The world oil market could be set for a lengthy slowdown, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday, signalling a sharp shift in the climate that pushed the oil price to 100 dollars last month.

In light of weaker global economic prospects, the IEA cut its forecast for world demand for oil this year by 200,000 barrels per day.

It said it expected world demand in 2008 to grow by 1.9 percent instead of 2.2 percent forecast last July.
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XTO Energy Inc. said Tuesday it has agreed to acquire $1 billion worth of oil and gas properties, which will help it reach significantly higher production and reserve targets.

The Fort Worth-based oil and gas producer also said it will not pursue the master limited partnership it had been considering for certain assets.

XTO has agreed with multiple parties to acquire more than 25 sites in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Colorado. Chief Executive Bob Simpson said the company expects to acquire further assets in 2008. Read more » »

China National Coal Group Corp., the country’s second-biggest coal producer, ratcheted production in the Feb. 1-12 period up 28 percent compared with the same period a year ago, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

The company boosted output to 3.33 million tons, part of China’s efforts to recover from a severe coal shortage caused by a harsh winter, though analysts said supply could tighten again next week. For a related story.

China National Coal Group delivered 1.12 million tons of coal to the country’s major power companies during the first part of February, 42.9 percent more than scheduled, Xinhua reported.
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Xstrata Plc, the world’s biggest exporter of power-station coal, warned customers it may miss deliveries from two mines in Queensland, adding to delays to shipments from northeastern Australia caused by heavy rain.

Force majeure was declared on shipments from the Newlands and Collinsville mines today, said James Rickards, a spokesman for Zug, Switzerland-based Xstrata. BHP Billiton Ltd. said separately rainfall further slowed operations at mines owned by BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance in Queensland. Read more » »

China Coal is likely to miss out on inclusion in the Hang Seng index, leaving the Hong Kong benchmark unchanged in the first quarter, analysts said Monday.

As a result of its initial public offering in Shanghai at the start of the month, China Coal has no unlisted share capital, a prerequisite for entry into the Hang Seng.

With a market value of about 210 billion Hong Kong dollars, or $26.92 billion, China Coal ranks 54th by 12-month average market capitalization, according to BNP Paribas, making it a long shot for inclusion in the index. Read more » »

Proponents of a $1.6 billion coal-fired power plant are eager for the jobs it would create in economically depressed southwest Virginia, while critics worry about its environmental impact.

The Dominion Virginia Power proposal will be the focus of hearings Monday and Tuesday nights by staff of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

The lengthy construction phase of the 585-megawatt Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center could create 800 jobs. And it could support more than 250 coal-mining jobs once it went on line in 2012. The plant could employ 75.
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Proponents of a $1.6 billion coal-fired power plant are eager for the jobs it would create in economically depressed southwest Virginia, while critics worry about its environmental impact.

The Dominion Virginia Power proposal will be the focus of hearings Monday and Tuesday nights by staff of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

The lengthy construction phase of the 585-megawatt Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center could create 800 jobs. And it could support more than 250 coal-mining jobs once it went on line in 2012. The plant could employ 75.
Read more » »

Oil firmed near $92 a barrel on Monday, supported by Venezuela’s threat to stop sending oil to the world’s top fuel consumer the United States.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made the threat on Sunday, after an Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) lawsuit froze $12 billion of Venezuelan assets to step up Exxon’s push for compensation from a nationalized oil project.

“We do not believe that there is any serious risk to oil supplies, but with the increased rhetoric we would be cautious before concluding that this development should be already fully discounted,” said Olivier Jakob at Petromatrix.
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened Sunday to cut off oil sales to the U.S. as retaliation for court orders freezing assets belonging to Venezuela’s state oil company. Exxon Mobil Corp. has gone after Petroleos de Venezuela SA in U.S., British and Dutch courts, challenging the nationalization by Chavez’s government of a multibillion dollar oil project. A British court last week issued an injunction freezing as much as $12 billion in Petroleos’ assets.

“If you end up freezing (Venezuelan assets) and it harms us, we’re going to harm you,” Chavez said. “Do you know how? We aren’t going to send oil to the United States.”
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Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev urged his government on Wednesday to step up exploration of new natural resource deposits in his oil-rich Central Asian state.

Kazakhstan, roughly the size of Western Europe, is home to some of the world’s biggest energy and metals deposits and has drawn billions of dollars of foreign investment since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
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