More oil and gas drillers turn to water recycling
AP Photo MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — When the rain stopped falling in Texas, the prairie grass yellowed, the soil cracked and oil drillers were confronted with a crisis. After years of easy access to cheap, plentiful water, the land they prized for its vast petroleum wealth was starting to dry up. At first, the drought that took hold a few years ago seemed to threaten the economic boom that arose from hydraulic fracturing, a drilling method that uses huge amounts of high-pressure, chemical-laced water to free oil and natural gas trapped deep in underground rocks. But drillers have found a way to get by with much less water: They recycle it using systems that not long ago they may have eyed with suspicion. “This was a dramatic change to the practices that the industry used for many, many years,” said Paul Schlosberg, co-founder and chief financial officer of Water […]
BP in fresh attempt to curb oil spill payouts
A clinic where the main doctor had his licence revoked, a mobile phone shop closed by a fire, and a car dealership that sold a discontinued marque are among businesses that successfully claimed compensation from BP for its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to court documents filed by the company late last week. BP cited the cases as it made a fresh attempt to limit the cost of its compensation settlement for the Deepwater Horizon disaster, trying for the first time to challenge directly payments for losses not caused by the spill. Until now, its arguments in court have centred on the method used to calculate the size of loss, rather than the issue of causation. In its filing at the US District Court in New Orleans, BP said its lawyers had found compensation payments of $76m had been paid for claims where it was […]
Dueling forecasts: Why our energy future is actually a risk management problem
Optimistic, but unwarranted, energy supply forecasts permeate the media (courtesy of the oil and gas industry) even as the occasional dire scenario gets coverage. But, it is well to remember that none of people making forecasts can know the one thing they all desperately want to know: the future. The most important thing you need to understand about forecasts–any forecast–is that their accuracy deteriorates rapidly, the further they go into the future. Surprisingly, almost no one who makes public energy supply forecasts acknowledges this; otherwise, we would see what statisticians call error bars –very large ones–in all these forecasts. In layman’s terms, the further out a forecast goes, the wider the range of possible outcomes–so much so that for long-term forecasts the range of outcomes is far more important than the middle estimate. But, this kind of waffling doesn’t get headlines. Humans are evolutionarily disposed to listen to those […]
Natural gas could spell doom for nuke power
Page added on November 11, 2013 If today’s global fracking frenzy had kicked into high gear a decade ago, thousands of jobs at FirstEnergy Corp.’s Davis-Besse, Perry and Beaver Valley 1 and 2 nuclear plants in northern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania could have been imperiled by now. “That’s fair to say,” Jennifer Young, FirstEnergy spokeswoman, said. But while job security at those massive power-generation stations is never strong enough to put workers at ease — especially with economic pressures brought on by the natural gas boom jolting the nuclear industry — Ms. Young said the situation appears more stable for FirstEnergy’s holdings than it does for nuclear plants in other parts of the country. The era of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” of shale bedrock has caused a drop in natural gas prices, which has caused energy markets to react. Much of the hype is based on the anticipated fracking […]
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Crude-Oil Futures Inch Higher as Traders Ponder Demand Signals
NEW YORK–Crude-oil futures settled slightly higher Friday as traders balanced hints of improving oil demand with lofty inventories. Prices dropped by a single penny in the week, underscoring the standoff between the conflicting elements. U.S. oil inventory data in the week showed bigger-than-expected declines in gasoline inventories and in inventories of diesel fuel and heating. Implied demand figures from the Energy Information Administration showed oil use in the world’s biggest oil consumer topped 20 million barrels a day for a second straight week. That was the strongest showing since January 2009. But some analysts dismissed signs of gains in heating oil use as reflecting typical pre-season residential deliveries and expect the figure to drop in coming weeks. The EIA also reported that crude oil stocks stand at their highest end-October level since 1930, keeping prices depressed. Light, sweet crude oil for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange […]
Brent Crude Rises as Kerry Tempers Expectations on Iran
Brent crude rose for the first time in four days as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry tempered expectations of a possible deal over Iran ’s nuclear work. The European benchmark gained 1.6 percent after Kerry said that there are “some important gaps” in reaching an accord that would ease sanctions against Iran’s oil exports in exchange for concessions on its nuclear work. He spoke in Geneva during an unscheduled stop for the talks. West Texas Intermediate advanced less than Brent as better-than-expected jobs data fueled worry that the Federal Reserve will scale back stimulus. “It’s not clear if the Iranians can deliver enough for the West to reduce sanctions,” said Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis, which oversees $1.4 billion. “Kerry added a dose of reality to expectations that probably have gotten ahead of themselves. The market is reacting to that reality.” […]
Natural Gas Advances Ahead of Colder Weather
–Futures rise 1.31% for the week on hopes for colder weather next week –Natural gas for December up 1.14% to $3.559 –Temperatures expected to warm up later in the month By Nicole Friedman NEW YORK–Natural gas gained Friday on calls for cold weather next week, which could increase demand for gas-powered electricity to heat homes and offices. Natural gas for December delivery settled up 4 cents, or 1.14%, at $3.559 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures settled up 1.31% for the week, boosted by hopes that lower temperatures in the middle and eastern U.S. next week would prompt people to turn up their heating. About half of U.S. households use natural gas as their primary heating fuel, according to the Energy Information Administration. Prices fell for three straight weeks in the latter part of October as traders bet that warmer-than-expected weather would fail […]