willing to take a look to see if there is any potential."

Shell, which in 2004 opted not to develop a small oil reserves associated with the Philippines' biggest natural gas field, this year committed itself to exploring the country's East Palawan basin.

"Exploration activity in the Asia-Pacific region has increased significantly," a Shell spokesperson said.

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