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Natural gas gains squeeze family-run oil firms

AP Photo NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — The black-and-white photo on the wall of Jennifer Tracey-Carlo’s heating oil company shows her father and grandfather standing beside a small fleet of gleaming delivery trucks, offering a glimpse into a time when oil was king and honoring the two men who built the business. Tracey-Carlo, the third generation to run Tracey Energy Services in New Haven, says oil dealerships like hers once expanded with a growing population and followed the exodus to suburbia. “We have their grandchildren,” she said of customers whose families grew up with hers. “As people moved further, we’d move with them.” Now, the industry faces a relentless boom in cheaper natural gas, on top of a more than 50 percent drop in the number of homes heated by oil between 1973 and 2011. The threat to the industry dominated by family businesses is particularly keen in the […]

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Congress Seen Debating Oil Exports While Wary of Gas Cost

Congress probably will consider loosening restrictions on U.S. oil exports, though a push by industry to sell more crude overseas will be resisted by members concerned about the impact on gasoline prices, lawmakers said. Senator Lisa Murkowski , the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, believes the debate on oil exports will happen “sooner rather than later,” according to Robert Dillon, a spokesman for the Alaska lawmaker. “It’s something we are looking at,” Dillon said. The chairman of the committee, Senator Ron Wyden , an Oregon Democrat, agrees the debate is coming though he would need to see benefits to consumers before supporting such a move, said spokesman Keith Chu in an e-mail. The American Petroleum Institute is developing the “necessary legal analysis” and may “highlight potential violations” of global trade rules in support of natural gas and oil exports, according to an internal planning […]

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Canada's oil relative to others in terms of emissions

HOUSTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) — Oil sands imported from Canada into the United States have a lighter environmental footprint than often assumed, a consulting company said. IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates said oil sands are the largest source of U.S. oil imports. Globally, Canadian oil sands could account for 16 percent of all new oil production by 2030. Oil sands are viewed as more carbon-intensive to produce than rival grades. IHS CERA said the greenhouse gas intensity of oil sands imported from Canada is less of a threat to the environment than often suspected. “Oil sands are on par with other sources of U.S. crude, including crudes from Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq and heavy oil production in the U.S.,” it said in a report published Tuesday. The debate over emissions is one of the sticking points over the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline planned from Canada. Shawn Howard, a spokesman […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Canada’s oil relative to others in terms of emissions

HOUSTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) — Oil sands imported from Canada into the United States have a lighter environmental footprint than often assumed, a consulting company said. IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates said oil sands are the largest source of U.S. oil imports. Globally, Canadian oil sands could account for 16 percent of all new oil production by 2030. Oil sands are viewed as more carbon-intensive to produce than rival grades. IHS CERA said the greenhouse gas intensity of oil sands imported from Canada is less of a threat to the environment than often suspected. “Oil sands are on par with other sources of U.S. crude, including crudes from Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq and heavy oil production in the U.S.,” it said in a report published Tuesday. The debate over emissions is one of the sticking points over the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline planned from Canada. Shawn Howard, a spokesman […]

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Gazprom: Ukraine short on paying off debt

MOSCOW, Nov. 6 (UPI) — It’s too early to declare a thaw in the natural gas relationship between Russia and Ukraine, a spokesman from Russian gas company Gazprom said. Alexei Miller , chief executive officer at Gazprom, said last week Ukraine has more than $880 million in unsettled debt from its August natural gas bills. Sergei Kupriyanov , a Gazprom spokesman, said Kiev has a long way to go before settling its obligations. “We have received several small installments for gas supplies in August, but it’s too early to speak about complete payment of the debt,” he was quoted by Russia’s state-backed news agency RIA Novosti as saying Tuesday. A debt row in 2009 prompted Russia to cut gas supplies to Ukraine. That decision left downstream European consumers in the cold for weeks because most of their Russian gas supplies run through Soviet-era pipelines in Ukraine. The Ukrainian government […]

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The downside of higher U.S. energy exports

oil tanker Photo: MrHicks46/Flickr. Critics of TransCanada’s Keystone XL project often argue that Canada should reap the full benefits of its natural resources, rather than exporting its petroleum riches south of the border. Head to the U.S. and, ironically, you can hear the same discussion. Much of America’s new found oil wealth is being shipped abroad, which is worrying Americans who figured they had a Made-in-the-USA solution to the country’s energy needs. Since 1975, U.S. federal law has banned raw crude from being exported in the interests of national energy security. The legislation, however, doesn’t cover refined products, such as gasoline or diesel. American refineries are free to export as much refined product as they can sell. And these days that’s a lot. Refineries in the U.S. are shipping record amounts of gasoline around the world, exporting the fruits of the country’s shale revolution to some of the same […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Why the oil majors are getting hammered

Page added on November 6, 2013 As in the second quarter of the year, third quarter results for the oil majors, the international oil companies and other major listed operators, were disappointing. Some were downright awful. Why have results for the oil companies deteriorated so markedly, and what should we expect in the future? In this article, we’ll look primarily at upstream liquids — primarily crude oil production. Historically, when crude oil consumption has reached 4.25% of GDP in the US, the consumer has chosen to reduce consumption rather than accept further price increases. This number represents a Brent oil price of $103 / barrel today. The equivalent numbers for China are about 6.25% of GDP and $120 / barrel, Brent basis. Take the combined average, and the global “carrying capacity”, the price the global economy as a whole can manage, is about $112 / barrel Brent, just a […]

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Oil hovers below $94 ahead of US supplies report

BANGKOK (AP) — Oil hovered below $94 a barrel Wednesday ahead of a report expected to show another increase in U.S. crude stockpiles. Benchmark U.S. crude for December delivery was up 42 cents at $93.78 a barrel at midafternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract slid $1.25 to $93.37 on Tuesday, adding to a month-long slide. Crude is down about 10 percent since closing at $104.10 on October 2. U.S. crude stockpiles have increased in each of the past six weeks, mostly because of rising domestic production, and were more than 10 percent above their five-year average near the end of October. Energy Information Administration figures for the week ending Nov. 1 due Wednesday are expected to show a further increase of 2.5 million barrels, according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. Brent crude, […]

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WTI Rebounds From Five-Month Low Before U.S. Fuel Supply Data

West Texas Intermediate rebounded from the lowest level in five months before a report that may show U.S. fuel supplies shrank. Price declines the past week are probably excessive, according to a technical indicator. Futures advanced as much as 0.7 percent in New York. Gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer, a Bloomberg News survey shows before data from the Energy Information Administration. Crude’s relative strength index is below 30 for a fourth day, signaling losses may not be sustainable. “The price is completely oversold, and people are sort of looking for the chance of a rebound within a few days,” Tetsu Emori , a senior fund manager at Astmax Asset Management Inc. in Tokyo , said by phone. “We’re heading into winter, so I think demand will be increasing. I’m not really pessimistic.” WTI for December delivery rose as much […]

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U.S. Oil Futures Tumble on Worries Over Swelling Inventories

NEW YORK–U.S. oil futures settled at their lowest level in five months Tuesday as traders worried about a potential seventh straight weekly increase in domestic supplies amid weak demand and high crude production. Meanwhile, a better-than-expected reading on the U.S. services industry led to speculation that the Federal Reserve will soon begin to scale back its economic stimulus program, which has helped to prop up crude prices. Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell $1.25, or 1.3%, to $93.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The decline was the fifth in six sessions for oil futures, which have plunged 16% over the past two months and finished at their lowest price since June 4. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange lost 90 cents, or 0.9%, to $105.33 a barrel. The European benchmark, considered to be a gauge of world oil prices, was supported somewhat by reports […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple