Word: oilmen
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Nigeria. The government at present owns 55% of the oil operations of Gulf, Mobil, Texaco and a Shell-British Petroleum joint venture. And as recently as August, it disclaimed any attempt to grab for more. Nonetheless, some oilmen expect an effort at complete nationalization soon...
...below last year's spectacular highs. In the quarter ended Sept. 30, Exxon's profits were down 31.2% from a year earlier, Gulfs 36%, Texaco's 38% and Mobil's 17%. The slide in earnings, plus the new price rollback, is certain to dampen oilmen's enthusiasm for much needed exploration. U.S. production of crude is in its fifth consecutive year of decline. And though oil companies completed drilling a record 25,729 domestic wells in the first nine months of this year, they have not found enough new reserves to offset the drain...
...Oilmen for the three companies involved in the sealift-Atlantic Richfield, Standard Oil Company of Ohio and British Petroleum-have maintained that air and overland shipments of some equipment would allow at least a trickle of oil to flow on schedule, regardless of this year's ice. But last week's delay threw a shroud over even that promise, and any major sealift probably will have to wait until next year. If nothing else, the professional meteorologists used by the oil companies might learn a lesson from the Eskimos. Last summer they reportedly predicted that ice would prevent...
Britain has also proposed buying a 51% government interest, or "participation," in private companies' ventures in the North Sea. Supposedly, this would eventually steer half the oil revenues and profits to the nation's treasury. But oilmen, and even a few government officials, see little point to participation. Britain can get its proper share of the spoils through tax and conservation laws already on the books, or headed for passage, without buying control...
Newer Frontier. There is little doubt among oilmen now that the North Sea will pay off for its biggest gamblers, although just how much remains to be seen. For whatever oil it has left over for export, Britain should find a ready market in Western Europe; about one-fifth of Europe's energy may eventually come from the North Sea. Norway is already feeling pressure to speed up development from industrialists eager to spur the economy, and it probably will do so in the chillier, deeper and more treacherous waters above the 62nd parallel where even richer oil deposits...