Oil Exploration

An exploratory oil well off the northern coast of Cuba has proved a failure and will be capped and abandoned, Spanish company Repsol said Friday, a disappointment for a cash-strapped nation hoping for an economic lifeline. Trial and error is par for the course in oil exploration, however, and analysts said the news is far from a death blow to Cuba's petroleum dreams. Repsol SA is evaluating the data it collected since the Scarabeo-9 rig arrived off the coast of Havana in January after a months-long, round-the-world trek from construction sites in China and Singapore.

An exploratory oil well off the northern coast of Cuba has proved a failure and will be capped and abandoned, Spanish company Repsol said Friday, a disappointment for a cash-strapped nation hoping for an economic lifeline. Trial and error is par for the course in oil exploration, however, and analysts said the news is far from a death blow to Cuba's petroleum dreams. Repsol SA is evaluating the data it collected since the Scarabeo-9 rig arrived off the coast of Havana in January after a months-long, round-the-world trek from construction sites in China and Singapore.

The prime minister of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state says a Turkish research ship has begun oil and gas exploration off divided Cyprus. Irsen Kucuk said late Monday the ship was searching for fuel in a section delineated with Turkey without revealing its exact location. Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper said Tuesday that section was close to an area where U.S.-based Noble Energy Inc. started exploring oil and gas deposits under license from Greek Cypriot government. Cyprus is divided into the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot...

Scientists and Peruvian officials are investigating a mass die-off of hundreds of dolphins along the South American country's coast. A total of 877 dolphin carcasses have been counted recently along the shore in the northern regions of Piura and Lambayeque, Deputy Environment Minister Gabriel Quijandria said Thursday. Officials have been studying possible factors in the dolphins' deaths including a virus or seismic oil exploration that has recently been carried out off northern Peru.

CHICAGO - ConocoPhillips, the third-largest US energy company, plans to shed its refining business through a spinoff to free capital for oil exploration and increase returns for investors. ConocoPhillips will divide into two separate, publicly traded companies by the end of June 2012, the Houston company said in a statement yesterday. Chief executive Jim Mulva, who has led the company since its creation nine years ago in a $25 billion merger, plans to retire once the spinoff is complete.

THIS MORNING, a congressional committee will meet in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., to examine our capacity to handle an oil spill in the Caribbean. It is an important event, acknowledging a new reality: Expanding offshore drilling is not exclusively a US pastime. Like so many other North American enterprises, drilling has international appeal. Perfora, nene, perfora. (In English: drill, baby, drill.) Cuba is now set to begin tapping the ocean, and the need for rigorous engagement with Havana has never been more immediate.

Vietnam has accused China of violating its sovereignty in the latest spat between the communist neighbors over disputed islands in the South China Sea. Vietnam's Foreign Ministry says in a statement Friday that a Chinese oil company has recently opened bidding for oil exploration near the Paracel islands, while earlier this month China conducted live firing exercises near the island and planned to expand tourism there. China has occupied the Paracels since 1974, but Vietnam claims sovereignty.

Scientists and Peruvian officials are investigating a mass die-off of hundreds of dolphins along the South American country's coast. A total of 877 dolphin carcasses have been counted recently along the shore in the northern regions of Piura and Lambayeque, Deputy Environment Minister Gabriel Quijandria said Thursday. Officials have been studying possible factors in the dolphins' deaths including a virus or seismic oil exploration that has recently been carried out off northern Peru.

The Norwegian government says it will collect seismic data from the Barents Sea to evaluate the potential for oil exploration there. The government said Wednesday the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate will gather the seismic data during the summer seasons of 2011 and 2012 at a cost of 180 million kroner ($34 million). If possible, the government wants to open the area for oil and gas operations, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said. Norway on Tuesday sealed an agreement with Russia dividing a long-disputed area in the Barents Sea after decades of negotiations.

The al-Qaida-linked Somali insurgency says all oil exploration contracts in northern Somalia are void, and announced a new group in the region had joined its forces. The announcement by al-Shabab comes weeks after a consortium of oil companies announced they were drilling a well in the semiautonomous northern region of Puntland. Al-Shabab said in a messages posted to websites this week and on its twitter feed late Tuesday that "Somali oil carries death" and that a group in the northern region had joined their forces.

BARROW, Alaska — AT MIDNIGHT, in the northernmost location in the United States, this town packed in ice seems unwelcoming. It is silent and cold. Frozen whale bones line the road. There is no connectivity to the outside world. In order to ward off polar bears, mace spray hangs from the door of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) facility. The DEWline, a "man camp" because that is who is there, is primarily used to monitor the Russians, but also sleeps visitors looking for a place to stay.

Vietnam has accused China of violating its sovereignty in the latest spat between the communist neighbors over disputed islands in the South China Sea. Vietnam's Foreign Ministry says in a statement Friday that a Chinese oil company has recently opened bidding for oil exploration near the Paracel islands, while earlier this month China conducted live firing exercises near the island and planned to expand tourism there. China has occupied the Paracels since 1974, but Vietnam claims sovereignty.

The al-Qaida-linked Somali insurgency says all oil exploration contracts in northern Somalia are void, and announced a new group in the region had joined its forces. The announcement by al-Shabab comes weeks after a consortium of oil companies announced they were drilling a well in the semiautonomous northern region of Puntland. Al-Shabab said in a messages posted to websites this week and on its twitter feed late Tuesday that "Somali oil carries death" and that a group in the northern region had joined their forces.

Cyprus has launched a second licensing round for exploratory drilling in Mediterranean waters off its southern coast. An announcement on the Cypriot Commerce Ministry's website Monday invites license applications in the next 90 days to search for mineral deposits inside the island's 19,700 square mile (51,000 square kilometer) exclusive economic zone. An initial licensing round in 2007 only generated interest from U.S. company Noble Energy. But Cypriot officials predicted more interest in the second round following Noble's discovery of an estimated 5-8 trillion cubic feet...

THIS MORNING, a congressional committee will meet in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., to examine our capacity to handle an oil spill in the Caribbean. It is an important event, acknowledging a new reality: Expanding offshore drilling is not exclusively a US pastime. Like so many other North American enterprises, drilling has international appeal. Perfora, nene, perfora. (In English: drill, baby, drill.) Cuba is now set to begin tapping the ocean, and the need for rigorous engagement with Havana has never been more immediate.

The prime minister of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state says a Turkish research ship has begun oil and gas exploration off divided Cyprus. Irsen Kucuk said late Monday the ship was searching for fuel in a section delineated with Turkey without revealing its exact location. Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper said Tuesday that section was close to an area where U.S.-based Noble Energy Inc. started exploring oil and gas deposits under license from Greek Cypriot government. Cyprus is divided into the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway...

GLAND, Switzerland -- The world's cod stocks could be wiped out by 2020 because of overfishing, illegal catches, and oil exploration, the World Wide Fund for Nature said in a report being released today. The environmental advocacy group said the world's largest remaining cod stock, in the Barents Sea, is under particular threat, while the world's cod fisheries are disappearing fast. The global catch declined from 3.42 million tons in 1970 to 1 million tons in 2000. "If such a trend continues, the world's cod stocks will disappear in 15 years time," said the group, which is known as the World...

BARROW, Alaska — AT MIDNIGHT, in the northernmost location in the United States, this town packed in ice seems unwelcoming. It is silent and cold. Frozen whale bones line the road. There is no connectivity to the outside world. In order to ward off polar bears, mace spray hangs from the door of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) facility. The DEWline, a "man camp" because that is who is there, is primarily used to monitor the Russians, but also sleeps visitors looking for a place to stay.

CHICAGO - ConocoPhillips, the third-largest US energy company, plans to shed its refining business through a spinoff to free capital for oil exploration and increase returns for investors. ConocoPhillips will divide into two separate, publicly traded companies by the end of June 2012, the Houston company said in a statement yesterday. Chief executive Jim Mulva, who has led the company since its creation nine years ago in a $25 billion merger, plans to retire once the spinoff is complete.

The Norwegian government says it will collect seismic data from the Barents Sea to evaluate the potential for oil exploration there. The government said Wednesday the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate will gather the seismic data during the summer seasons of 2011 and 2012 at a cost of 180 million kroner ($34 million). If possible, the government wants to open the area for oil and gas operations, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said. Norway on Tuesday sealed an agreement with Russia dividing a long-disputed area in the Barents Sea after decades of negotiations.