Shell says Mars platform produces 20% more crude

New York: Repair work to the largest-producing oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico has lifted output to 20 per cent more than where it stood before it shut down ahead of Hurricane Katrina last year, Shell Exploration and Production Co said.

The company said output from its Mars platform in the Gulf of Mexico stood at 190,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The platform returned to operation in May after being shut shortly before Katrina buffeted it with 80-foot waves and wind gusts exceeding 200 miles per hour, according to the company, part of Royal Dutch Shell.

Shell snaps up more sands acreage

Calgary: Royal Dutch Shell has added to its new acreage position in Canada's oil sands with a C$101 million acquisition of leases in Northern Alberta, the oil major said. Shell unit SURE Northern Energy said it was the successful bidder for five parcels of land in the latest Alberta government sale.

The acreage is adjacent to 10 parcels the company picked up in February for a record C$465 million.

Country aims to boost output 40%

Cairo: Egypt aims to boost its oil and gas output by more than 40 per cent in the next five years, the country's oil minister said. "In the oil and gas sector, we are planning to increase our production to 100 million tonnes (a year) in the next five years, compared to this year's 71 million tonnes," the minister, Sameh Fahmy, said.

He did not give separate figures for oil and gas output. According to the EIA, Egypt produced 579,000 bpd in 2005.