European Stocks Drop, Paced by BMW, Philips, Hypo Real Estate, Depfa

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks fell after reports in
the U.S. showed employers added fewer jobs than forecast last
month and growth in U.S. service industries slowed, reigniting
concern the world's biggest economy is cooling.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Royal Philips Electronics NV
paced declines among companies that rely on sales in the U.S. The
Dow Jones Europe Stoxx Oil & Gas Index dropped to the lowest in
three months, led by Total SA and BP Plc after Citigroup Inc.
reduced its recommendation for the oil industry. Hypo Real Estate
Holding AG, the mortgage bank spun off from HVB Group, and Depfa
Bank Plc led financial shares lower.


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UPDATE 3-Shell applies to build C$27 bln oil sands plant

(Reuters) - CALGARY, Alberta, July 30 - Royal Dutch Shell Plc
plans to build an oil sands upgrading complex at its
Edmonton, Alberta, refinery that could cost as much as C$27
billion , putting it among Canada's costliest
projects, it said on Monday.




Shell said its proposed Upgrader 2 would be built in four
100,000 barrel a day stages, processing tar-like bitumen from
its Athabasca Oil Sands Project -- which is already undergoing
a multibillion-dollar expansion -- as well as its steam-driven
oil sands projects in the same region.


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Oil Rises a Second Day After U.S. Crude Stockpiles Fall for a Third Week

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose for a second day in
New York after a report showed U.S. oil inventories fell for a
third week and gasoline demand was near a one-year high.

Oil stockpiles declined 1.1 million barrels last week as
refiners raised operating rates to their highest in 10 months,
the Energy Department said yesterday. Below-average gasoline
stockpiles unexpectedly increased by 793,000 barrels, aided by a
resurgence in imports.


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Seadrill sells $146.5 mln rig to Nigerian SeaWolf

(Reuters) - Norwegian offshore services group Seadrill has agreed to sell jack-up rig West Titania for $146.5 million to Nigerian drilling contractor SeaWolf Oil Services Ltd, Seadrill said on Wednesday.

The unit, built in 1981, will be transferred to SeaWolf upon completion of its present contract in Tunisia, expected to run until November 2007, Seadrill said.


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Oil Prices to Keep Rising This Year on OPEC Supply Restrictions, CGES Says

(Bloomberg) -- Oil prices are likely to keep rising
for the rest of the year because of supply restrictions set by the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the Centre for
Global Energy Studies said.

The price of crude won't decline as it did last year, when it
fell 27 percent from a record high in July through November, CGES
said in a monthly report today. OPEC, which last year agreed to
curtail output to keep prices around $60 a barrel, ought to raise
production, the report said.


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Cosmo Oil Plans to Restart Sakai Refinery's Gasoline Unit in Mid-August

(Bloomberg) -- Cosmo Oil Co., Japan's fourth-biggest
refiner, said it plans to restart a gasoline production unit at
its 80,000 barrels-a-day Sakai refinery in central Japan in the
middle of next month after an unscheduled shutdown.

The fluid catalytic cracker was shut on July 13 because of a
pipeline fault, spokesman Tatsuya Yano said by telephone in Tokyo
today. The unit is designed to process 24,000 barrels-a-day of
gasoil components into gasoline and other refined products.


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European Bank Stocks Advance, Led By ABN Amro; Saipem, Technip Decline

(Bloomberg) -- European bank stocks rose, led by ABN
Amro Holding NV after Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc sweetened
its 71.1 billion-euro ($98.1 billion) offer for the Dutch lender.

ABN Amro jumped the most in three months. Oil-services
companies paced declines in energy shares after UBS AG cut its
recommendations on Saipem SpA and Technip SA following their
``strong performance.'' BT Group Plc, the U.K.'s largest phone
company, and drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc climbed after
brokerages lifted their recommendations on the shares.


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PetroChina's Production Climbs 3.7 Percent, Outpacing Exxon Mobil, Shell

(Bloomberg) -- PetroChina Co.'s first-half
production increased 3.7 percent as the nation's largest oil and
gas producer intensified efforts to meet rising energy demand.

Crude oil and gas output rose to the equivalent of 3.05
million barrels of oil a day, the Beijing-based company said
today. Oil production gained 0.1 percent from a year earlier,
while gas jumped 16.5 percent.


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Oil steady near 11-month high above $76 as funds buy

(Reuters) - Oil held near an 11-month high above $76 a barrel on Friday, with news of recovering refinery operations in the United States threatening to cap a two-week influx of investment fund capital into the complex.

London Brent crude shed 15 cents to $76.25 a barrel by 0400 GMT, holding on to a near $1 gain the past session and still within sight of last August's all-time high of $78.65 after gaining more than $6 since near the end of the second quarter.


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U.K. Lawmakers Form `Peak Oil' Committee to Study Falling Energy Reserves

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. parliament formed a group to
study peak oil, the theory that world oil production is
approaching its zenith, as British lawmakers face up to the
country's future as an energy importer.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas, which
held its first meeting June 26, comprises 32 members of the House
of Commons, or lower chamber, and seven from the House of Lords,
or upper chamber.


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Venezuelan Heavy-Oil Output Declined After Venture Takeovers, Ramirez Says

(Bloomberg) -- Venezuela, South America's largest
oil producer, saw a drop in output of heavy crude by joint
ventures that the government seized in May from Exxon Mobil
Corp., ConocoPhillips and other international producers.

Production has declined to 418,000 barrels a day at the
ventures, according to a statement today by Energy and Oil
Minister Rafael Ramirez on the Web site of state oil company
Petroleos de Venezuela SA. That's down from the 482,000 barrels
a day reported by Petroleos de Venezuela on May 9.


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Oil nears another 11-month high above $76

(Reuters) - Oil neared another 11-month high on Tuesday, extending nine days of gains that have lifted crude by $6 to within striking distance of its record above $78.

The rally to an 11-month high of $76.34 a barrel on Monday has coincided with a big rise in investment flows. Speculators boosted their long positions in the New York Mercantile Exchange crude oil market to a record in the week to July 3.


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Egypt natural gas reserves 72.3 trillion cubic feet

(Reuters) - Egypt's confirmed reserves of natural gas reached 72.3 trillion cubic feet after increasing by 6.2 trillion cubic feet in the 2006-2007 fiscal year, Oil Minister Sameh Fahmy said on Monday, according to state news agency MENA.

Fahmy also said that Egypt's confirmed crude oil and condensate reserves had risen to 3.97 billion barrels, MENA said.


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Indian firms eye Devon's West Africa assets - sources

(Reuters) - Four state-run Indian oil firms are weighing up whether to enter the race for some of the West African oil and gas assets held by U.S.-based Devon Energy, sources close to the potential bids said on Monday.

A source said exploration firm Oil India Ltd. and refiner Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) were jointly evaluating data for a possible non-binding bid for Devon's Angolan assets and "would submit a bid if the data meets expectations".


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Biofuels output seen doubling, still marginal: IEA

(Reuters) - But looking ahead, its latest Medium-Term Oil Market Report stated the need for caution and said limited data made prediction difficult.




"Price pressure this year on feedstocks such as corn, sugar, soybeans, wheat and palm oil reinforces our concerns over economic viability due to competition between first-generation biofuels and the food chain," it said.


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Libya launches gas licencing round for 41 blocks

(Reuters) - Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) launched on Sunday a licencing round to award foreign energy companies gas exploration licences involving 41 contracts, it said in a statement.

All companies and/or consortia interested in taking part in the bidding process shall be required to apply to the NOC, with certain qualification documents, no later than August 22, 2007, it added.


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Oil Declines From Near 10-Month High on Speculation Gains Aren't Justified

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell in New York from near
a 10-month high as some traders speculated five days of gains
weren't justified.

Oil rose 5.4 percent in the past five trading days, partly
on concern refinery breakdowns will slow U.S. gasoline output.
Flint Hills Resources LP, a unit of Koch Industries Inc., and
Valero Energy Corp. reported faults at plants in Texas.


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India's Oil & Natural Gas Scraps CEO Search After Pay Deters Applicants

(Bloomberg) -- Oil & Natural Gas Corp. may confirm
acting Chairman R.S. Sharma to lead India's most profitable
company after a 14-month recruitment drive failed to attract a
single applicant from the private sector due to low pay.

Sharma, 56, may get approval from the Prime Minister's
Office as early as today, replacing Subir Raha who stepped down
in May, 2006, company spokeswoman Narayani Mahil said yesterday.
The state owns 74.14 percent of Oil & Natural Gas's shares. All
71 applicants for the post were from the government or public
sector, Raha said. Sharma wouldn't comment.


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Crude Oil Trades Near 10-Month High on Concern Over U.S. Gasoline Output

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil was little changed in New
York after reaching a 10-month high yesterday on speculation
persistent refinery breakdowns will slow U.S. gasoline output.

Gasoline futures rose for a fifth day yesterday after Flint
Hills Resources LP, a unit of Koch Industries Inc., and Valero
Energy Corp. reported faults at plants in Texas. Oil futures
traded in a 79 cent-range yesterday, the narrowest this year,
before the Independence Day holiday in the U.S. today.


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Oil steadies at $71, thin US fuel stocks support

(Reuters) - London Brent crude traded 3 cents higher at $71.44 a barrel by 0718 GMT, after gaining 89 cents on Friday. U.S. light crude eased 4 cents to $70.64, after a $1.11 rally on Friday to the highest settlement since August 2006.




Oil traders worried about geopolitical supply risks saw London's Heathrow airport and New York's JFK terminal reopened on Sunday after bomb scares, following an explosion at a Scottish airport on Saturday and failed car bombing attempts in London.


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