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No deep freeze: Australia swelters in heat wave

Bats are dropping from trees, kangaroos are collapsing in the Outback and gardens are turning brown. While North America freezes under record polar temperatures, the southern hemisphere is experiencing the opposite extreme as heat records are being set in Australia after the hottest year ever. Weather forecasters in Australia said some parts of the sparsely populated Pilbara region along the rugged northwest coast on Thursday were approaching 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). The record high of 50.7 degrees Celsius (123.3 F) was set in 1960 in Oodnadatta, South Australia state. Outback resident Gian Tate, 60, spends much of the day soaking in a small wading pool at her home near Emu Creek in the Pilbara region, a remote area off the electric grid. The thermometer outside her home registered 50 degrees Celsius (122 F) on Wednesday, she said. Tate and her husband […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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India reviews diesel deregulation for bulk consumers: official

India is reviewing its policy of deregulating diesel prices for bulk consumers introduced in January 2013 after bulk sales have dropped as those consumers shifted to the retail sector, a senior oil ministry official said Thursday. "Bulk diesel sales have dropped dramatically and [as a result] subsidies have increased," Petroleum Secretary Vivek Rae said. Rae was speaking on the sidelines of a Petrotech 2014 pre-conference session in New Delhi. India in January 2013 allowed oil companies to raise diesel prices each month by Rupees 0.50/liter in the retail sector but announced deregulated prices for bulk consumers. Bulk consumers include state-run bus transport corporations, the Indian Railways, and small and medium-size enterprises that use gasoil to run their facilities. They buy gasoil directly from refineries. The Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, which is a part of the oil ministry, in a November report on […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil-Tanker Recovery Trails Market With U.S. Export Ban: Freight

The recovery propelling shipping markets is poised to leave crude-oil tankers behind, unless the U.S. changes its 39-year-old ban on most unrefined exports. Sea shipments of refined fuels are set to expand the fastest since 2010 and demand to transport dry-bulk commodities such as iron ore and coal will rise more than capacity for the first time in seven years, according to Clarkson Plc, the world’s largest shipbroker. Demand for crude carriers will advance the least since 2009, as the U.S. produces the most domestic supply in a quarter century and cuts imports for the fourth straight year, Clarkson estimates. Profits will increase for companies including product-tanker owner Scorpio Tankers Inc. (STNG) and Star Bulk Carriers Corp., whose ships carry dry-bulk commodities, analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg show. Allowing more U.S. crude exports would be a “positive surprise” for tankers, according to RS Platou Markets AS. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Keystone Pipeline Approval Snag Spurs Oil to Rail Tankers

As the year rolled to a close, Russ Girling , chief executive officer of TransCanada Corp. (TRP) , repeated on television what he has often said: he’s “very confident” that President Barack Obama will approve the Keystone XL pipeline. The problem is that people have been saying that for years. As a result, the oil industry on both sides of the border has begun to aggressively deploy alternatives to the pipeline, including shipping by rail and barge, to get that oil to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. Rail, though, poses its own issues. A train carrying hazardous materials, including crude oil, derailed and caught fire in New Brunswick, Canada, on Jan. 7, causing the evacuation of as many as 150 residents — the latest serious accident involving rail cars hauling flammable liquids. The tilt toward rail is rooted in an industry sense that more than five years […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Calls to Drop 1970s-Era U.S. Oil Export Ban Stir Fight

Almost four decades after the Arab oil embargo, political leaders are beginning to contemplate what was once unthinkable: lifting restrictions on the export of U.S. crude oil. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the top Republican on the Senate’s energy committee, and the American Petroleum Institute held events yesterday to push for an end to the export ban. U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has said it’s time to revisit the policy amid forecasts the U.S. will surpass Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world’s largest oil producer by next year. “This may well be the biggest energy issue of 2014,” Daniel Yergin , author of “The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern World,” said in a phone interview. “Our logistics, our laws and our thinking are all having to play catch up with the dramatic change in the U.S. energy position” in recent years, he said. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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EIA expects lower gasoline prices for U.S. drivers

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline should decline steadily for the next two years. EIA, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said the average retail price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.32 as of Monday, a price 3 cents higher than the same time last year. Nevertheless, EIA said average gasoline prices in the United States should experience a steady decline. In a short-term energy report published Tuesday, EIA said the annual retail price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in 2013 was $3.51. That average price is expected to decline further to $3.46 this year and to $3.39 in 2015. In terms of U.S. crude oil production, EIA said the 2013 average of 7.5 million barrels per day was 1 million bpd higher than the previous year. "Projected […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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API touts stimulus from Keystone XL

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) — A report from the American Petroleum Institute said building the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada would be a victory for the North American economy. API, in a 40-page annual report on the state of the U.S. energy sector published Tuesday, said the United States and Canada could strengthen their relationship by building the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Keystone XL is planned by Canadian energy company TransCanada to deliver the heavier grade of oil sands crude from Alberta province to refineries in the southern United States. The cross-border section of the pipeline needs U.S. federal approval, though a domestic leg from Oklahoma should go into service by the end of January. "Buying oil from Canada makes sense, because for every U.S. dollar spent on Canadian products, such as oil, up to 89 cents is returned to the U.S. in the form of Canadian imports […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. refiner backs oil export restrictions

U.S. refining company Valero said keeping crude oil produced in the United States in the domestic market shields the economy from overseas shocks. "The more oil you have at home, there’s less [price] volatility when Iran rattles its saber or that kind of thing," Valero spokesman Bill Day said in an interview published Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal. "It makes more sense to keep the raw materials here, use American processes and labor to make a higher value product and use that for the export market instead of sending it abroad and importing it back at a higher price." The increase in U.S. oil production has generated calls for a reversal of legislation enacted in the wake of the 1970s Arab oil embargo that restricts U.S. crude oil exports. Higher levels of oil production, coupled with export restrictions, means companies like Valero can […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Extreme weather hurts Conoco's production levels

ConocoPhillips said recent production levels were lower because of extreme weather in the United States and the North Sea but no long-term impact was expected. "The recent quarter’s [fourth quarter 2013] average production was negatively impacted by significant weather-related downtime in several operational areas, notably in the Lower 48 and the North Sea," the company said in a statement Tuesday. Much of the eastern half of the United States is coping with an extreme cold snap brought on by a meteorological phenomenon known as the polar vortex. Temperatures in southern states dropped into the single digits while Chicago and other Midwest areas saw sub-zero temperatures in double digits. December storms in the North Sea region impacted Conoco’s production levels at its Ekofisk field in Norwegian waters "There has been no long-term impact to production from this weather-related downtime and 2014 guidance for continuing operations […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Extreme weather hurts Conoco’s production levels

ConocoPhillips said recent production levels were lower because of extreme weather in the United States and the North Sea but no long-term impact was expected. "The recent quarter’s [fourth quarter 2013] average production was negatively impacted by significant weather-related downtime in several operational areas, notably in the Lower 48 and the North Sea," the company said in a statement Tuesday. Much of the eastern half of the United States is coping with an extreme cold snap brought on by a meteorological phenomenon known as the polar vortex. Temperatures in southern states dropped into the single digits while Chicago and other Midwest areas saw sub-zero temperatures in double digits. December storms in the North Sea region impacted Conoco’s production levels at its Ekofisk field in Norwegian waters "There has been no long-term impact to production from this weather-related downtime and 2014 guidance for continuing operations […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple