FuelClub Discount

Pyramid Petroleum Inc. (TSXV: PYR) today announced the Company’s proved plus probable (”P+P”) reserves as of December 31, 2007. Pyramid’s reserves for its offshore properties were evaluated by Netherland Sewell & Associates, Inc. (”NSAI”). The Company’s ofshore properties were evaluated by Haas Petroleum Engineering Services, Inc. (”Haas”). Details of the reserve reports will be filed on SEDAR.
As of December 31, 2007, proved plus probable reserves increased to 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) from 1.1 million boe at December 31, 2006 representing an increase of 127%. Total proved reserves increased to 2.2 million boe as of December 31, 2007 compared to 1.1 million boe at December 31, 2006. This represents an increase of 100%.
The value of before tax proved and probable reserves (NPV 10%) increased to U$49.5 million from $9.5 million, based on forecast prices resulting in an increase of 400%. The value of before tax proved reserves (NPV 10%) increased to US$40.3 million from $8.5 million, based on forecast prices, resulting in an increase of 375%.

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South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region became the 10th Chinese locality to have replaced gasoline and diesel oil with bio-ethanol fuel on Tuesday out of environmental and energy efficiency concerns.

Petrol stations in all the 14 cities of Guangxi began to sell bio-ethanol fuel on Tuesday and in two weeks, traditional petrol and diesel oil will be phased out, said Fu Jian, an official in charge of transport with the regional government.

Fu said about 350,000 motor vehicles and more than 3 million motorbikes will have their tanks cleaned up for the fuel change.
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The average price of diesel oil on the Czech market increased by 20 hellers against a week ago to Kc30.96 a litre, while the top-selling petrol Natural 95 dipped by eight hellers to an average Kc30.50, data from the company CCS showed.

The gap between petrol and diesel oil prices has therefore widened. In contrast, from the start of the year the prices were getting closer together.

Analysts believe diesel prices will continue to grow in the coming days, while petrol prices will rather stagnate.

“The growth in diesel prices came mainly due to the sharply increasing price [on the bourse] in Rotterdam which has climbed up by over 28 percent since February 1, and this will soon be felt at Czech petrol stations,” Colosseum analyst Petr Cermak said.

Not even the constant firming of the crown will prevent diesel prices from growing, Cermak said.

“Petrol stations will probably be unable to resist the pressure of the growing oil prices and will raise their prices as well,” he said.

Cermak believes that in a fortnight, diesel prices will be tens of hellers higher.

Next Finance economist Vladimir Pikora does not expect a dramatic growth in fuel prices.

“Despite the record-high oil prices, the growth will be only in the order of several tens of hellers in the horizon of several weeks. For now, there is no reason for panic,” Pikora said.

The growth in oil prices by 16 percent since the beginning of the year and by over 75 percent in the last twelve months is not such a bad news for motorists as it may seem at first sight.

“The oil price in crowns is only moderately above the 50-day sliding average. And the crown still has room for further firming to the dollar,” Pikora said.

Fuel prices decreased slightly in previous days after a significant price growth in the second half of February that interrupted the downward trend of the last two months.

Average Czech fuel prices (Kc/litre) as of March 17, 2008:

Source: PragueMonitor

Iran’s motorists, whose consumption of petrol is rationed, will be allowed to buy unlimited amounts of gasoline over the New Year holidays but at unsubsidised prices, the oil ministry said.

Iran in June 2007 implemented a long-awaited plan to ration its hugely subsidised petrol, and now limits gas-guzzling motorists to 120 litres a month at the price of just 1000 rials (10 cents) a litre.

But Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said late on Monday that for the New Year holiday period Iranians would be allowed to buy petrol in excess of this quota for the non-subsidised price of 4000 rials (40 cents) a litre.

Motorists will be allowed to buy the extra petrol from one month from Wednesday, he said. Once this period is over, they will again be limited to buying just the cheap but rationed petrol.

The measure is aimed at helping people over the Iranian New Year (Norouz) holiday period which is traditionally a time when hundreds of thousands of people take to the roads for trips to the provinces.

Iran, Opec’s number two oil producer, decided to ration petrol to decrease the colossal state subsidies paid for keeping pump prices down to less than a comparable amount of mineral water.

The country lacks the refineries necessary to produce sufficient petrol for its car-loving 71-million population and is forced to spend billions of dollars each year importing petrol from abroad.

It had been hoped that traffic in Tehran — one of the most congested cities in the Middle East — would be reduced as a result of the rationing plan.

But Iranian motorists have displayed their ingenuity by readily finding petrol on the black market, which is usually priced at around three to four times the pump price.

The rationing initially triggered angry protests, with demonstrators torching petrol stations and yelling slogans against the government, but these rapidly petered out.

Source: iAfrica

The federal government has refused to rule out the possibility its proposed emissions trading scheme will force up petrol prices.

The government will offer a glimpse of the much-awaited scheme to battle climate change when it releases a green paper in July.

A timetable, released this week, said by the end of the year the government would give a “firm indication” of the scheme’s trajectory, which would determine the initial price of carbon.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong reaffirmed the scheme - the centrepiece of efforts to curb greenhouse gases - would begin in 2010.

Asked on Tuesday whether the scheme would force up petrol prices, Senator Wong refused to rule it out.

“Absolutely we know from the Stern report and a from a range of other advisers, including Professor Garnaut, that the cost of neglecting to act to the Australian economy and to households will be significantly greater than … the cost of responsible action now,” Senator Wong said.

The Australian people recognise the scheme would not be painless, she said.

But the government would be “methodical and careful” to ensure the impact was minimised.

Source: The Age