SITUATION: One indirect consequence of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is the impact it may have on the financing of the many tourism projects that have sprouted along the Caspian Sea.

Full article at: Oil Exploration

SITUATION: Russia has succeeded in getting funding for the Nord Stream gas pipeline (formerly North European Gas Pipeline, NEGP), which will go under the Baltic Sea to Germany. It obtained environmental approvals from the littoral states concerned rather easily and earlier this year began to lay the pipes undersea.

Full article at: Nord Stream Pipeline

Crude oil prices battled their way to a gain for the week as worries about the economy warred with the upward pressure from a weakening dollar.

Full article at: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/Weaker-Dollar-Propels-Oil-Higher-Amid-Mixed-Economic-News.html

There is an open secret in the oil industry that dare not speak its name: peak oil. Well, two did speak its name and gained no acclaim for it. One, M. King Hubbert, died years ago. The other and the most controversial, Matthew Simmons, died at his Maine summer home Aug. 8.

Full article at: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/They-Died-Before-the-Oil-Ran-Out.html

I received another scratchy, crackling cell phone call from my drilling buddy in the Texas natural gas fields today. You could almost choke from the dust on the line. He told me that the BP Gulf disaster was turning the fundamental assumptions of the oil industry upside down, and that sharply higher oil prices were in the cards, probably $100/barrel by year end.

Full article at: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/The-Price-of-Oil-is-Going-Up.html

Claims like “BP will file for Chapter 11 by July 9,” and that “the ‘real, untold story’ is another leak that is 5-7 miles away spewing 120,000 barrels per day” are ruining Matt Simmons’ credibility.

Full article: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Is-Matt-Simmons-Credible.html