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PTTEP to Buy Hess Corp.'s Thailand Assets for $1 Billion

Thailand’s PCL, the country’s flagship petroleum explorer, will buy the Thai assets of Corp. for around $1 billion, in the latest of a string of sales by U.S. energy companies as they switch focus to unconventional oil and gas projects in North America. The Hess properties being bought by PTTET comprise minority shares in one onshore and one offshore Thailand natural gas and condensate field, whose stakes together produce around 17,000 barrels a day of oil equivalent, PTTET said Wednesday. One of the deals has already closed, and the other will be completed in May, said PTTEP’s president and chief executive, Tevin Vongvanich. Other U.S. companies shedding billions of dollars of noncore assets in Asia and elsewhere, or restructuring their portfolios to concentrate on exploiting shale gas and oil reserves in North America, include Corp. , Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Devon Energy Corp. In February, Anadarko […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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PTTEP to Buy Hess Corp.’s Thailand Assets for $1 Billion

Thailand’s PCL, the country’s flagship petroleum explorer, will buy the Thai assets of Corp. for around $1 billion, in the latest of a string of sales by U.S. energy companies as they switch focus to unconventional oil and gas projects in North America. The Hess properties being bought by PTTET comprise minority shares in one onshore and one offshore Thailand natural gas and condensate field, whose stakes together produce around 17,000 barrels a day of oil equivalent, PTTET said Wednesday. One of the deals has already closed, and the other will be completed in May, said PTTEP’s president and chief executive, Tevin Vongvanich. Other U.S. companies shedding billions of dollars of noncore assets in Asia and elsewhere, or restructuring their portfolios to concentrate on exploiting shale gas and oil reserves in North America, include Corp. , Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Devon Energy Corp. In February, Anadarko […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Keystone Uncensored

Republicans are denouncing President Obama’s latest delay on the Keystone XL pipeline, six long years after it was proposed. But for cold political fury they have nothing on Terry O’Sullivan, who runs the Laborers’ International Union that represents a half-million construction workers. "This is once again politics at its worst," Mr. O’Sullivan said in a public statement that deserves to be quoted at length. "In another gutless move, the Administration is delaying a finding on whether the pipeline is in the national interest based on months-old litigation in Nebraska regarding a state level challenge to a state process—and which has nothing to with the national interest. They waited until Good Friday, believing no one would be paying attention. The only surprise is they didn’t wait to do it in the dark of night. "It’s not the oil that’s dirty, it’s the politics. Once again, the Administration is making a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Fracking Foes Cringe As Unions Back Drilling Boom

After early complaints that out-of-state firms got the most jobs, some local construction trade workers and union members in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia say they’re now benefiting in a big way from the Marcellus and Utica Shale oil and gas boom. That vocal support from blue-collar workers complicates efforts by environmentalists to limit the drilling process known as fracking. "The shale became a lifesaver and a lifeline for a lot of working families," said Dennis Martire, the mid-Atlantic regional manager for the Laborers’ International Union, or LIUNA, which represents workers in numerous construction trades. Martire said that as huge quantities of natural gas were extracted from the vast shale reserves over the last five years, union work on large pipeline jobs in Pennsylvania and West Virginia has increased significantly. In 2008, LIUNA members worked about 400,000 hours on such jobs; by 2012, that had risen […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Next disruptive shale technology will improve recoveries: Schlumberger fellow

Technologies that will increase the low rate of ultimate recoveries in shale plays are the next disruptive forces in US oil and gas production, experts said Tuesday in Washington. "The revolutionary change will be breaking out of the primary recovery trap," Schlumberger fellow Robert Kleinberg said. "How do you recover more?" Kleinberg, a physicist who invents geophysical instruments, didn’t know what shape the technology that would upend production in shale oil and gas fields would take, but he predicted it would focus on improving the relatively low rate of ultimate recoveries in shale wells. "We’re basically in the ‘gusher’ era," said Kleinberg, who was speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in a joint event with the National Capital Area Chapter of the US Association for Energy Economics. "This is where the disruption is going to come." Conventional wells have primary, secondary […]

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U.S. petroleum product exports increase in 2013

Exports of petroleum products from the United States averaged 3.5 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2013, 10% more than in 2012. The increase in exports was broad-based, affecting multiple products going to multiple regions. In December 2013, U.S. exports of petroleum products reached 4.3 million barrels per day, the first time exports exceeded 4 million barrels per day in a single month. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Petroleum Supply Monthly Note: "Other" includes petroleum coke, residual fuel oil, jet fuel, and other hydrocarbon gas liquids. Average exports of distillate fuels exceeded 1.1 million bbl/d in 2013, an increase of 110,000 bbl/d over the level in 2012. Cost-advantaged domestic crude oil and natural gas encouraged near-record-high refinery runs, and 2013 distillate fuel production increased 160,000 bbl/d over 2012. The largest increases in distillate […]

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BP to Sell Interests in Four Alaska North Slope Oil Fields to Hilcorp

PLC is selling stakes in four Alaska North Slope oil fields to Hilcorp Energy Co., ratcheting down its investment in a region it helped pioneer as the oil company seeks to raise cash. The London-based company said on Tuesday it would sell interests to the closely held Houston-based company. The companies didn’t release financial terms of the deal, but a BP spokesman said the company "secured good value for these interests." Hilcorp called the purchase a major acquisition for the company—its third in Alaska since 2012. "Our ability to bring new life to mature basins is a great fit for these assets," John Barnes, a senior vice president at Hilcorp, said in a statement. For BP, long a major player in Alaska, the sale marks a narrowing focus as it seeks to raise $10 billion in cash, with most funds earmarked to buy back shares. BP’s stock plunged after […]

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Duke Estimates Coal-Ash Cleanup at $2 Billion to $2.5 Billion

A Duke Energy Corp. executive told a North Carolina environmental commission that plans outlined by the utility to address coal-ash in the state are estimated to cost about $2 billion to $2.5 billion. Duke efforts to address coal ash in the state comes after a metal pipe running underneath a waste-storage pond owned by Duke Energy burst in early February, pouring as much as 39,000 tons of coal ash—the byproduct of burning coal for fuel—into the adjacent Dan River. "Duke Energy is committed to working with policymakers and regulators to implement both short- and long-term solutions to coal ash management in North Carolina," said Paul Newton, Duke’s North Carolina president. He spoke Tuesday before the state’s joint environmental review commission. Mr. Newton said the plans Duke has outlined include excavating and relocating ash from company sites to a "lined structural" or lined landfill, as well as costs to convert […]

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Ukraine May Resume Push in East as Russian Deal Crumples

Ukraine considered resuming operations to oust militants from eastern cities as an agreement with Russia to reduce tensions in the region lay in tatters. Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov yesterday called on security forces to move against the separatists after the discovery of two bodies in the country’s eastern region, saying that “terrorists” backed by Russia had “crossed the line.” He spoke hours after meeting in Kiev with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden , who pledged American support including $50 million in aid. With the April 17 accord faltering, Ukraine is inching closer to a renewed push to dislodge militants in defiance of Russia’s warnings that such a move risks sparking civil war. The “active phase” of the offensive was suspended five days ago as Ukraine’s government pledged to abide by the deal negotiated in Geneva by Ukraine, the European Union, the U.S. and Russia. In a call yesterday […]

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Crimea cut off from gas, leader says

A pro-Russian leader in the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine said the region was receiving less than its fair share of natural gas.De facto Prime Minister of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov said about 30 percent of the area residents were getting supplied with natural gas. "And this is despite the fact that gas is produced on the peninsula on a scale sufficient to supply the whole population of the peninsula," he said Monday. Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula after political upheaval in Kiev moved the former Soviet republic closer to the European Union. Last month, Russian energy company Gazprom said it wanted to tap into the more than 50 billion cubic feet of gas available in Crimea. Gazprom says it’s owed billions of dollars from Kiev for unsettled natural gas bills. With Ukraine hosting the bulk of the Russian gas bound for Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the region’s energy […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple