I never thought this day would come. The CPC Consortium has finally agreed to expand the pipeline’s capacity, which will carry some 1.4 million bpd of Kazakh crude by 2013.

No promises from Russia on production cuts, but I thought this was interesting:

In a speech to the assembled OPEC ministers, Mr. Sechin said that Russia’s beleaguered oil producers had already pruned production in November, and could cut still more if market conditions warranted. But he gave no promises.

Instead, he put forward a list of changes that Moscow would like to see made to the international pricing and trading of crude.

First, he said, the world needed to establish some other recognized benchmarks than those now used in New York and London for trade in West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude oils. Those benchmarks, he said, were “inappropriate and unfair.”

It was also “worth discussing” scraping the U.S. dollar as the primary oil currency and replacing it with a basket of currencies—a pitch made from time to time by Iran and Venezuela.

The world, Mr. Sechin said, also needed “new trading floors” in other parts of the world to counterbalance the power of the New York Mercantile Exchange and to better reflect the “actual turnover volumes” of crude itself, as opposed to the mere “financial instruments” traded on the Nymex. The Kazakh capitol of Astana, he said, would be one good location.

Mr. Sechin then pitched Russia being granted permanent observer status within OPEC. That way, he added, Russia could host an OPEC meeting sometime next year.

Now, I’m not going to get too down on the coal industry, because my family in Illinois has worked in it for several generations (both mining and power plants) and it’s still a vital source of energy in the United States, but the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity’s “Clean Coal Carolers” are ridiculously lame. It’s basically a flash video where you dress up lumps of coal, pick a background, and listen to the pieces of coal sing songs like “Frosty the Coalman”. I mean, seriously, WTF? Who thought this would be a good idea?!

My clean coal carolers are at the beach, and dressed in winter clothing. Another WTF?

Even worse, they set up a Facebook page to promote the Clean Coal Carolers, and the enviros are absolutely dominating it. I bet some old dude at ACCCE was like “Hey, I hear the kids hang out on Facebook these days! Let’s make a fan page for the Clean Coal Carolers!” And then they are promptly mobbed by enviros basically calling them killers and what not. Yeah, that Facebook page was a great idea.
Basically, this was a total waste of money. Instead, they should have developed a game where you have to capture CO2 and store it or something. Duh.

Oh, and natural gas is way better.

Platts is asking readers to rank the top 10 oil stories of 2008. Here are mine:
1. Crude prices soar in 1H, WTI tops $147, Brent right behind
2. Push begins to lift offshore drilling ban in US; Obama and McCain differ on approach
3. Shale gas supply in US surges, a new factor in supply/demand balance
4. OPEC, first time in years, implements deep cuts in output
5. Mexican output still dropping, Cantarell way down
6. Developed nations’ total oil demand in ’08 to decline
7. Credit crunch slows activity for once free-wheeling traders
8. TNK-BP pressured in Russia, CEO departs, resolution reached
9. Diesel surges, gasoline/naphtha plunge; traditional cracks skewed
10. Iraqis launch first post-war bid round, completion in 2009
I was a little disappointed that Platts did not include “Gas prices plunge thanks to divine intervention” and “Daniel Day-Lewis wins Oscar for portrayal of crazed oilman.”

Good. It was a ridiculously dumb idea, anyways.

I also wish he would stop e-mailing me and asking for money. Dude, the election was a month ago, and you still haven’t sent me my “limited edition” t-shirt (what, too busy picking your cabinet members or whatev?).
The “limited edition” Obama coffee mug is kinda tempting, though.

That’s odd, I don’t recall the latest issue of “This Week in Petroleum” citing prayer as a reason for the latest drop in gas prices. But then again, it’s likely written by heathens.

Earlier this year, we told you about the “Pray at the Pump” movement, which brought prayer vigils to local gas stations, so as to petition the Almighty to bring fuel prices down. Well, now that gas has crept below $2 per gallon again, this past Wednesday and Thursday, founder Rocky Twyman and his comrades gathered again to proclaim their effort a success.
On Wednesday afternoon, they congregated at the Shell station at the corner of Upshur Street and Georgia Avenue, then again on Thanksgiving Day at the Shell on Montgomery Village Avenue in Gaithersburg. Their purpose? According to a release, it was to “thank God … for answering their prayer during this holiday season.”

That’s not all: The group is attempting to build on the movement’s success by beginning a “Pray Down the Greed on Wall Street” movement to help solve the economic crisis.

They’ve also applied to march in the upcoming inaugural parade, with Twyman saying he hopes that their success will inspire the Obama administration to use their techniques.

Praying to a deity for low gas prices, and then claiming victory when a destruction in demand brings the price of oil down? Seriously, some people are just odd.

Have I ever told you how my parents love to talk about polar bears? Oh, yeah, I have. Almost every time I talk to them on the phone, they are bringing up some story about polar bears swimming 60 miles to find food, or polar bears cannibalizing each other, or whatever.

Anyways, when I arrived home on Thursday morning, I was greeted with this:

As I stared in disbelief at my polar bear Christmas decoration, now floating in our pool on several pieces of styrofoam, my mom remarked, “Gee, Lindsay, I hope the poor polar bear doesn’t start to eat himself.”
(Despite all this, they claim to be very proud that I work for “Big Oil.” Really, I think they are just glad I managed to find a job despite spending five years studying a country that no longer exists.)

But the real question is, what to do with a hungry polar bear that is roaming around your backyard? Well, shoot it, of course, and have it promptly turned into a rug to be placed in front of your fireplace.

(This photo was actually taken several years ago, and there is a story behind it that I’ve just been too lazy to write about. I will eventually, I guess.)

Kidding, of course. The polar bear is safely ensconced in front of our house, opposite the penguin decoration. Yes, our front yard resembles a real life Coca-Cola ad.

They are in Iran, Kazakhstan, Iraq, Brazil, and Mexico, and it’s hell getting to them.

OK, not quite, but check out this bizarre creature:

These stills are from video footage taken by a remotely operated vehicle operating at a depth of 7800 feet.

The Magnapinna squid was hanging out by Shell’s Perdido Spar, the deepest oil development project in the world. It’s located in the Gulf of Mexico, about 200 miles off the coast of Texas.

So glad there are none of these giant squid where I surf. That I know of, anyways.

Maybe:

Russian oil companies could soon begin searching for oil in deep Gulf of Mexico waters off Cuba, a top diplomat said just days before Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visits the island.

Russian oil companies have “concrete projects” for drilling in Cuba’s part of the gulf, said Mijail Kamynin, Russia’s ambassador to Cuba, to the state-run business magazine Opciones.

Kamynin also said Russian companies would like to help build storage tanks for crude oil and to modernize Cuban pipelines, as well as play a role in Venezuelan efforts to refurbish a Soviet-era refinery in the port city of Cienfuegos, according the article published this weekend.

[...]

Washington’s nearly 50-year-old trade embargo prohibits U.S. companies from investing on the island. But Cuba’s state-run oil concern has signed joint operating agreements with companies from several countries to explore waters that Cuban scientists claim could contain reserves of up to 20 billion barrels of oil.

Remind me again…this trade embargo is useful because? Oh, right…it’s not. We have just allowed our Cuba policy to be hijacked by some bitter old dudes in Miami. Meanwhile, U.S. companies can’t invest in lucrative opportunities there, and I can’t fly down and enjoy a mojito and frita. Dear Obama: Please get rid of this useless embargo.