Major U.S. oil discovery in Gulf of Mexico

An announcement by three oil companies of a successful production test in the Gulf of Mexico, potentially the largest American oil find in a generation, was seen by experts as ushering in a new era in ultra deep-water offshore drilling. Chevron reported that the successful test on the Jack No.2 well, 270 miles southwest of New Orleans, broke a company record for the deepest successful well test. It has sustained a daily flow of more than 6,000 barrels, a quantity thought to mean considerable reserves. While it is too early to know exactly how big the fields are, the oil companies expressed hope that they might exceed those at Prudhoe Bay, off the northern coast of Alaska.

Chevron, whose partners include Devon Energy and Norway's Statoil, wouldn't quantify the size of its find, except to note that the gulf's deep waters could hold 3 billion to 15 billion barrels of oil - at the high end, a more than 50% boost to U.S. petroleum reserves of 29 billion barrels. It comes as the output of oil and gas from shallower wells in the Gulf of Mexico, containing about one-quarter of American oil reserves, are ebbing and as environmental resistance to offshore drilling in areas closer to coastlines remains strong.

Motorists, however, should hang on to their hybrids. Although the discovery suggests that the undersea region holds more oil than previously thought, experts say the crude will be expensive to extract and years in coming. What's more, growing demand in the U.S. and elsewhere could quickly eat up the production gains. "It's phenomenal, if it's there," said Matthew Simmons, who heads Simmons & Co., a Houston investment bank that specializes in energy. "But until you get a field on production, you don't really know what's there ... it's a roll of the dice." Simmons said the gulf had yielded several highly touted oil finds over the years that fell short of expectations. In addition, there is a shortage of rigs able to drill in deep water, another constraint in exploiting the find quickly.

The deep waters of the Gulf may represent the last area in the United States where large oil and gas reserves remain to be discovered, although some experts see the potential for big discoveries deep off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, which would require congressional action to exploit. The oil in the area is considered top quality, light and sweet, unlike the oil in many new fields around the world that is heavier and more difficult to process.

(2006-09-08 14:54:25 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

Intel cutting 10500 jobs

news.yahoo.com :

Intel said it is cutting 10,500 jobs, or about 10% of its work force, as part of a plan to become more competitive. The cuts would help the technology giant save $1 billion this year, $2 billion next year, and $3 billion in 2008. Analysts have said Intel needs drastic action to reverse sliding profits and halt steady market share gains by rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

The cuts included 1,000 managers Intel laid off in July and 2,000 workers in two business units that it sold over the past few months. Another 2,000 jobs will disappear through attrition. Most of the reductions will hit management, marketing and information technology workers.

The reductions would not be concentrated in any specific geographic area, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said. A Malaysian newspaper reported Intel would offer voluntary layoffs to up to 2,000 workers in that country, where the company has employed 10,000 people for assembly, packaging and testing.

A380 takes off on first passenger test flight

channelnewsasia.com :

The Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial airliner, took its first passengers aloft on a test flight, as the company announced a fresh management shakeup to grapple with delays plaguing the superjumbo.

The Airbus parent EADS, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space company, announced in June that deliveries of the A380 to commercial customers would be delayed by at least a year because of production setbacks. That revelation, coupled with a warning that EADS could suffer a two-billion-euro decline in operational earnings by 2010, jolted the company and prompted the resignation of EADS co-chief executive Noel Forgeard and Airbus president Gustav Humbert.

Boeing is now well ahead of Airbus this year in orders after dominating its US competitor for the previous five years. Airbus in the first seven months of 2006 received 200 firm orders for its commercial planes to 518 for Boeing.

Australia could export uranium to China within months

channelnewsasia.com :

Australia could start exporting uranium to China within months and expects to corner about a third of the market for Beijing's giant nuclear power programme, a senior official said. Australia has the world's largest known reserves of the nuclear fuel.

China has announced plans to build 28 new nuclear reactors and by 2020 the annual uranium requirement would be about 8,000 tonnes a year, almost as big as Australia's current uranium output.