Oil Industry May Invoke Trade Law to Challenge Export Ban
The U.S. oil industry, riding a domestic energy boom, is preparing to challenge restrictions on crude exports, possibly by arguing that limits designed to keep petroleum in America may violate international trade rules. “Export issues are something we’re going to have to address,” John Felmy, the chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute trade group said in an interview. “It’s a debate we have to have.” He declined to discuss lobbying strategy or trade rules, though a June planning document on API letterhead obtained by Bloomberg News says the group has begun to develop “the necessary legal analysis” to support export approvals. API is planning to “highlight potential violations of the World Trade Organization rules against export restrictions,” according to the draft document, prepared for the group’s executive committee meeting. Industry officials say the push is just starting to lift the 1970s-era restrictions, and they acknowledge it will be […]
Eni buys into Texas shale oil
FORT WORTH, Texas, Nov. 5 (UPI) — Italian energy company Eni said Tuesday it signed a deal to explore the oil potential in shale reserves in western Texas. Eni signed a deal with Quicksilver Resources to evaluate, explore and develop shale oil resources in the Leon Valley in west Texas. Quicksilver said in a separate statement the Italian company agreed to pay $52 million and pay all of the costs associated with drilling in its 52,500 gross acre license area in Texas. Eni said the agreement calls for a seismic survey of the area to get a better understanding of the resource potential. It plans to drill as many as five exploration wells in the Delaware oil basin as part of its agreement with Quicksilver. Eni said the current level of oil produced from conventional and shale oil reservoirs in the region is nearly 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent […]
Alberta and British Columbia Cancel Pipeline Meeting Amid Strife
Alberta Premier Alison Redford and her British Columbia counterpart Christy Clark canceled a meeting scheduled for today in Vancouver amid a disagreement on how economic benefits of pipeline projects should be shared. Redford and Clark have clashed over British Columbia’s opposition to Enbridge Inc. (ENB) ’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, as landlocked Alberta seeks to move its oil-sands crude to Pacific energy markets. Senior officials from both provinces met yesterday in Vancouver. “We remain hopeful that common ground will be found between our two provinces on moving energy resources to new markets,” Redford said yesterday in an e-mail statement. “Given the ongoing work between our provinces, the meeting between Premier Clark and I will be postponed.” Calgary-based Enbridge, Canada ’s largest oil pipeline operator, is proposing to build a 1,177-kilometer (731-mile) conduit through British Columbia from Alberta to transport bitumen to Asian customers. Alberta contends that British Columbia should […]
Mexico Seeks Deeper Revamp of Energy Sector
MEXICO CITY—President Enrique Peña Nieto is negotiating a deeper revamp of the country’s nationalistic energy laws than his initial proposal this summer, aiming to put Mexico’s laws on a par with other top oil producers and to attract greater interest from private oil companies. Top government officials and their counterparts in the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, are in advanced talks to seal a deal that would give private energy firms a share in oil production and licenses designed to tap shale gas deposits and ultra deep-water oil, said three people involved in the negotiations, who cautioned that hurdles remained. Mr. Peña Nieto this summer became the first Mexican president in decades to formally propose changing the country’s constitution to end the state monopoly on oil and gas. That monopoly dates back to 1938, when former President Lázaro Cárdenas expropriated the oil industry and turned petroleum in a […]
The next Mexican revolution in oil and gas
Nick Butler is Visiting Professor and Chair of the Kings Policy Institute at Kings College London. He spent 29 years with BP, including five years as Group Vice President for Policy and Strategy Development at BP from 2002 to 2006. He has also served as Senior Policy Adviser at No 10, Chairman of the Centre for European Reform and Treasurer of the Fabian Society. Nick Butler is an investor in, and an adviser to a number of companies and institutions in the energy business. The views expressed are solely those of Mr Butler. This material is not intended to provide and should not be relied upon for investment advice or recommendations. Readers are urged to seek professional advice before making any investment.
EU optimistic over latest Russian, Ukrainian gas spat
KIEV, Ukraine, Nov. 5 (UPI) — Neither party to the latest natural gas row between Ukraine and Russia seems interested in revisiting past conflicts, a European commissioner said. Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said last week Ukraine has yet to pay its August natural gas bill of $882 million. Gazprom cut natural gas supplies to Ukraine most recently in 2009 because of payment concerns. European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said he was upbeat about the prospects for a resolution. “I am sure everyone is interested that the year 2009 [is not repeated] again,” he was quoted as saying in a Tuesday report from the National News Agency of Ukraine. He stressed the onus may be on Russia to resolve the issue because of its reliance on natural gas revenue from members of the European Union. European countries get about 20 percent of their natural gas needs met by Russia, […]
Great Expectations, Deferred
Great1.png Page added on November 5, 2013 Still waiting for large, economy-wide job increases from the “shale revolution” From Goldman Sachs, “Is the Economy Gaining “Fracktion?”” (not online): There is little evidence of significant “induced” employment growth in downstream manufacturing industries. Similarly, cap-ex in energy intensive sectors that might be expected to benefit most from the shale boom has not outperformed cap-ex in other sectors during the recovery, although it did decline by less during the recession. On top of fears that the surge in unconventional oil and natural gas will not be enduring [1] [2] [3] , there remains some doubt that the development of fracking will be the game-changer that many have claimed – at least with respect to macroeconomics. (Prominent studies include IHS (2012) , McKinsey (2013) .) Below I turn first to a discussion of employment growth in core oil and gas extraction. Then I […]
The propaganda campaign against peaking fossil fuel production
Page added on November 5, 2013 (Paper produced after a presentation at the Fenner Conference on Population, Resources and Climate Change: Implications for Australia’s Near Future , Canberra, October 2013) A formal definition of “energy” is “the capacity to do work”. The overwhelming majority – ~80%) of the work done in our advanced technological society (i.e. the “economic activity”) is done using the energy released by burning fossil fuels [1]. In fact, even a large part of the work done by humans themselves can be attributed to fossil fuels since 30% of all fossil fuel use is for growing, processing, distributing and cooking the food that powers human bodies [2]. Of course, food production is vital when considering the future of our nation of Australia and of world civilization. The act of people living in cities (the origin of the word “civilisation”) is only possible when farmers produce food […]