• January 6: Venezuela
  Venezuela
  Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
  
  n Minister of Energy and Mines Rafael Ramírez announces that the Venezuelan government plans to split state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.
  Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.
  Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. is the Venezuelan state-owned petroleum company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil, as well as exploration and production of natural gas...
  
   (PdVSA) into two separate entities as part of a large-scale restructuring of the company, most of whose 40,000 workers are currently on strike. Such a decentralization could limit the power of Caracas
  Caracas
  Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
  
  -based executives who have joined in the strike, which began on December 2, 2002. (NYT)
• January 12: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), meeting in Vienna
  Vienna
  Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
  
  , agrees to raise the aggregate production quota of its members (excluding Iraq
  Iraq
  Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
  
  ) to 24.5 Moilbbl/d, up from the current 23 Moilbbl/d, effective February 1. Each member will receive a proportionately higher share of the quota, about a 6.5% increase. (NYT)
• January 16: Fourteen U.S. corporations or subsidiaries launch the Chicago Climate Exchange
  Chicago Climate Exchange
  The now defunct Chicago Climate Exchange was North America’s only voluntary, legally binding greenhouse gas reduction and trading system for emission sources and offset projects in North America and Brazil....
  
  , a trading program wherein companies would be able to earn redeemable credits for exceeding emissions reductions goals of 4% of 1998-2001 average emissions over the next four years. Companies unable to meet the goals would buy the credits. The Exchange intends to create means to verify that actual reductions in emissions have taken place. (WP)
• January 21: The near-month crude oil futures price on the NYMEX settles at $34.61 per barrel, the highest price since November 29, 2000. The market is experiencing a variety of higher price pressures, including the strike in Venezuela, fears of a conflict in Iraq, a cold winter in the United States
  United States
  The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
  
  , and low commercial oil stock levels in the United States. (USAT)
• January 28: The U.S. Department of Energy approves oil company requests to delay delivery of March shipments to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
  Strategic Petroleum Reserve
  The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is an emergency fuel storage of oil maintained by the United States Department of Energy.- United States :The US SPR is the largest emergency supply in the world with the current capacity to hold up to ....
  
   (SPR). The announcement will allow 4.4 Moilbbl of crude oil designated for storage in the SPR, to be marketed to domestic refineries instead. (Reuters)
• :January 29 Striking managers at Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA confirm that oil production has surpassed 1 Moilbbl/d once again, after falling to as low as 200 Moilbbl/d during the strike that began on December 2. On January 31, PdVSA President Ali Rodriguez announces that production is at 1.5 Moilbbl/d and that 5,300 striking workers have been fired. Opposition estimates of production are much lower at around 1.05 Moilbbl/d. (NYT, Reuters)
• :January 29 During his State of the Union Address
  State of the Union Address
  The State of the Union is an annual address presented by the President of the United States to the United States Congress. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the president to outline his legislative agenda and his national priorities.The practice arises...
  
  , President Bush proposes $1.2 billion in funding to support the research and development of hydrogen-powered vehicles. (Reuters)
• February 3: India
  India
  India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
  
  n Petroleum Minister Ram Naik announces that the government of India plans to boost the country's strategic crude oil reserves to 45 days from 15 days at an estimated cost of 43.50 billion rupees ($910 million). (Reuters)
• February 6: Iran
  Iran
  Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
  
  ian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh announces that phases two and three of the South Pars natural gas field are now on-line. These phases represent additional production of about 55 million cubic meters (1.9 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas per year, 85 Moilbbl/d of condensate, and 1 million metric tons (11.6 million barrels) of liquefied petroleum gas per year. The two phases are officially inaugurated on February 15. (DJ)
• February 11: BP
  BP
  BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
  
   invests $6.75 billion in Russia
  Russia
  Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
  
   by creating a new joint venture company with TNK-BP
  TNK-BP
  TNK-BP is a major vertically integrated Russian oil company. It is Russia's third largest oil producer and among the ten largest private oil companies in the world. TNK-BP is Russia's third largest oil company in terms of reserves and crude oil production...
  
   (Russia's fourth largest oil company) and Sidanco, of which BP already held a 25% stake. BP will have a 50% stake in the new company. TNK's shareholders, investment groups Alfa Group and Access-Renova, will hold the other 50% stake of the new firm, and board control will be balanced equally. The investment by BP is equivalent to almost 10% of Russian foreign exchange reserves and around 1.5% of Russian gross domestic product (GDP). (Reuters)
• February 12: Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) show that U.S. commercial crude oil stocks have fallen to 269.8 Moilbbl for the week ending February 7, 2003. This is the lowest commercial crude oil stock level since 1975, and just slightly below the lower operational inventory level of 270 Moilbbl. The lower operational inventory level, while not implying shortages, operational problems, or price increases, is indicative of a situation where inventory-related supply flexibility could be constrained or nonexistent. (Reuters)
• February 18: Exxon Mobil begins construction of the $3 billion Kizomba B offshore development project in Angolan waters. The project, when completed, is expected to produce 250 Moilbbl of crude oil per day, beginning in 2006, with total production over the life of the field estimated to be about 1 Goilbbl. Besides Exxon Mobil, which has a 40% stake, the other stakeholders are BP (26.67%), Eni (20%), and Statoil (13.33%). The concessionaire is Angolan state oil company Sonangol. (Reuters)
• February 28: The NYMEX near-month heating oil futures price settles at an all-time high of 125.59 cents per gallon, as many of the same market forces affecting the crude oil market also have driven up the price of heating oil, especially increased demand from the cold winter. High sulfur distillate fuel inventories (also referred to as heating oil) plunged more than 15% over the most recent four-week period to end the week of February 28, at 35.6 Moilbbl, 32% below the level for the same period last year. (Reuters)
• March 5: Some 500000 oilbbl/d of Venezuelan production in the eastern region begins to come back on-line. It was shut off at the wellhead for a week because of bottlenecks at export terminals as Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA encountered problems in returning loading at terminals to pre-strike levels. The Venezuelan government claims that oil production is over 2 Moilbbl/d, while fired PdVSA workers claim production is at 1.1 Moilbbl/d. (Reuters)
• March 6: Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
  Hugo Chávez
  Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
  
   announces that force majeure is henceforth lifted on Venezuelan oil exports. Venezuela had declared force majeure on its oil exports shortly after the national strike began on December 2, 2002. It is later revealed that this lifting does not apply to certain petroleum products. President Chavez also refuses to consider rehiring any of the over 15,000 fired PdVSA workers. (Reuters)
• March 7: The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) puts into effect expanded price limits on its energy contracts and reduces to five minutes the time trading is halted when those limits are reached. Under the revised rules, the initial price limits for light, sweet crude oil futures will be expanded to $10 per barrel in all months from the current $7.50 in the first two months and $3.00 in all other months. The initial Henry Hub natural gas futures limits will expand to $3.00 per million British thermal unit
  British thermal unit
  The British thermal unit is a traditional unit of energy equal to about 1055 joules. It is approximately the amount of energy needed to heat of water, which is exactly one tenth of a UK gallon or about 0.1198 US gallons, from 39°F to 40°F...
  
  s (MMBtu) in all months from $1 in all months. The initial limits on heating oil, gasoline and propane futures will increase to 25 cents per gallon in all months from 20 cents in the first two months and 6 cents in all other months. (Reuters)
• March 7: Officials in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announce that new clean water regulations for smaller sites, to take effect March 10, will not apply to the petroleum and natural gas industries. Rather, these two industries will have a two-year exemption, because, according to the EPA, further study of the effects of these regulations upon these two industries is needed. (NYT)
• March 11: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets in Vienna and decides to maintain crude oil production quotas for its member countries (excluding Iraq) at 24.5 Moilbbl/d. Saudi Arabia
  Saudi Arabia
  The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
  
  ’s Oil Minister, Ali al-Naimi says, "There will be no shortage of oil. The test is, when the need is there, whether we will use the capacity or not and I can assure you we will. Most analysts, including EIA, believe that OPEC-10's (excluding Iraq) actual production is higher than the quota amount. (NYT, Reuters)
• March 12: The near-month (April) crude oil futures price at the NYMEX settles at $37.83 per barrel, the highest near-month settlement price (in nominal terms) since October 1990. This comes as EIA reports today that commercial crude oil inventories for the previous week declined by 3.8 Moilbbl to 269 Moilbbl. This is below the 270 Moilbbl lower operational inventory level, which, while not implying shortages, operational problems, or price increases, is indicative of a situation where inventory-related supply flexibility could be constrained or nonexistent. This heightens supply concerns before an impending war in Iraq. (WSJ)
• March 19: Military action in Iraq commences with a bombing raid and missile attack on targets in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad
  Baghdad
  Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
  
   (March 20 Baghdad time) by Coalition forces, given Saddam Hussein and his regime's rejection of U.S. President George Bush's March 17 ultimatum. Iraq launches several conventional missiles at Kuwait, but this has no effect on Kuwaiti oil production. However, the Kuwait
  Kuwait
  The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
  
   Petroleum Company does implement an emergency plan to protect its workers and facilities. (Reuters)
• March 23: Outbreaks of violence between soldiers and militants of various ethnic groups in the Niger Delta
  Niger Delta
  The Niger Delta, the delta of the Niger River in Nigeria, is a densely populated region sometimes called the Oil Rivers because it was once a major producer of palm oil...
  
   region of Nigeria
  Nigeria
  Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
  
   prompt three major oil companies operating in the region - ChevronTexaco, Royal Dutch/Shell, and TotalFinaElf - to shut in operations in the area, totaling about 800 Moilbbl/d. This represents about 40% of Nigeria's total production, including about 768 Moilbbl/d in the West Niger Delta (all operations there for the three companies) and 50 Moilbbl/d of Shell production in the East Niger Delta. Employees of ChevronTexaco, which had declared force majeure on its Escravos crude oil terminal three days earlier, return to Nigeria on April 4 to begin a gradual resumption of production. Force majeure is lifted on April 24, 2003. (NYT, Reuters)
• March 24: After Coalition forces have pushed further into Iraq securing most of the southern oilfields over the weekend, Kuwaiti fire fighters are able to enter Iraq and are able to extinguish one of the wellhead fires. Iraq's southern fields represent about 40% of the country's output. Damage is assessed to be relatively minimal. Some pockets or Iraqi resistance in the southern oilfields remain, however. Furthermore, heavy Iraqi resistance in some parts of Iraq gives rise to market speculation that the war could last longer than initially thought. The NYMEX near-month crude oil price rises 6.5%, to settle at $28.66 per barrel, as the war in Iraq as well as the situation in Nigeria have traders concerned. (Reuters, DJ)
• April 4: Coalition forces continue to make progress against the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, with the U.S. military capturing Baghdad's main international airport. Also, according to the U.S. military, 80%-90% of Iraq's southern oilfield production is under coalition control, as well as all related export facilities, as of this date. (Reuters)
• April 4: Royal Dutch/Shell restarts production and development work at the Soroosh and Nowrooz fields offshore southwestern Iran, after shutting down work at the two fields on March 19 because of fears that staff could be vulnerable to intentional or accidental attack, given the fields' proximity to the border with Iraq. Soroosh produces about 60 Moilbbl/d, and the shut down has delayed the coming on line of the Nowrooz field, scheduled for later this year. (DJ, Reuters) )
• April 8: Syria
  Syria
  Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
  
  n state oil company Sytrol informs customers that it will cut crude oil term export volumes by around 40% (about 150 Moilbbl/d) as a result of the halt in Iraqi imports through the Iraq-Syria-Lebanon pipeline that is reported to have been shut down. Sytrol suggests that the reduction will continue for the rest of the year. (WMRC)
• April 14: Pumping on the oil pipeline from Iraq's Kirkuk
  Kirkuk
  Kirkuk is a city in Iraq and the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.It is located in the Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk, north of the capital, Baghdad...
  
   oilfields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan is halted as the storage facilities have reached their maximum capacity of about 6.5 Moilbbl. There has not been a loading of Iraqi crude oil at the port since March 20. (Reuters)
• April 14: Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) shuts down for inspection the last of its 17 nuclear reactors still in operation. The shut downs result from the discovery last year that TEPCO had falsified data regarding reactor inspections, leading to the decision to shut down by Japan's nuclear authorities. Japan's largest power firm said that unless its reactors were started back up, there would be an electricity shortage of up to 9.55 million kilowatts during the summer, when electricity demand hits its peak. (Japan Times)
• April 15: U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
  Donald Rumsfeld
  Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...
  
   announces that the U.S. military has shut off an oil pipeline from Iraq to Syria that is alleged to have been carrying 100,000-150000 barrels (23,848.1 m³) per day. "We have been told that they have shut off a pipeline," Secretary Rumsfeld told a Pentagon briefing. "Whether it's the only one and whether that has completely stopped the flow of oil between Iraq and Syria, I cannot tell you. ... I cannot assure you that all illegal oil flowing from Iraq into Syria is shut off. I just hope it is." (Reuters)
• April 22: Yukos Oil Company and Sibneft, Russia's first and fifth largest oil companies, respectively, in terms of production, announce that they will merge in a deal in which Yukos will pay $13 billion in cash and stock for Sibneft. The new company will be the world's fifth-largest publicly traded oil and gas company, with a production of 2.4 Moilbbl/d. The new company plans to become a major player outside of Russia as well. (NYT, WSJ)
• April 23: According to the American military officer in charge of restarting Iraq's oil production infrastructure, Iraq's southern fields have begun to produce again. Four southern wells have begun producing a modest amount of crude oil, but according to Brig. Gen. Robert Crear of the Army Corps of Engineers, southern wells should soon be producing about 170 Moilbbl/d. Initial production would go toward meeting domestic demand, especially as more refineries come back on line. The country's northern oilfields are still offline. (WSJ)
• April 24: OPEC oil ministers, meeting for emergency talks in Vienna, decide to simultaneously reduce crude oil production by 2 Moilbbl/d, as of June 1, and increase their overall production quota by 900 Moilbbl/d to a total quota of 25.4 Moilbbl/d. This is a tacit admission that OPEC production is well in excess of the previous quota of 24.5 Moilbbl/d. Iraq does not participate in the meetings and is not subject to the quota regime. (LAT)
• April 29: Brazil
  Brazil
  Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
  
  ian state oil company Petrobras
  Petrobras
  Petróleo Brasileiro or Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest company in Latin America by market capitalization and revenue, and the largest company headquartered in the Southern Hemisphere by market...
  
   announces the largest-ever natural gas discovery in Brazil. The discovery, located about 85 miles (136.8 km) off the coast of the state of São Paulo
  São Paulo
  São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
  
  , is a field containing an estimated 2.47 Tcuft of natural gas. This field raises Brazil's natural gas reserves by about 30%, according to some estimates. (Reuters)
• May 22: The United Nations Security Council
  United Nations Security Council
  The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
  
   approves the immediate end of 13 years of economic sanctions on Iraq, dating from the time of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Resolution 1483 effectively grants the United States-led coalition forces control of Iraq until a new Iraqi government can be put in place. The end of the sanctions also makes it easier for Iraqi oil exports to resume without the auspices of the United Nations. Later, on May 27, the U.S. Department of the Treasury lifts most remaining sanctions on Iraq, thereby implementing U.N. Security Council Resolution 1483. Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snow states, "It is no longer a crime for U.S. companies and individuals to do business with Iraq." (WP)
• May 28: Yukos of Russia signs a $150 billion agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation
  China National Petroleum Corporation
  China National Petroleum Corporation is a state-owned fuel-producing corporation and the largest integrated oil and gas company in the People's Republic of China...
  
   (CNPC), wherein CNPC agrees to purchase 5.13 Goilbbl of oil between 2005 and 2030 via a $2.5 billion pipeline from Russia's Western Siberia fields to China's Daqing field. (Reuters)
• June 2: Royal Dutch/Shell signs a $2 billion contract with an alliance of Japanese and Russian companies for the construction of Russia's first natural gas liquefaction plant in Sakhalin. This comes after Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and Tokyo Gas agreed two weeks earlier to purchase about one-quarter of the liquefaction plant's planned capacity of 9.6 million metric tons per year. Shell owns 55% of the production rights for the natural gas supplying the planned plant. (NYT)
• June 10: Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan
  Alan Greenspan
  Alan Greenspan is an American economist who served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. He currently works as a private advisor and provides consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC...
  
   notes that rising natural gas prices in the United States could have a negative impact on the economy in the months ahead if prices remain at high levels. States Greenspan, "I have no doubt that...if we stay at these very elevated prices we're going to see some erosion in a number of macroeconomic variables which are not evident at this stage. A very significant amount of natural gas using infrastructure in the American economy was based on $2 gas. That means a lot of noncompetitive structures are sitting out there." (Reuters)
• June 11: Oil Ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting in Qatar decide to keep OPEC crude oil production quotas unchanged for the ten members (i.e. not including Iraq) participating in the quota regime. The combined output quota for the ten members is 25.4 Moilbbl of crude oil per day. OPEC President Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, also Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry, says, "We don't want to cut for the sake of it. We should justify it." (Reuters, DJ)
• June 12: Two explosions damage the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline, in what is later determined to be an act of sabotage. Several other Iraqi pipelines are damaged in acts of sabotage throughout the month, including a natural gas pipeline in the western desert on June 21, an oil pipeline west of Baghdad on June 22, and the now-stalled Iraq-Syria pipeline on June 23. (Reuters, AP)
• June 14: ConocoPhillips
  ConocoPhillips
  ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational energy corporation with its headquarters located in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas in the United States...
  
   announces that the company will proceed with its $1.5 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) development project at the Bayu-Undan fields after government officials of Australia and East Timor approved the project in the Timor Sea Joint Petroleum Development Area. Natural gas from the field will be piped to an LNG liquefaction plant in Australia's Northern Territory. (WSJ, NYT)
• June 17: The head of Iraq's North Oil Company, Adil al-Qazzaz, states that Iraq's main north-south crude oil pipeline, the so-called Strategic Pipeline, will not be operable for some time, especially because the K-3 pumping station was badly damaged during the recent war. Al-Qazzaz goes on to state that because the pipeline is not working, "[W]e don't have export flexibility, and that will have an impact." (WSJ)
• June 22: Iraq exports oil for the first time since March 20, the first day of the war that eventually toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein
  Saddam Hussein
  Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
  
  . The crude oil, 1 Moilbbl, was part of the June 12 tender and will be sold to Turkish refiners from oil in storage at the Turkish port of Ceyhan
  Ceyhan
  Ceyhan is a city in southeast Turkey and with 105,000 inhabitants it is the second largest city of Adana Province after the capital Adana. Ceyhan is the transportation hub for Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Russian oil and natural gas. It is situated on the Ceyhan River, from which it takes...
  
  . Loading of the oil onto a tanker begins today. (WP)
• July 2: The European Parliament
  European Parliament
  The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
  
   votes to cap European industry's carbon dioxide output and let firms trade the right to pollute. As of January 2005, many plants in the oil refining, smelting, steel, cement, ceramics, glass and paper sectors will need special permits to emit carbon dioxide (CO2). "It means that the largest emissions trading scheme in the world to date will be a reality from 2005, and that the architecture foreseen under the Kyoto Protocol
  Kyoto Protocol
  The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
  
   is coming to life," according to European Union Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom. (Reuters)
• July 9: The government of Chad
  Chad
  Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
  
   announces that it has begun its first-ever crude oil production, as wells began pumping on July 1. It will still take weeks before crude is shipped from the $3.5 billion project through a 650 miles (1,046.1 km) pipeline to the Atlantic coast in neighboring Cameroon. The government does not announce the initial flow rate, but eventual production is expected to reach 225 Moilbbl/d. Oil begins flowing through the pipeline on July 15. (Reuters)
• July 12: Sakhalin Oil Development Corporation, the Japanese partner in an international consortium in the Sakhalin-1 project, announces that oil drilling offshore has begun. The project, which may eventually see $12 billion invested in oil and natural gas development, is potentially the largest direct foreign investment in Russia. Total recoverable reserves at the Sakhalin-1 area are estimated to be 2.3 Goilbbl of oil and 17.1 Tcuft of natural gas. (DJ)
• July 15: The operator of Israel
  Israel
  The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
  
  's Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline
  Trans-Israel pipeline
  The Trans-Israel pipeline , also known as the Tipline or the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline was built in 1968 to transport crude oil from Iran to Europe. The Iranians stopped the use of the pipeline after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown as a result of the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979...
  
  , a bi-directional pipeline linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, announces that the pipeline is operational. The pipeline, with a current capacity of 400 Moilbbl/d, but a design capacity of 1.2 Moilbbl/d, provides an alternative to the Suez Canal, as both Israeli ports can handle VLCCs, whereas Suez cannot. Perhaps even more importantly, with the new southerly flow, Russian crude on small tankers from the Bosporus will be able to eventually load onto VLCCs bound for East Asia. (Reuters)
• July 15: Hurricane Claudette
  Hurricane Claudette (2003)
  Hurricane Claudette was the third tropical storm and first hurricane of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. A fairly long-lived July Atlantic hurricane, Claudette began as a tropical wave in the eastern Caribbean. It moved quickly westward, brushing past the Yucatán Peninsula before moving...
  
   hits the Texas coast about 80 miles (128.7 km) southwest of Houston. According the U.S. Minerals Management Service, an estimated 2.5 Gcuft per day of natural gas had been shut in by Claudette, or about 18% of the Gulf's total gas output. Also, about 330 Moilbbl/d of oil, or some 21% of the Gulf of Mexico's daily oil production, has been shut down. Production is quickly restored in the next few days. (Reuters)
• July 16: Italian
  Italy
  Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
  
   oil and gas major Eni announces that it has begun exporting oil production from the giant Karachaganak field in Kazakhstan
  Kazakhstan
  Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
  
   to the Novorossiysk terminal on the Black Sea
  Black Sea
  The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
  
  . In addition, Eni said that it and its partners had completed pipelines and treatment facilities so that output from the oil field could grow by the end of the year to 380 Moilbbl of oil equivalent per day from the current 220 Moilbbl of oil equivalent per day. (DJ)
• July 16: Royal Dutch/Shell and Total successfully conclude the first deal with Saudi Arabia giving Western companies access to the Kingdom’s hydrocarbon reserves since the nationalization of its petroleum industry. The agreement entails natural gas exploration and development across 77000 square miles (199,429.1 km²) in Saudi Arabia’s Empty Quarter. Previous efforts to open up Saudi Arabia's upstream natural gas sector, known as “Saudi Arabia’s natural gas initiative” and the three “Core Ventures” were larger, with each estimated to be worth $10–$15 billion. The Core Ventures fell apart in June due to conflicts with foreign investors over financial terms. (Reuters)
• July 25: The first delivery of liquefied natural gas
  Liquefied natural gas
  Liquefied natural gas or LNG is natural gas that has been converted temporarily to liquid form for ease of storage or transport....
  
   (LNG) since 1980 is made to the reactivated Cove Point LNG regasification plant in Maryland, as a tanker from Trinidad arrives carrying 22 million USgals (83,279.1 m³) of LNG. According to Dominion, owner of the facility, the plant will be able to supply 1 Gcuft of natural gas per day, and will be the largest LNG regasification facility in the United States. (WP)
• July 31: Oil Ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), meeting in Vienna, decide to keep their crude oil production quotas unchanged until their next meeting, on September 24. The combined quota for the ten members participating in the quota regime (i.e. excluding Iraq) is 24.5 Moilbbl/d. (WSJ)
• August 7: The United States estimates that restoring Iraq's oil sector to its pre-war status will cost at least $1.1 billion and take nine months to complete. Prior to the war, Iraq was producing around 2.5 Moilbbl per day and exporting around 2 Moilbbl per day. Current production is closer to 1 Moilbbl/d, with exports of about 600000 barrels (95,392.4 m³) per day. (LAT))
• August 14: Libya
  Libya
  Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
  
   reportedly agrees to compensate families of the 1988 Lockerbie airplane bombing
  Pan Am Flight 103
  Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
  
   with $2.7 billion total. The money is to be released in three tranche
  Tranche
  In structured finance, a tranche is one of a number of related securities offered as part of the same transaction. The word tranche is French for slice, section, series, or portion, and is cognate to English trench . In the financial sense of the word, each bond is a different slice of the deal's...
  
  s, the first following a lifting of United Nations sanctions, the second after possible lifting of U.S. sanctions, and the third after Libya is removed from the U.S. State Department's state sponsors of terrorism list. (WMRC)
• August 14: A huge electric power blackout hits large parts of the northeastern United States, the Midwest, and southern Canada late in the afternoon. Power is out for at least several hours in major cities like New York, Detroit, Cleveland, and Toronto. Three months later, on November 19, the U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force, led by U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and Canadian Natural Resource Minister Herbert Dhaliwal, releases a 124-page investigative report which concludes that the blackout was "largely preventable" and cites several failures by regional utility companies and regulators. Analyses are also published by The Michigan Public Service Commission and the Electric Power Research Institute
  Electric Power Research Institute
  The Electric Power Research Institute conducts research on issues related to the electric power industry in USA. EPRI is a nonprofit organization funded by the electric utility industry. EPRI is primarily a US based organization, receives international participation...
  
   (EPRI). (NYT, WSJ, AP)
• August 14: Russia approves a $13 billion merger between Yukos and Sibneft, creating "YukosSibneft," Russia's first "supermajor" and one of the world's largest publicly traded oil companies. (WMRC)
• August 15: Iraq's crucial northern oil pipeline from Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan is attacked, stopping flows on the line just two days after it reopened for the first time since the war. The pipeline had a pre-war capacity of 1.1 Moilbbl/d, but sustained significant damage during hostilities and had started pumping at only around 200 Moilbbl/d. Repairs to the line from the latest attack may take weeks, while full restoration of the pipeline's pre-war capacity could take months. (WMRC)
• September 1: Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, a former Iraqi exile, is appointed Iraq’s first post-war oil minister by the country’s Governing Council. Uloum replaces Thamir Ghadhban, who had been the acting oil minister since early May. (Reuters)
• September 10: The Inter-American Development Bank
  Inter-American Development Bank
  The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean...
  
   approves financing for Peru’s Camisea natural gas project. The Camisea fields were discovered by Shell in 1986 and are estimated to hold 13 Tcuft of natural gas and 660 Moilbbl of condensate, possibly transforming Peru into a net energy exporter. (DJ, WP, WMRC, EIA)
• September 11: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves a plan for the new Cameron liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Cameron represents the first such project in the United States in over 20 years. (NYT)
• September 12: The United Nations (U.N.) Security Council lifts 11-year-old sanctions against Libya. Development of Libya’s sizeable oil resources has been hindered by the sanctions, which were imposed in 1992 in an effort to extradite two Libyans indicted for the 1998 bombing of an American plane over Scotland. (AP
• September 19: Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh announces that the deal which granted a Japanese consortium preferential rights to develop Iran’s Azadegan oil field has expired. The consortium was granted the rights in late 2000, but had yet to negotiate and sign a contract. The Azadegan field is estimated to hold some 26 Goilbbl of oil. (Platts)
• September 24: OPEC members agree to cut the output ceiling for the ten member countries, excluding Iraq, by 900 Moilbbl/d to 24.5 Moilbbl/d, effective November 1. Iraq attends the OPEC meeting for the first time since 1990. OPEC cited concerns that the world oil market will be oversupplied in 2004 leading to lower prices. (Reuters)
• September 30: The Chicago Climate Exchange announces its first auction of emission allowances. Although emissions cuts are still voluntary, the exchange is considered an important prototype. (WMRC)
• October 3: Chad's President Idriss Deby announced that the new Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline is officially "onstream." Chad began pumping oil into the pipeline in July 2003 from the Doba field. The $3.7 billion Chad-Cameroon
  Cameroon
  Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
  
   oil pipeline represents the World Bank's single largest investment ever in sub-Saharan Africa
  Sub-Saharan Africa
  Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
  
  . (NYT)
• October 4: The Russian oil companies Yukos and Sibneft complete their merger, creating YukosSibneft, the world's fourth-largest private oil producer. The news is accompanied by rumors that major American firms are interested in making a deal with YukosSibneft in order to gain access to the Russian energy market. (WP)
• October 14: Bowing to protests, Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada announces he will not pursue a plan to export more than one billion cubic feet per day of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the United States through Chile. The proposal had led to massive popular protests in Bolivia, resulting in the deaths of at least 16 people. (WSJ, WP, NYT)
• November 4: The International Finance Corporation, the private lending division of the World Bank, approves a $250 million loan for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline
  Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline
  The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline is a long crude oil pipeline from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field in the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. It connects Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia; and Ceyhan, a port on the south-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey,...
  
  . Later, on November 11, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development approves its $250 million loan for the project. The 1 Moilbbl/d pipeline will enable crude oil exports from the land-locked Caspian Sea region to reach world markets through the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. (WSJ, EIA, WMRC)
• November 18: ChevronTexaco reports that it has received final approval form the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build the world's first-ever deepwater liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Port Pelican in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The plant will have a capacity of 1.6 Gcuft per day, with construction to begin in 2004 and to be completed in 2007. (WMRC)
• November 21: The United Nations hands over the "oil-for-food" program in Iraq to the U.S.-led administration in Baghdad. The "oil-for-food" program was established by the United Nations in 1995, and used proceeds from the sale of Iraqi oil to buy food and medicine for Iraqis as well as to finance infrastructure and humanitarian projects. Iraqi oil exports reportedly have reached around 1.5 Moilbbl/d. (USAT, WMRC)
• November 24: The U.S. Congress abandons plans to pass an energy bill before the end of the legislative session. The bill was approved in the United States House of Representatives
  United States House of Representatives
  The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
  
   on November 18, but then blocked in the Senate as its proponents were unable to close debate on the issue and call for a vote. The legislation has been under construction for three years and represents Congress's first attempt at a comprehensive energy bill since 1992. The bill's proponents intend to revisit the issue in 2004. (NYT, WP, WSJ)
• November 28: Russian oil company Sibneft makes a surprise announcement suspending its merger with Russian oil major Yukos citing technical difficulties. The $13 billion merger was announced in April 2003, and would create the world's fifth-largest publicly traded oil company. (WP, WSJ)
• December 2: President George W. Bush signs a $27.3 billion energy and water bill that includes funding for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The repository remains a source of controversy between state and federal officials. (AP)
• December 4: OPEC holds its 128th meeting to review oil markets in Vienna, Austria, leaving OPEC 10 output quotas unchanged. (DJ)
• December 15: Oil prices fall 4% on the news that U.S. military forces capture Saddam Hussein near his hometown of Tikrit, Iraq. (CBS, WMRC)
• December 18: BP signs a 20-year deal to sell 500 Mcuft per day of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its Tangguh facility in Indonesia to the U.S. energy company Sempra Energy. The LNG will be shipped to Sempra's proposed import and regasification terminal in Baja California, Mexico before being distributed to buyers in the United States. (DJ)
• December 22: Libya announces that it will abandon its weapons of mass destruction programs and comply with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The United States welcomes the move, but says that it will maintain economic sanctions until it sees evidence of compliance. (WMRC, NYT)

Sources

• Energy Information Administration: Chronology of World Oil Market Events
• Commodity Research Bureau. The CRB Commodity Yearbook 2003, 2003.

OtherSources include: Associated Press (AP), Dow Jones (DJ), Japan Times, Los Angeles Times (LAT), New York Times (NYT), Oil Daily (OD), Reuters, USA Today (USAT), Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Washington Post (WP), World Markets Research Center (WMRC).
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2002 world oil market chronology

2002 world oil market chronology

*January 1: The OPEC crude oil production quota cuts of per day, announced on December 28, officially go into effect for six months. Crude oil production or export cuts of by five non-OPEC oil exporters also go into effect. *January 9: U.S...

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Chronology of world oil market events (1970-2005)

Chronology of world oil market events (1970-2005)

-1970:*January 1: U.S. Federal oil depletion allowance reduced from 27.5 to 22.0 percent.*May 3: TAP line from Saudi Arabia to the Mediterranean interrupted in Syria, creating all-time tanker rate highs from June to December....

| width="30%" align="center" | following year:
2004 world oil market chronology

2004 world oil market chronology

*January 18: Saudi Aramco formally inaugurates its new Haradh oil and natural gas facility. The Haradh plant is expected to boost Saudi natural gas production capacity by roughly 25%, most of which is slated for the domestic market...

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