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Water concerns could limit US oil, gas development, speakers say

The oil and gas industry needs to respond more effectively to public concerns about safe water supplies if it expects to realize US unconventional resources’ full potential, speakers at Deloitte LLP’s 2014 Washington Energy Conference warned. Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling successfully changed the US from a net natural gas importer to exporter, noted Karen A. Harbert, president of the US Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, in her May 13 remarks. “But this is not a given,” she continued. “Emotions are running high. Opponents with scare stories want those resources to stay in the ground. Colorado is at ‘Ground Zero’ with a ballot initiative that would ban all fracing and place setbacks so far that production would be uneconomic.” Following his speech about water’s growing importance in any manufacturer’s plans, Gregory J. Koch, Coca Cola Co.’s global water stewardship director, said, “Your data and government permit […]

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North Dakota breaks state record for oil production

BISMARCK, N.D., May 14 (UPI) –Preliminary data from March show oil production in North Dakota has reached a new all-time high, the state’s Department of Natural Resources said. The North Dakota Industrial Commission, a division within state’s DNR, said March average oil production of 977,051 barrels per day was 2.6 percent higher than for February and an all-time high for the state. The commission said 94 percent of the production came from the Bakken and Three Forks area of the state. NDIC Director Lynn Helms said the number of wells completed from February to March was "up sharply," though the weather in the state was still having an impact on production. March, he said, began with a few days with temperatures below zero degrees Fahrenheit and there was at least a week when wind speeds were too high for work. At the end of the month, he added, 8 […]

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Keystone Delays Fuel Push for Canada East Oil Pipeline

Delays by the U.S. in reviewing Keystone XL are helping build momentum for an oil pipeline to Canada ’s East Coast. TransCanada Corp. (TRP) , the company proposing the $5.4 billion conduit to connect Alberta ’s oil sands with U.S. Gulf Coast refiners, may have an easier path to approval with its alternative to the nation’s Atlantic Coast. The C$12 billion ($11 billion) Energy East would be North America ’s largest oil line, with capacity to ship 1.1 million barrels a day. “We view the Energy East project a step in the right direction,” Thomas Mulcair , leader of the federal New Democratic Party , said at the Bloomberg Canada Economic Summit yesterday in Toronto. The opposition leader prefers the project over Keystone because it would support Canadian “value-added” jobs by supplying refineries in Eastern Canada. While shipping oil-sands crude across the country to the port of Saint John, […]

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As U.S. trucks revved up amid train traffic jam, a capacity crisis revealed

NEW YORK (Reuters) – As a polar vortex snarled North America’s railroads and upended freight flows this winter, everyone from agricultural giant Cargill to Dow Chemical rushed to secure the next-best form of hauling goods: trucks. In what trucking executives described as an unprecedented bidding frenzy, spot market rates surged by as much as 20 percent to record highs in the first three months of 2014 as shippers sought to minimize sometimes weeks-long delays in rail service. "We’ve received letters from CEOs from major chemical companies asking us if we can do more," said Bill Marchbank, vice president of operations at Houston-based Trimac Transportation, a leading bulk shipper of liquid chemicals and industrial minerals. "It’s almost out of desperation." Demand to ship freight on flatbeds outpaced the number of available trucks by a ratio of 37 to 1 in March and kept rising in April, an unusually steep seasonal […]

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Moscow Hosts Summit as Gazprom Warns Ukraine on Gas Cut: Energy

A two-day meeting designed to improve global energy security starts in Moscow today just as Russia threatens to halt natural gas shipments to Ukraine, risking disruption to European supplies. At least 18 ministers from countries including Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Turkey are attending the International Energy Forum’s conference, where Europe will also be represented. They meet days after an ultimatum to Ukraine raised questions about Russia’s reliability as a supplier. The U.K. delegation declined to attend the forum to protest Russia’s role in Ukraine, IEF Secretary-General Aldo Flores-Quiroga said today. “The IEF remains ready to facilitate producer-consumer dialogue regardless of circumstances,” he said. OAO Gazprom (OGZD) , Russia’s state-run gas exporter, threatened to halt June supplies without advance payment, as Kiev has fallen behind in payments for Russian shipments dating from last year. Ukraine is a key transit route for EU gas, with about 15 percent of the region’s […]

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Ukraine Slides Deeper Toward War as Russia Warns on Vote

Russia’s foreign minister said Ukraine is sliding into a civil war that could make it impossible to hold legitimate elections, as Ukrainian leaders and their international allies blamed Russia for the violence. “When Ukrainians kill Ukrainians, I believe it’s as close to civil war as you can get,” Sergei Lavrov told Bloomberg Television yesterday in an interview in Moscow. “In the east and south of Ukraine, there is a war, a real war, with heavy weaponry used, and if this is something that is conducive to free and fair elections, then I don’t understand something about freedom.” The Kiev government and its U.S. and European Union allies blame Russia for the unrest in Ukraine ’s easternmost regions. Pro-Russian separatists there were excluded from national unity talks that began yesterday in the capital to ease tensions as a May 25 presidential vote looms. U.S. and EU leaders say they’ll tighten […]

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Climate change poses threat to national security, report says

Retired U.S. military leaders say armed forces should create long-term plan to counter effects of climate change The effects of climate change — including extreme weather, drought and sea-level rise — pose a serious threat to U.S. national security, according to a report released Wednesday. Because of the effects, the country’s already "stretched" military capacity is being put to the test, it said. “National Security and the Threat of Climate Change,” written by 12 retired military leaders and published by the Center for Naval Analyses, a national security analysis nonprofit, said the U.S. armed forces should create a 30- to 40-year plan to address the risks. “It is not possible to discuss the future of national and international security without addressing climate change,” retired Air Force Gen. Donald Hoffman  said Wednesday  in a press release. “Food shortages, droughts, floods — all directly tied to climate change will be catalysts […]

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De-Dollarization: Russia Is On The Verge Of Dealing A Massive Blow To The Petrodollar

Is the petrodollar monopoly about to be shattered?  When U.S. politicians started slapping economic sanctions on Russia, they probably never even imagined that there might be serious consequences for the United States. But now the Russian media is reporting that the Russian Ministry of Finance is getting ready to pull the trigger on a “de-dollarization” plan.  For decades, virtually all oil and natural gas around the world has been bought and sold for U.S. dollars.  As I will explain below, this has been a massive advantage for the U.S. economy.  In recent years, there have been rumblings by nations such as Russia and China about the need to change to a new system, but nobody has really had a big reason to upset the status quo.  However, that has now changed.  The struggle over Ukraine has caused Russia to completely reevaluate the financial relationship that it has with the […]

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Crude Holds Gains Ahead of U.S. Inventories

Crude-oil prices Wednesday built on the sharp gains made in the previous session, ahead of U.S. stockpile data due later in the session. Brent crude for June delivery rose 0.4% to $109.81 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, its highest price since April 29. "The Brent move may have been prompted by the deteriorating situation in Ukraine and/or the constant failure of promises of port re-openings in Libya to come through," said David Hufton from brokerage PVM. The oil market is watching the situation in Ukraine for signs that sanctions will be extended into Russia’s energy sector. A reported restart of long-shut Libyan oil fields on Tuesday was met with skepticism. U.S. crude-oil futures were also up 0.4%, at $102.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price had risen above $102 Tuesday for the first time since April 29 on news that the U.S. government is […]

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WTI Rises for Third Day as Cushing Stockpiles Drop

West Texas Intermediate advanced for a third day, the longest rising streak in more than three weeks, after an industry report showed crude stockpiles fell at the biggest U.S. oil-storage hub. Brent gained as an ambush of Ukrainian government troops fanned tension with Russia . Futures climbed as much as 0.5 percent in New York. Crude inventories at Cushing, the delivery point for WTI, shrank by 590,000 barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute said yesterday. Supplies nationwide were probably unchanged at 397.6 million, near a record high, a Bloomberg News survey showed before Energy Information Administration data today. Ukraine is fighting an “undeclared war” with Russia, according to Acting Defense Minister Mykhaylo Koval. “Prices have gained momentum from reports showing a draw-down in Cushing inventories,” Amrita Sen, chief oil market strategist at Energy Aspects Ltd., a research company in London, said by e-mail. The declines are “taking Cushing […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple