Author: bomuo

A device with an orifice installed in a line to restrict the flow of fluids. Surface chokes are part of the Christmas tree on a well and contain a choke nipple, or bean, with a small-diameter bore that serves to restrict the flow. Chokes are also used to control the rate of flow of the drilling mud out of the hole when the well is closed in with the blowout preventer and a kick is being circulated out of the hole

China’s oil and gas industry is controlled by 3 national companies: CNCP, Sinopec and CNOOC. CNCP and Sinopec operate nearly all of China’s refineries and pipeline systems and CNOOC competes on the international scene. In addition to these three national companies, in 2005 the first private O&G company started operations (Great Wall Petroleum Group). China is aiming for natural gas to account for 5% of the national energy mix by 2010 and wants LNG to play an increasing role in meeting this target.

State owned China national offshore oil corporation. The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), founded in 1982, is one of the largest state-owned oil giants in China, as well as the largest offshore oil and gas producer authorized to cooperate with foreign partners for oil and gas exploitation in China ‘s offshore areas. CNOOC has maintained a momentum of rapid growth and developed from an upstream oil company exclusively engaged in oil and gas exploitation into an integrated corporation with a competitive core business and synergetic business portfolio along the value chain. It has established six business sectors, namely, oil and gas exploitation, technical services, chemical and fertilizer production and refining, natural gas and power generation, financial services, and logistic service and new energies development.

Chevron is one of the world’s largest (fourth largest non government company) integrated energy companies. Headquartered in San Ramon, California, they conduct business in more than 100 countries. Chevron is engaged in every aspect of the oil and natural gas industry, including exploration and production, manufacturing, marketing and transportation, chemicals manufacturing and sales, geothermal, and power generation. We’re also investing in renewables and advanced technologies. Chevron was originally known as the Standard oil of California or Socal

The largest producer of natural gas in the US. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, the company’s operations are focused on exploratory and developmental drilling and corporate and property acquisitions. Chesapeake is a leader in the extraction of gas shale, but with the credit crunch in the summer of 2008, the company has found itself unable to access the credit market and has been forced to sell certain of its properties to raise cash, such as to BP that has ample cash lying around and is under pressure to expand its portfolio of energy projects as concerns mount about its ability to expand production.

The World Bank announced on September 9, 2008 that it was ending its support for the controversial Chad-Cameroon pipeline. The announcement came after the Chadian government repaid $65.7 million in outstanding loans to close out its debt to the Bank for the project. The World Bank’s request amounts to an admission of failure in one of its most controversial and disastrous projects – once touted as a “model” for high-risk projects – after the Chadian government repeatedly used its newfound oil wealth in contravention of its agreements to invest in poverty reduction. In 2001, the World Bank agreed to help finance the pipeline after ExxonMobil, the leader of the consortium of oil companies, requested Bank assistance as a precondition for pursuing the project, knowing that the project could become a serious reputational liability. The pipeline, which constitutes one of the largest on-shore investments in Africa, is routed through areas with delicate environments and indigenous groups already wary of their governments. Both the Cameroonian and Chadian governments were widely considered corrupt and repressive dictatorships with questionable capacity to manage such large investments. By agreeing to support the project, the World Bank catalyzed finance for the construction of the pipeline, turning Chad into Africa’s newest oil producer. Facing stiff resistance from civil society, the Bank went to great lengths to promote the pipeline as a model for using revenues from high-risk projects to reduce poverty. It instituted an unprecedented, elaborate system for ensuring that revenues were devoted to social spending. Since it was commissioned in 2003, however, the project has been fraught with persistent problems, and the financial system put in place to manage Chad’s oil proceeds never worked as intended. The bellwether for the system was President Idriss Deby’s use of a $25 million “signing bonus” for re-arming his military; civil society complained heavily, but the Bank ultimately decided that the signing bonus was not covered by the terms of its contract with the Chadian government.