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Shale gas’s next frontier could be Poland

Shale gas, the energy source which has shaken up world oil markets, could soon be flowing in Poland after changes in government policy. Shale gas drilling has a chequered history in Poland. International oil giant Exxon Mobil tried to extract the controversial energy source in the country and gave up in 2012. Instead, Poland’s first shale gas extraction will start within months, or even weeks, according to Dennis McKee, chief executive of United Oilfield Services, which is providing equipment for shale gas exploration in Poland. ( Read more: Poland: A tough sell for investors? ) “The climate is changing quickly at this point, and there are more wells this year than in the last five years,” he told CNBC. “Government plans have changed, making it easier to develop.” Shale gas, the energy source which has shaken up world oil markets, could soon be flowing in Poland after changes in […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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The shale game, & Shilling for dollars

Posted: Friday, November 22, 2013, 12:16 AM Likewise, as the American economy got crushed by no-longer-cheap oil, all the working classes in this country below the one-percenters got crushed, hammered and trashed. Among other things they can no longer afford is gasoline. Total vehicle miles driven has gone down by almost 3 percent since 2007. It will keep going down, and the Happy Motoring matrix will collapse for another reason: Capital scarcity will translate into fewer available car loans for Americans and fewer qualified borrowers, and Americans are used to buying their cars on installment loans. The shale-gas situation is also not the “energy savior” it’s cracked up to be. Because it costs so much to export the stuff, and we don’t have the export infrastructure in place – ocean terminals, fleets of special (expensive!) tanker ships – shale gas is hostage to the U.S. domestic market. The initial […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
Category:

The shale game, & Shilling for dollars

Posted: Friday, November 22, 2013, 12:16 AM Likewise, as the American economy got crushed by no-longer-cheap oil, all the working classes in this country below the one-percenters got crushed, hammered and trashed. Among other things they can no longer afford is gasoline. Total vehicle miles driven has gone down by almost 3 percent since 2007. It will keep going down, and the Happy Motoring matrix will collapse for another reason: Capital scarcity will translate into fewer available car loans for Americans and fewer qualified borrowers, and Americans are used to buying their cars on installment loans. The shale-gas situation is also not the “energy savior” it’s cracked up to be. Because it costs so much to export the stuff, and we don’t have the export infrastructure in place – ocean terminals, fleets of special (expensive!) tanker ships – shale gas is hostage to the U.S. domestic market. The initial […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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Supermajors 'worst climate offenders'

The findings of the study by the US-based Climate Accountability Institute reveal the 90 companies have between them generated nearly two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions since the dawn of the industrial age. They are said to have been responsible for 63% of cumulative emissions between 1751 and 2010, amounting to about 914 gigatonnes of CO2 out of a total of about 1450 gigatonnes, according to the newly published report. The list of climate offenders includes 50 investor-owned companies, mainly oil supermajors, as well as 31 state-owned companies such as Statoil, Saudi Aramco and Russia’s Gazprom. ChevronTexaco was the leading emitter among investor-owned companies, causing 3.5% of greenhouse gas emissions, with ExxonMobil not far behind at 3.2%. In third place, BP has caused 2.5% of global emissions, while Statoil was ranked as the 34th largest emitter on the overall list of 90 companies. Nearly 30% of emissions were produced by […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
Category:

Supermajors ‘worst climate offenders’

The findings of the study by the US-based Climate Accountability Institute reveal the 90 companies have between them generated nearly two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions since the dawn of the industrial age. They are said to have been responsible for 63% of cumulative emissions between 1751 and 2010, amounting to about 914 gigatonnes of CO2 out of a total of about 1450 gigatonnes, according to the newly published report. The list of climate offenders includes 50 investor-owned companies, mainly oil supermajors, as well as 31 state-owned companies such as Statoil, Saudi Aramco and Russia’s Gazprom. ChevronTexaco was the leading emitter among investor-owned companies, causing 3.5% of greenhouse gas emissions, with ExxonMobil not far behind at 3.2%. In third place, BP has caused 2.5% of global emissions, while Statoil was ranked as the 34th largest emitter on the overall list of 90 companies. Nearly 30% of emissions were produced by […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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Blackstone’s Version of Peak Oil

A $6 billion oil deal signals yet another apex for the Blackstone Group. The sale of private equity-backed GeoSouthern Energy to Devon Energy comes at a high price by one important measure. Blackstone, one of GeoSouthern’s owners, also has an uncanny knack for timing. The glut of undeveloped land owned by oil companies suggests finding buyers will get tougher. Devon can justify the purchase price to its own shareholders, who roundly embraced the deal, using one metric. It is paying just 2.5 times projected 2015 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for GeoSouthern’s assets in the Texas-based Eagle Ford shale formation. Peers like Rosetta Resources are trading at a multiple of four. At $135,000 an acre, however, Devon shelled out about six times more than Marathon Oil paid two years ago to buy land in the same area from KKR and Hilcorp Resources. What’s more, Blackstone got in […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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Krugman Goes Splat

I was fairly amazed to read Paul Krugman’s latest op-ed in the New York Times, titled “ A Permanent Slump? ” He seemed to be coming remarkably close to saying what several of us have been trumpeting for the past few years—that world economic growth is ending and we’d better retool accordingly. “What if the world we’ve been living in for the past five years is the new normal?,” he writes. “What if depression-like conditions are on track to persist, not for another year or two, but for decades?” Wow. That’s a gutsy statement, given that it’s coming from one of the high priests of the Religion of No Limits (otherwise known as economics). What’s even more remarkable is that Krugman’s sudden insight was evidently triggered by comments from Larry Summers (who was almost nominated to be the next Fed Chairman), in a speech at a recent IMF conference […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Peak Oil: Using Energy To Get Energy # 3

Tight oil is an important contributor to the U.S. energy supply, but its long-term sustainability is questionable. It should be not be viewed as a panacea for business as usual in future U.S. energy security planning.’ [1] Today, it takes about one barrel of conventional U.S. oil to produce the equivalent of nine barrels, or 378 gallons of gasoline. Meanwhile, the EROI for nonconventional oil, that is, oil produced from shale and tar sands, stands even lower, at about four. For every barrel of oil used to drill, producers obtain only four barrels of nonconventional oil, or 168 gallons of gasoline [2] FACTS SUCK Lost in the Happy Talk about our imminent energy independence are some notable facts intentionally omitted from those discussions. Facts, as we know, suck. And when the telling of a story of abundance collides with the reality of not […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Futures Lower After Fed Minutes; U.S. Supply Concerns Weigh

Oil futures are lower in Asian trading hours Thursday as minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting in October revealed that officials at the Fed still expect to start reducing its stimulus in “coming months”. The release of the meeting’s details sent risk sentiment down and the U.S. dollar sharply higher against major Asian currencies. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in January traded at $93.54 a barrel at 0459 GMT, down $0.31 in the Globex electronic session. January Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.39 to $107.67 a barrel. The downward move was a contrast against short-lived gains overnight that were boosted by data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which said crude stockpiles climbed by 375,000 barrels to 388.5 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 15. Analysts had expected inventories to rise by 700,000 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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WTI at Near 5-Month Low on Signs Stimulus May Be Curbed

West Texas Intermediate traded near its lowest closing level in five months as investors weighed a possible easing of economic stimulus in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Crude inventories rose for a ninth week. Futures slid as much as 0.5 percent in New York. The Federal Reserve may pare its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases “in the coming months” as the economy improves, according to minutes released yesterday from the Federal Open Market Committee’s most recent meeting. U.S. crude stockpiles climbed to the highest level since June, government data show. In China , the world’s second-largest oil consumer, a preliminary manufacturing gauge missed estimates. “The market fears that there will be a dose of post-quantitative easing cold turkey and that there will be weakness across a broad swathe of the economy, including oil,” said Christopher Bellew , a senior broker at Jefferies Bache Ltd. in London […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple