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Drillers Eye Gains From Oil-State Senators Heading Panel

They’re senior senators from two of the nation’s top oil-producing states, longtime friends who are about to begin a partnership that has environmentalists uneasy and industry lobbyists counting on a shift in energy policy. Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana will take the gavel at the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee as early as today, joining Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska who is already the panel’s top Republican. The combination could boost industry priorities like expanded exports of oil sought by producers such as Exxon Mobil Corp. , and of natural gas sought by Dominion Resources Inc. and Cheniere Energy Inc. , as well as TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline. “Over time, these two are going to be a pretty powerful force for energy producers and for pipelines,” said Michael McKenna , a Midlothian, Virginia, lobbyist whose clients include Treaty Energy Corp. , a Houston-based oil and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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New Yorkers Pay Record Prices to Heat Homes in Winter Freeze

New Yorkers are paying record prices for heating this month as cold weather and natural gas restrictions boost demand for oil, draining supplies already at the lowest in more than two decades on the U.S. East Coast. Residential heating oil in the state of New York surged to $4.482 a gallon on Feb. 3, the highest in data going back to 1990, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Prices have risen 25.4 cents this year. Across the U.S., the fuel averaged $4.241 a gallon, also a record. “These prices are absolutely nuts because there’s just no supply,” said Bob Castoro, 60-year-old owner of New York-based Dyno Fuel Oil , who raised prices more than 30 cents a gallon in less than three weeks. “I don’t know how my customers are going to pay their bills. It’s a choice between eating or putting heating oil in the tank to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Harper Sees Keystone Approval, With or Without Obama

As far as Stephen Harper is concerned, history and economics carry far more weight in Canada-U.S. relations than whoever happens to occupy the White House at a given moment. That’s why Canada ’s prime minister remains relatively unperturbed about the drawn-out Keystone XL pipeline review, maintaining its approval is “inevitable.” In a wide-ranging interview on energy policy in his Ottawa office last month, Harper described how historical and economic forces and broad-based support for resource development determine whether projects like Keystone get built, rather than short-term political calculations. If Barack Obama doesn’t approve the pipeline, another president will. “It is, in my judgment, a necessary and inevitable victory,” Harper said in a Jan. 16 interview as he awaited a State Department environmental assessment of the project. “I absolutely believe that. I can’t see how it will be otherwise.” Moving Crude Through the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Total Plans More Drilling After Oil Exploration Failures

Total SA (FP) began life as Cie Francaise des Petroles, or CFP, almost a century ago. Thirty years since changing its name, the French oil giant is fighting to prevent its “Can’t Find Petroleum” moniker from coming back. Three years and $7.3 billion into an exploration drive, Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie still finds large discoveries elusive. Better drilling results — at least 12 “high-impact” wells are planned this year — are critical to bolster output and profit. Total will say tomorrow adjusted net income fell 11 percent last year to 11.1 billion euros ($15.1 billion), according to the average estimate of 22 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. “Total has been quite disappointed with its exploration,” said Theepan Jothilingam, an oil industry analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. “There will be a reassessment of returns on capital that has been spent on the effort. Questions will be raised in 12 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.K. Towns West of London Face Severe Thames River Flood

Waterlogged towns on the River Thames west of London face severe flooding as U.K. authorities struggle to deal with the wettest weather since 1766. The Environment Agency has in place 16 severe flood warnings, including 14 along England ’s most famous waterway. Towns in London’s commuter belt including Chertsey, Egham and Datchet are affected. Two warnings remain in Somerset, southwest England, where some roads have been cut off since December. After two months of record-breaking rainfall, there’s little respite for southern England, with the Met Office predicting rain every day through Feb. 14. A succession of storms and tidal surges have buffeted Britain since early December, flooding more than 8,000 homes and damaging coastal infrastructure, including the main railway connecting Plymouth and other southwestern cities with the rest of England. “Extreme weather will continue to threaten communities this week, with further severe flooding expected Monday […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Unlimited oil from sunlight and slime changes the energy game

It is ironic that, just as we are finally saying goodnight and farewell to Peak Oil theory, scientists are poised to bring unlimited quantities of the finest sweet crude oil to market, courtesy of algae and sunlight. Moreover, the algae route to creating oil is said to generate 95% fewer greenhouse gasses than the conventional route of drilling for oil , so, even if climate change activists would rather that we stopped using oil altogether, “green oil” goes a long way towards meeting most of their objections. The technology is not new. Research has been going on for at least the last 30 years, but for much of that time, scientists found that they were having to put more energy into the process to grow the algae and extract the oil, than was contained in the oil – not exactly a winning proposition. […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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Crude Holds Gains Near 2014 Highs

Crude-oil futures were choppy in Asian trading hours Monday but largely held on to gains made last week as markets await more economic data releases and energy agency reports in the next few days. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at $99.72 a barrel at 0642 GMT, down $0.16 in the Globex electronic session. March Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.39 to $109.18 a barrel. Both Brent and Nymex WTI crude pared early gains before slipping into negative territory. The oil benchmarks had settled at their highest levels so far this year on Friday on some supply concerns in the Middle East and strong U.S. winter fuel demand. "The front-month [U.S.] heating oil prices have been tracking five-year highs since early August, due to refining turnarounds, winter weather and low inventory levels," Barclays analyst Michael Cohen said […]

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Brent Slips After Biggest Gain in Three Months on Libya

Brent retreated after its biggest advance in three months as Libya continued to restore supplies and Saudi Arabia boosted crude sales in January. Futures lost as much as 0.6 percent in London , after a 2.2 percent rally on Feb. 7 that was the largest since October. Libya, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, increased production after protests at the country’s Sharara field ended, according to National Oil Corp. Saudi Arabia, while trimming output last month, increased shipments to the market to 9.916 million barrels a day, according to a person with knowledge of the country’s supplies. “With the partial recovery of Libyan supplies the spare capacity of OPEC will be increasing and that scenario is not too far off,” said Andy Sommer, an analyst at Axpo Trading AG in Dietikon, Switzerland. Brent for March settlement fell as much as 70 cents to $108.87 a barrel […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Hedge Funds Boost Diesel Bets With Supply at Decade Low: Energy

Hedge funds are the most bullish on diesel in almost five months as the coldest January in 20 years boosted demand and cut U.S. supply to the lowest in a decade. Money managers increased net-long positions, or wagers on rising prices, by 29 percent in the week ended Feb. 4, the third consecutive gain, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Long positions expanded by 5,016 contracts and short wagers fell by 1,020. Prices for diesel, traded as a proxy for heating oil, rose to the highest since 2012 as frigid weather spread across the U.S. Northeast, leading to curbs on natural gas pipelines that boosted oil demand. Refineries beginning seasonal maintenance may cut production this month, further reducing stockpiles near New York Harbor that are already the lowest since May 2003. “This is in reaction to cold weather supporting distillate demand and inventories continuing to decline as refineries […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.N. nuclear agency sees 'good' progress with Iran, much work remains

The U.N. nuclear watchdog signaled its determination on Monday to get to the bottom of suspicions that Iran may have worked on designing an atomic bomb, a day after Tehran agreed to start addressing the sensitive issue. Chief U.N. nuclear inspector Tero Varjoranta said progress had been good during February 8-9 talks in Tehran but that much work remained in clarifying concerns of possible military links to Iran’s nuclear program, in an investigation which Western diplomats say Tehran has stonewalled for years. "There are still a lot of outstanding issues," Varjoranta, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said at Vienna airport after returning from the Iranian capital. "We will address them all in due course." Iran denies Western allegations it seeks the capability to make nuclear weapons, saying such claims are baseless and forged by its foes. Years of hostile rhetoric and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple