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The US is reportedly planning to deploy tanks and other heavy military hardware to protect oil fields in eastern Syria, in a reversal of Donald Trump’s earlier order to withdraw all troops from the country. The most likely destination for US armoured units is a Conoco gas plant near the city of Deir Ezzor, the site of a February 2018 clash between US special forces and Syrian regime-backed militias fighting with Russian mercenaries. Fox News reported such a deployment was “likely” and that the tanks would come from units already in the Middle East. CNN said it would happen relatively...

In a move that surprised many observers of the ongoing war for Deir Ezzor province, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) handed over one of Syria's largest gas fields to Russian forces on Thursday, possibly as the result of unprecedented direct talks between high ranking Russian officials and Kurdish leaders in Qamishli in northeastern Syria. Conoco gas plant (also locally called Al-Tabiya, which is the plant's main feeder field) lies on the eastern side of the Euphrates outside of Deir Ezzor city - which was recently liberated from ISIS as the Syrian Army and Russian forces approached from the west...

There’s fallout from the July 27 Houston Chronicle exposé of a trip to Azerbaijan by 10 member of the House that violated House rules. The trip was ostensibly sponsored by nonprofit groups but was actually funded by oil companies BP, Conoco Phillips and SOCAR, the national oil company of Azerbaijan. According to the New York Post today: Rep. Gregory Meeks pushed to let an Iran-backed natural-gas project dodge US sanctions — after attending an illicit junket paid for by energy companies. Also from the Post: “Congressman Meeks went on a 2013 Congressional trip to Baku, Azerbaijan, subsidized in part...

As the US and world powers approach a November 24 deadline on nuclear talks with Iran, governmental sources in the Islamic regime have reported that they are conducting secret talks with America about renewing diplomatic ties for the first time in 35 years. Iranian government advisers spoke to the British Times, and said secret talks with American officials have centered around the possibility of opening a US trade office in the Iranian capital of Tehran if a nuclear deal is reached. Those talks are to continue this week, and according to the officials will take place in the Azerbaijani capital...

Big Oil. We love, LOVE, to hate Big Oil. As we’re paying more and more at the pump, and as we continue to flounder in this post recession economy, it’s hard to look at the Big Oil companies , their profits and think anything other than greed. But is that fair? Let’s check. Recently, the big oil companies announced their profits for the first quarter of 2011. And they are impressive numbers to be sure: ■Exxon Mobile – $10.7 billion ■Chevron – $6.2 billion ■ConocoPhilips – $3.0 billion THAT is a lot of billions. A LOT! But is it really...

Three Major Firms Pull Out of Climate Change Alliance ConocoPhillips, BP America and Caterpillar pulled out of a leading alliance of businesses and environmental groups pushing for climate change legislation on Tuesday, citing complaints that the bills under consideration are unfair to American industry. The sudden pullout of three corporate giants from a leading alliance of businesses and environmental groups could be the death knell for climate change legislation languishing on Capitol Hill. ConocoPhillips, BP America and Caterpillar's announced Tuesday they will pull out of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, citing complaints that the bills now in Congress are unfair...

Poor weather will prevent state troopers from searching today for a Conoco Phillips Alaska employee missing in the avalanche that killed company president Jim Bowles on Saturday, a spokeswoman for the Alaska State Troopers says. The avalanche that killed Bowles occurred in the Grandview area wilderness between Girdwood and Seward on the Kenai Peninsula. Bowles was with a group of about 12 snowmachiners when the avalanche roared down a slope. His body was recovered before nightfall, while the second rider also caught in the slide, Alan Gage, was missing and presumed killed, troopers said. Bowles has headed Conoco Phillips Alaska...

Federal regulators have denied a request by U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips to build a system of bridges to expand oil drilling on Alaska's North Slope, saying the project would harm aquatic wildlife. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied ConocoPhillips' application to build the bridges over the Colville River, in a decision Friday, saying other alternatives would meet overall project goals while better preserving marine wildlife. Houston-based Conoco plans to appeal the decision, company spokeswoman Natalie M. Lowman said Monday. She added that the company is "disappointed with their decision." Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and the state's governor, Sean Parnell,...

Houston-based ConocoPhillips plans to build a new Global Technology Center and Corporate Learning Center on the 432-acre campus, which it recently purchased from Sun Microsystems. The technology center will serve as a hub for the company's research and development of renewable energy and high-tech carbon-fuels recovery.

(AP) - ConocoPhillips said today it's submitted a proposal to develop an Alaskan pipeline to carry about four billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to the United States and Canada.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) today announced that it has submitted a proposal to the governor of Alaska to advance the development of the Alaska Gas Pipeline Project. The proposed pipeline would transport approximately 4 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from the Alaska North Slope to markets in Canada and the United States. ConocoPhillips is prepared to make significant investments, without state matching funds, to advance this project as part of this proposal. The company already has efforts underway to begin new field data acquisition to support the pipeline permit applications. “We desire to work directly and purposefully with the...

After the CEO of Total (the French oil major) last week, two more CEOs of an oil major came out this Thursday to give stark warnings that mean that peak oil is happening right now. In addition, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency (the IEA), one of the main cheerleaders of the "there's more than enough oil" camp until now, is giving an extraordinarily pessimistic interview in the Financial Times, following the recent publication of their latest World Energy Outlook. Let me take you through all their affirmations. Big Oil CEOs Point To Constraints On Supply Growth HOUSTON...

George Stephanopolus interviewed Hillary Clinton this morning. After the LONG interview, there was a Conoco/Philips commercial for its Tyson Renewable project. Conoco didn’t mention Tyson by name. They just called them “one of America’s largest food processors”. You remember Tyson don't you? Remember Hillary's skilled foray into options trading? Just so you know what CP and Tyson's "renewable diesel" is about, it's a mechanism for Big-Oil to grab $1.00 per gallon in federal tax credits (a subsidy, for what some people call mixing a little fat with diesel fuel) ON TOP of the huge, HUGE profits that they are already...

Latin America: Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has expropriated $4.5 billion in assets from two U.S. oil firms. It's an ugly loss, but they will live. What's in doubt is Venezuela's future. No one knows what exactly will take over the mighty Orinoco-region investments that ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil will likely vacate as Chavez declares yet another "people's victory." But there's little chance the country will be able to match what those two companies could add to oil output and national development there. And the loser will be Venezuela.

Venezuela takes over US oil projects By Benedict Mander in Caracas Published: June 26 2007 20:22 | Last updated: June 27 2007 01:16 Venezuela’s state-owned oil company is taking over multibillion-dollar projects owned by ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, Rafael Ramirez, the country’s energy minister, said. The action was being taken following a failure to agree the terms of a handover of operations in the oil-rich Orinoco belt, said Mr Ramirez. The oil groups refused to sign an agreement on how the Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PdVSA would take majority control of heavy crude oil projects in the Orinoco belt, which are...

Energy: Venezuela's Hugo Chavez put on a big show for May Day, expropriating the last big foreign oil company project assets. But neither oil supplies nor the oil firms will go under. Venezuela may be a different story. Oh, it was a big show all right for the communist dictator, almost like a military conquest. Chavez sent soldiers charging in to "re-take" four large foreign-oil installations, planting the Venezuelan flag. And this being May Day, red-shirted mobs chimed in with Chavista slogans, making the whole scene movie-perfect. Only the pitchforks were missing. In reality, it was just a $30 billion...

ConocoPhillips Draws Attention in Defying Venezuela Over Oil Fields by Peter Millard Dow Jones Newswires Friday, April 27, 2007 CARACAS Apr 27, 2007 (Dow Jones Newswires) ConocoPhillips (COP) raised eyebrows in Venezuela this week by skipping an event where it could have signed over the rights to run its local oil operations to state-owned oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA. Industry watchers said the slight could mean Conoco is preparing for a legal battle if new contract terms offered in Venezuela's ongoing oil nationalization don't meet the firm's expectations. Even if Conoco caves in before Tuesday's deadline for...

A 4,500 tonne ship is adrift in the North Sea and heading for a gas platform. The vessel, named Vindo, broke down in very poor weather nine miles from the Murdoch gas platform. Coastguards said the ship, with nine crew on board and laden with 4,200 tonnes of fertiliser, was drifting towards the rig. Rescuers said it was a "race against time" to save lives. Michael Mulford, of RAF Kinloss, told Sky News there were nine people on the ship and 30 people still on the platform. He said: "We are planning to winch them off the ship two at...

Excerpt - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is planning a new assault on Big Oil, potentially taking a major step toward nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry that could hurt oil-company profits, reduce production and put further pressure on global oil prices. Venezuela's Congress, made up entirely of Mr. Chávez's allies, is considering sharply raising taxes and royalties on foreign companies' operations in the Orinoco River basin, the country's richest oil deposit. Major oil companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips of the U.S. and Total SA of France have invested billions of dollars there to turn the basin's characteristically tar-like oil...

To twist a line from the Gipper, "There they go again." Once more, Americans are being treated to the spectacle of seeing oil executives hauled onto Capitol Hill for some low-grade abuse by our lawmakers. "How dare you earn profits?" seems to be the order of the day, at least if you judge by the sound bites leaking out of the Senate Judiciary Commitee and the coverage in the mainstream press. "Company X earned X billion in 2005," comes the refrain. "Scandalous!" replies Joe Sixpack, exactly as he's expected to. Never mind that "profit" figures are misleading, since they don't...