»BP CEO Sees Hard Road Ahead for Oil Industry
~ tight supply and undaunted demand mean oil will be expensive for the foreseeable future according to BP CEO Tony Hayward
~ analysts claim that speculators, the weak dollar and concerns about supply pushed prices close to the milestone of $100 a barrel
~ Hayward called the fundamentals of supply and demand the "main event," easily exacerbated by other forces
~ if fundamentals are tight, spikes are driven as much by geopolitics as they are by anyone taking trades
~ the Paris-based International Energy Agency's 2007 world outlook: declines from producers outside the OPEC will present challenges to meeting supply needs through 2030
~ OPEC is to bear the brunt of increased output
~ the industry is fighting very hard to keep pace with underlying demand according to Hayward
~ it doesn't look to any of us that it's going to go away
~ crude for December 2007 delivery closed at $95.46 a barrel 8.11.2007 on the New York Mercantile Exchange
~ Federal Reserve Chairman told the Joint Economic Committee that the economy will slow in coming months
~ high oil prices add pressure to inflation already feeling heat from the weak dollar, a housing slowdown and a credit squeeze
~ 7.11.2007 prices surged past $98 in intraday trading
~ Hayward acknowledged recent efforts to move BP beyond lingering problems that have hurt its performance
~ October 2007 the company agreed to settle criminal probes into the March 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery
~ improper propane trading 2004 and an oil spill in 2006 in Alaska
~ in the Texas City deal, BP will plead guilty Nov. 27 to a felony environmental crime and pay a $50 million fine
~ BP has simplified its business segments, is trimming management to improve bottom-up communication, and
~ has begun production at one of two key Gulf of Mexico oil platforms
~ Hayward said the industry is struggling with shrinking access, a view shared by BP's peers
~ most of the world's reserves are in countries controlled by state-owned oil companies, such as Russia and Venezuela, where foreign access is limited
~ BP askes political goodwill to go anywhere in the world in order to get their work done
~ in June 2007 BP agreed to sell its interests in a giant Siberian gas field to Gazprom
~ as part of the deal, BP created an alliance with Gazprom to invest jointly in energy projects and swap assets
~ some areas hold great promise for discoveries, including offshore Russia, the Arctic and Angola
~ increasing recoveries from existing fields also offer a promising route to boosting output
~ according to BP most of the world's energy will come from fossil fuels for the next 25 to 30 years
~ that outlook was also expressed by other oil companies, the U.S. Energy Department and the International Energy Agency
~ while BP far surpasses its peers on spending for alternative and renewable fuels
~ nothing short of a "miraculous" breakthrough will dent that forecast