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TransCanada’s U.S. oil pipeline set for January service

Oil should be moving through the 485-mile Gulf Coast oil pipeline from Oklahoma by the middle of January, a spokesman for TransCanada said Wednesday. The Gulf Coast project from the oil storage hub in Cushing, Okla., is designed to carry as much as 700,000 barrels per day to refineries in the Houston area. TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard said customers can expect oil deliveries by Jan. 22. "This is another important milestone for TransCanada, our shippers and the refiners on the U.S. Gulf Coast who have been waiting for this product to arrive," he was quoted as saying by The Oklahoman , a newspaper based in Oklahoma City. "Providing this notice gives our customers time to ensure that they have the appropriate volumes of oil to move into our system when the pipeline is ready to go into full commercial operation." The Gulf Coast […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Democrats want hearing on methane emissions

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) — Two Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives said they wanted to hold hearings to assess methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector. U.S. Reps. Henry Waxman , D-Calif., and Bobby Rush , D-Ill., members of House committees on energy, issued a letter to their Republican counterparts calling for hearings to assess the level of methane emitted during production, processing and distribution of hydrocarbons. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, trapping more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Waxman and Rush said carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were decreasing because U.S. utility companies were switching from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas. Methane, however, may be an unfortunate consequence of natural gas production in particular, they wrote. "The rate at which methane leaks into the atmosphere from natural gas production is a critical question that we must answer," they said […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Area off the coast of Maryland set for wind energy sale

The U.S. Interior Department said it planned to auction off nearly 80,000 acres off the coast of Maryland next year for wind energy development. The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management worked with state, local and federal authorities in identifying acreage about 10 miles off the coast for wind energy development. BOEM said it plans to auction off the acreage in two tranches next year. The bureau said the offshore areas could support the commercial development of more than 850 megawatts of wind energy. "The wind energy potential offshore Maryland is significant," BOEM Director Tommy Beaudreau said in a statement Tuesday. More than 100,000 acres off the coast of Virginia were auctioned for $1.6 million for wind energy development in September. A summer lease sale for 164,750 acres off the coast of Rhode Island and Massachusetts secured $3.8 million in bids for […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Dolphins Suffering From Lung Disease Due to Gulf Oil Spill, Study Says

Dolphins in an area hard hit by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010 are suffering from lung diseases and other abnormalities that are consistent with toxic exposure to oil, according to a study backed by the federal government and released on Wednesday. The peer-reviewed paper, which was disputed by BP PLC, was published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The paper makes the strongest connection to date between the BP spill and dolphin deaths, which jumped in the Gulf of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Cheap gas could save US households up to $1,200/year by 2020: study

The average US household could save $725 to $1,200/year by 2020 when an estimated 60 to 80% of the cost savings from cheaper energy flows to consumers, Boston Consulting Group said in a study released Wednesday. In its latest installment of "Made in America, Again," BCG estimated about 30-50% of the cost savings to companies from cheaper natural gas have likely been passed along to consumers. These savings come in the form of prices that are lower than they otherwise would have been, resulting in average household savings in the US of $425 to $725/year. This is equal to an extra 3-6% of additional discretionary spending each year for the average US household. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: Gas Daily Gas Daily Gas Daily offers the most detailed coverage of natural gas prices at interstate and intrastate pipeline and pooling points […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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US Gulf Coast reformate prices higher on exports, supply shortfall

US Gulf Coast reformate prices have shot dramatically higher in recent weeks, driven by a perfect storm of exports of the blendstock and finished gasoline along with a lack of supply. Market sources Wednesday said reformate was very tight, in the hands of major refiners who intended to use it to make their own gasoline for export. Reformate is a low RVP, high-octane gasoline blendstock that is the product of naphtha inputted to a catalytic reformer. As assessed by Platts it is a 1 RVP, 100 octane material. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: Oilgram News Oilgram News Oilgram News brings you fast-breaking global petroleum and gas news on and including: Industry players, upstream and downstream markets, refineries, midstream transportation and financial reports Supply and demand trends, government actions, exploration and technology Daily futures summary Weekly API statistics, and much more Request […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Signs of Baby Steps on Stanching Wasteful Flaring of Natural Gas

Visible even from space, more than 1,500 natural gas flares illuminate the prairie in the Bakken oil field in North Dakota, for lack of gas pipelines. Jim Wilson/The New York Times Visible even from space, more than 1,500 natural gas flares illuminate the prairie in the Bakken oil field in North Dakota, for lack of gas pipelines. I hope you’ll read “ Applying Creativity to a Byproduct of Oil Drilling in North Dakota ,” a valuable Clifford Krauss feature on baby steps taken by the oil and gas industry to stanch the wasteful, polluting flaring of natural gas from the country’s booming Bakken oil fields in North Dakota. (There’s no infrastructure for storing or transporting the gas and the oil is the quarry, given its much higher price.) Gas pipelines are rapidly being built. Companies like Statoil and General Electric are teaming up to develop and deploy new modular […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Airbus signs MoU with EGTS for electric taxiing solution for A320 family; projected fuel saving up to 4% per trip

AAirbus_signs_MoU_with_Honeywell_and_Safran_to_develop_electric_taxiing_solution_for_the_A320_Family_2 Using the aircraft’s Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) to power electric motors on its main landing gear, the “eTaxi” solution is projected to save fuel and reduce CO 2 emissions during an A320 Family jetliner’s ground operations by up to 4% per trip. Click to enlarge. As part of on-going research and development into future technology options, Airbus has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with EGTS International (Electric Green Taxiing System), a joint venture company between Safran and Honeywell Aerospace formed in 2011, further to develop and to evaluate an autonomous electric pushback and taxiing solution for the A320 Family. ( Earlier post .) The agreement marks the selection of EGTS International’s Electric Green Taxiing System to be evaluated as a new option on the A320 Family—referred to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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The Real Oil Extraction Limit, and How It Affects the Downslope

There is a lot of confusion about which limit we are reaching with respect to oil supply. There seems to be a huge amount of “reserves,” and oil production seems to be increasing right now, so people can’t imagine that there might be a near term problem. There are at least three different views regarding the nature of the limit: Climate Change.  There is no limit on oil production within the foreseeable future. Oil prices can be expected to keep rising. With higher prices, alternative fuels and higher cost extraction techniques will become available. The main concern is climate change. The only reason that oil production would drop is because we have found a way to use less oil because of  climate change concerns, and choose not to extract oil that seems to be available. Limit Based on Geology (“Peak Oil”).  In each oil field, production tends to rise […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Markets Await U.S. Fed Meeting

Crude-oil futures were little changed in Asian trading hours Wednesday as investors wait for the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in January traded at $97.39 a barrel at 0605 GMT, up $0.17 in the Globex electronic session. February Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.02 to $108.42 a barrel. The Federal Open Market Committee meeting ends later Wednesday and is expected to take a decision on the withdrawal of monetary stimulus, expectation of which has supported wider commodity prices so far. Analysts said the decision will be a close call, with some market participants expecting early tapering of asset purchases after a recent spate of positive economic data. "We suspect the renewed strength of employment growth in the past few months will be just enough to persuade the Fed to begin tapering its […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple