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Japan power utilities’ Dec LNG use hits monthly record high 5.27 mil mt

Japan’s 10 major power utilities consumed 5.27 million mt of LNG in December, a record high for monthly imports and up 4.2% year on year, data released Friday by the Federation of Electric Power Companies showed. The major power utilities’ previous monthly record high LNG consumption was in January 2012 at 5.21 million mt, while the previous high for the month of December was in 2012 at 5.05 million mt, an FEPC official said. The power utilities also used a total 466,078 b/d of crude and fuel oil for power generation in December, down 25.9% from a year earlier, according to Platts calculations based on FEPC data. Of the total oil consumption, the utilities used 993,123 kiloliters (201,501 b/d) of crude and 1.3 million kl (264,577 b/d) of fuel oil in December, down 30.7% and 21.8%, respectively, from a year earlier, according to FEPC […]

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Unconventional Shale Presents Challenges for EPC Companies

More Unconventional Shale Presents Challenges for EPC Companies In the past, some engineering and construction (EC) firms may have shied away from conventional oil and gas projects, which typically were a series of small, discrete, loosely-related development projects separated by stretches of time, characteristics that did not lend themselves to EC companies’ core competencies for managing large-scale projects. However, U.S. shale plays are providing EC firms with a new business opportunity which also can deliver distinct value for oil and gas companies, said John Doherty, U.S. engineering, construction and advisory leader at PwC, in an interview with Rigzone. Despite the exponential growth seen in U.S. shale plays, the oil and gas industry is still in the formative stages of developing these plays. This development involves tens of thousands of well sites being developed and the growth of scale, geography and complexity on top of existing base operations is pushing […]

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Rail, Oil Industries to Make Safety Changes for Transporting Crude

Federal regulators said railroads and energy companies agreed Thursday to take significant steps to make shipping crude oil by rail safer after a string of accidents and explosions prompted rising fears in cities and towns across the country. The voluntary changes, which include improving the safety of tanker cars, were announced after a meeting convened by the U.S. Department of Transportation that included top agency officials, executives from the big freight railroads and members of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s chief lobbying group. But at least one of the parties involved in the meeting on the rapidly growing crude-by-rail business began criticizing the other and regulators shortly after the announcement in Washington. A spokeswoman for railroad company Union Pacific Corp. UNP -1.29% Union Pacific Corp. U.S.: NYSE $ 167.96 -2.19 -1.29% Jan. 16, 2014 4:01 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 2.39M AFTER HOURS $ 167.82 -0.14 -0.09% […]

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U.S. Chamber offers path to U.S. energy dominance

Tom Donohue, chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said national policies in the United States are inhibiting its ability to become "an energy superpower." The U.S. Chamber of Commerce published a report on U.S. energy policy, outlining more than 60 recommendations in nine energy areas that it sees as vital for the nation in 2014 and beyond. Donohue said that, if embraced, the platform could create "millions" of new jobs in the United Sates and generate "billions" of dollars in new revenue. "America now has the opportunity to become an energy superpower, but our national energy policy is stuck in the past," he said in a statement Wednesday. "The platform will allow us to realize our full potential." In its 60-page report the group, which represents business interests, said the United States would rely less on foreign imports if it opens up more […]

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Oil-by-rail deliveries up for week ending Jan. 11, rail group says

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (UPI) — U.S. rail delivery of petroleum and petroleum products was up 12.4 percent last week from the same period in 2013, the American Association of Railroads said. The AAR said Thursday 13,881 carloads of petroleum and petroleum products, or about 9.71 million barrels of oil, were delivered on the U.S. rail system for the week ending Jan. 11. One rail company, Genesee & Wyoming, which has headquarters in Connecticut, said this week it transported 2,747 rail cars of petroleum and petroleum products in North America in December, a 254.8 percent increase over the same month in 2012. An accelerating pace of oil production in the United States has placed a burden on pipeline capacity, industry officials say. U.S. oil production has increased, in part, because of gains from states including Texas and North Dakota. In a short-term market report for January, the U.S. Energy Information […]

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Shell Profit Sinks as Weak Refining Adds to Output Losses

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) said profit plunged because of deteriorating refining markets and mounting losses in the Americas, surprising investors with an early earnings report that wiped out $10 billion in shareholder value. Europe’s biggest oil company, in its first profit warning since 2004, said adjusted earnings excluding one-time items and inventory changes were about $2.9 billion in the fourth quarter. That compares with $4.5 billion in the previous three months and an average fourth-quarter analyst estimate of $4.9 billion. “It’s a shock,” Jason Kenney, an analyst at Banco Santander SA in Edinburgh, said today by telephone. Shell had “to pre-announce to get the market to reality, but even so it’s a very weak set of results.” Shell fell as much as 4.4 percent in London trading, the most since Oct. 31, and was down 2.9 percent at 2,130.5 pence as of 8:53 a.m. local time. Chief Executive […]

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How the oil boom could change U.S. foreign policy

The United States is suddenly awash in crude oil. From 2008 to 2013, domestic oil production rose by 2.5 million barrels per day — the biggest five-year increase in the country’s history. Last year, U.S. produced more oil than it imported for the first time since 1995. The Valero refinery in Port Arthur, Tex., glows in the dusk. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) So what does that mean for the rest of the world? Or for U.S. foreign policy? Well, for starters, it probably doesn’t mean that Americans can now safely ignore the Middle East. The U.S. economy is still heavily reliant on oil, and prices are still largely swayed by what goes on in the global markets. Disruptions in places like Saudi Arabia, Iran or Iraq still have a big impact. That’s one conclusion of a major new report by a commission of former generals and senior officials, backed by Securing […]

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Harper Says Keystone Consultations Signal Obama Punting

Canada is urging President Barack Obama ’s administration to make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline amid signs of further delays in a final ruling on the $5.4-billion project. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in an interview yesterday the U.S. move to seek more public comment suggests Obama’s government may postpone a decision further, while Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird called on the U.S. to end the “state of limbo” over the project. “How much consultation do you need to do?” Harper said in an interview in his Ottawa office. “It’s clearly another punt.” The U.S. State Department will give the public a second opportunity to comment on the pipeline after an environmental impact review is complete, according to an agency official who spoke on condition of anonymity this week. The agency hasn’t said how long it would accept public comments, though adding that step could delay a […]

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Trans Mountain oil pipeline may face public scrutiny

Canada’s energy regulator called for interested parties to apply to take part in a hearing on the expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline. Pipeline company Kinder Morgan wants to spend more than $5 billion to twin the existing pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia, which would double the corridor’s capacity of 300,000 barrels of oil per day. It submitted an application to Canada’s National Energy Board in December and the NEB said the application process was now open to those wishing to take part in a hearing on the project. "The NEB is reviewing the application to determine if it is complete and if so, the NEB will hold a public hearing," the regulator said Wednesday. "Those who wish to participate in the NEB hearing must apply to participate." Advocacy groups in British Columbia have expressed concern about the potential environmental threat […]

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Royal Dutch Shell Issues Profit Warning

LONDON— Royal Dutch Shell Rn PLC warned Friday that fourth-quarter profit would be significantly weaker than recent levels partly because of higher exploration costs and lower oil and gas volumes. The company also cited weaker industry conditions in downstream oil products for the weaker performance. The oil major expects to post fourth-quarter earnings of $2.2 billion on a current cost of supplies basis—a figure that factors out the impact of inventories, making it equivalent to the net profit reported by U.S. oil […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple