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Talks held on Marseille port row
BBC
Talks have begun to resolve a dispute at the French port of Marseille which is threatening to choke off fuel supplies in the country. A strike by workers at the Mediterranean terminal Fos-Lavera over employment at a new Gaz de France (GdF) terminal is now in its third week.

The action could spill over into the campaign for the French presidential election if consumers are affected. Activity in about half of France's 13 refineries is already depressed.

... The lack of supplies means some refineries are going to start eating into reserves from this week and slowing down production. "The first problems for private consumers could appear at the start of April," said Jean-Francois Cousinie of the French Union of Petroleum Industries."

The Marseille port is the world's third biggest for dealing with oil products and is crucial for exports to the US.
(29 March 2007)
Contributor David Landgren writes:
This dispute is also preventing Swiss and German refineries from receiving supplies. At least one French refinery will cease operations today due to the lack of crude oil supplies and a number of others will shut down within a few days if the dispute is not resolved and the supplies begin to flow again.

There has been little coverage in English-language media. The French daily "Le Monde" has regular coverage in French, see here.

Big Oil spends more, only some see 2007 output up
Alex Lawler, Reuters
The world's five largest fully publicly traded oil firms are planning to invest billions of dollars more this year but extra spending may not translate into higher production.

Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc, Total SA and Chevron Corp. plan up to a total of $97 billion in capital spending this year, up around 9 percent from 2006.

BP, Chevron and Shell have also said output may fall in 2007.
(30 March 2007)

From what was once Yukos, Russia builds state-owned oil giant
Steven Myers and Andrew Kramer, International Herald Tribune
MOSCOW: Only a few visible traces of Yukos Oil remain in Nefteyugansk, a remote Siberian town so inseparable from Russia's energy wealth that it has neft, or oil, in its name. Workers' barracks, trucks and some aging equipment are still painted yellow and green, the color of Yukos's logo.

The rest of what was once the most valuable subsidiary of the richest Russian company has new colors - black and gold - and a new owner, Rosneft. President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin has turned Rosneft, the once-forlorn state oil company, into an energy giant almost entirely by giving Yukos's assets a fresh coat of paint.

On Tuesday, a new phase in that effort began with the auction of the company's remaining assets, following a declaration of bankruptcy forced by Rosneft. The auction signaled the final stage for Yukos, which is a few months from disappearing into Russia's state energy industry after a prosecutorial campaign that began nearly four years ago. ..
(27 Mar 2007)

Pertamina Acknowledges LPG Scarcity
Nieke Indrietta, Tempo
Jakarta: PT Pertamina has acknowledged that there is a scarcity of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in several regions in Indonesia.

Toharso, Pertamina’s spokesperson, said that the shortage of LPG supplies was because Processing Refinery Unit V in Balikpapan was carrying out annual scheduled maintenance (turn around). ..
(28 Mar 2007)

Pertamina Acknowledges LPG Scarcity
Nieke Indrietta, Tempo
Jakarta: PT Pertamina has acknowledged that there is a scarcity of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in several regions in Indonesia.

Toharso, Pertamina’s spokesperson, said that the shortage of LPG supplies was because Processing Refinery Unit V in Balikpapan was carrying out annual scheduled maintenance (turn around). ..
(28 Mar 2007)