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U.S. Natural Gas Imports & Exports 2013

. Net imports Natural gas net imports fell by 14% to 1,311 Bcf in 2013, the lowest level since 1989. Total imports decreased by 8% to 2,883 Bcf in 2013 from the previous year’s level. Pipeline imports decreased by 6% to 2,786 Bcf, and LNG imports decreased by 45% to 97 Bcf. Total exports, which increased in all but two years from 1997 to 2012, decreased by 3% to 1,572 Bcf in 2013. Pipeline exports decreased by 1% to 1,569 Bcf, while LNG exports, already lower than 2% of total exports, decreased to 3 Bcf. For the first time, the United States exported a small amount of compressed natural gas (CNG) to Canada by truck, totaling 0.1 Bcf. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy. Prices […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. petroleum product exports to Mexico rise while Mexican crude exports to the U.S. fall

Note: The United States does not export crude oil to Mexico. The United States imported 850,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of crude oil from Mexico in 2013, the lowest volume since 1993. In the past decade, U.S. crude oil imports from Mexico fell 47%, primarily as a result of declining production of crude oil in Mexico. Despite the decline, Mexico was the third largest source of crude oil imports to the United States in 2013, behind Canada and Saudi Arabia. Conversely, U.S. exports of petroleum products to Mexico have increased 152% in the past decade. In 2013, the United States exported 527,000 bbl/d of petroleum products to Mexico, including motor gasoline (46% of the total), distillate fuel oil (22%), and liquefied petroleum gases (10%). While the United States is a net exporter of petroleum products to Mexico, the United States also imports some petroleum […]

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EIA: Oil imports from Mexico at historic lows

Though it’s still the third-largest source of foreign crude, imports from Mexico are at their lowest levels in a decade, the U.S. Energy Department said. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said the United States imported 850,000 barrels of oil per day from Mexico last year, the lowest level since 1993. The trend has developed in part as a result of increased production from shale reserves areas in the United States. Coupled with declines in Mexican oil production and exports to the United States are down 47 percent from 1993, EIA said. On the other hand, increased U.S. oil production means exports of petroleum products to the Mexican market have increased 152 percent in the same period and most of that has been in the form of motor gasoline. The Mexican government in December enacted legislation that ends the 75-year […]

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Fracking Sucks Money From Wind While China Eclipses U.S.

U.S. President Barack Obama says natural gas can be a bridge from coal to a cleaner energy future. Investors are showing it’s more likely a bridge to nowhere. The country’s embrace of natural gas means less love for wind and solar. New investments in renewable energy sources declined 5 percent in North America last year to $56 billion, the lowest since 2010, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. By comparison, North American oil and gas companies spent $168.2 billion on exploration and production last year, more than double 2009, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Fracking — the process of blasting water, sand and chemicals into miles-deep shale rock to extract fuels — has helped push U.S. natural gas production to new highs in each of the past seven years, according to the Energy Information Administration. It’s also more expensive than traditional drilling and contributes to global warming, according to […]

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Birthplace of USS New Jersey Saved by Shale Production: Freight

The shale boom and the Jones Act are saving shipbuilding at the 213-year-old Philadelphia Navy Yard. On a part of the grounds now operated by Aker ASA (AKER) , workers apply a coat of gray paint to the deck of a new 800,000-barrel oil tanker in one dock. The hull of another tanker sits in the adjacent berth. Blue sparks fly from welding torches in the warehouse-sized shop where workers assemble sections known as grand blocks. Blue-green sheets of steel that will make up the skeleton of future ships are piled throughout the yard. “Less than three years ago, you would have seen an empty dock, empty building dock, no grand blocks lying around and practically empty production halls,” Kristian Rokke, the shipyard’s executive chairman, said during an April 25 oil tanker christening ceremony at the shipyard. “Many were starting to say that we might not make it.” Instead, […]

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Exxon, BP Defy White House; Extend Partnership with Russia

Several of the largest oil companies in the world are doubling down in Russia despite moves by the West to isolate Russia and its economy. ExxonMobil and BP separately signed agreements with Rosneft – Russia’s state-owned oil company – to extend and deepen their relationships for energy exploration. The U.S. slapped sanctions on Rosneft’s CEO Igor Sechin in late April, freezing his assets and preventing him from obtaining visas. However, the sanctions do not extend to Rosneft itself, allowing western companies to continue to do business with the Russian oil giant. ExxonMobil signed an agreement with Rosneft, extending its partnership to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on Russia’s pacific coast. Known as the Far East LNG project, the export terminal will receive natural gas from Russia’s eastern fields as well as from Sakhalin-1, an island off Russia’s east coast. Rosneft announced the deal in a press release […]

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Russia Urges Emergency Steps on Ukraine Amid Rebel Losses

Black smoke billows from Donetsk international airport during a heavy gun battle… Read More Russia called for unspecified “emergency” measures to halt the violence in eastern Ukraine after separatist militias suffered the heaviest casualties of their insurgency. “It’s necessary to take emergency steps to stop the bloodshed and start an inclusive internal Ukrainian dialogue,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier by phone yesterday, according to the ministry’s website. “There’s no excuse” for military action in the southeastern part of the country, Lavrov said. Ukraine stepped up air patrols over Donetsk yesterday as a convoy of pro-Russian rebels moved through the eastern city with an anti-aircraft gun in tow, threatening renewed violence after dozens of militants were killed in a government operation to retake the area’s biggest airport. Both sides suffered casualties as rebels stormed a National Guard base in Luhansk, the […]

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EU wants to avoid energy 'blackmail'

;Concrete actions" from members of the European Union to diversify the gas market is the only way forward, the energy commissioner said Wednesday. European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said EU member states need to develop stronger partnerships in the energy sphere in order to avoid falling victim to "political and commercial blackmail." Russia supplies about a quarter of the EU’s gas needs, though most of those supplies run through the Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine. In 2009, Russian energy company Gazprom cut gas supplies through Ukraine because of contractual disputes and recent tensions over Ukraine’s embrace of the West have added further strains to European energy security. "We need to accelerate the diversification of external energy suppliers, especially for gas," Oettinger said in a statement . "Only concrete actions will help." The EU said it spends more than $1 billion per day on energy imports . […]

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EU wants to avoid energy ‘blackmail’

;Concrete actions" from members of the European Union to diversify the gas market is the only way forward, the energy commissioner said Wednesday. European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said EU member states need to develop stronger partnerships in the energy sphere in order to avoid falling victim to "political and commercial blackmail." Russia supplies about a quarter of the EU’s gas needs, though most of those supplies run through the Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine. In 2009, Russian energy company Gazprom cut gas supplies through Ukraine because of contractual disputes and recent tensions over Ukraine’s embrace of the West have added further strains to European energy security. "We need to accelerate the diversification of external energy suppliers, especially for gas," Oettinger said in a statement . "Only concrete actions will help." The EU said it spends more than $1 billion per day on energy imports . […]

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Scotland sees North Sea reserves as major asset

Oil and natural gas wealth in the North Sea is expected to become major financial asset for Scotland on independence, the finance secretary said Wednesday. "North Sea oil and gas is a fantastic natural asset which has a great future for many decades to come," Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney said in a statement . Scotland holds a referendum for independence from the United Kingdom in September. The Scottish government said it could finance itself in part through oil and gas revenues while powering its economy with renewable resources. Swinney said there may be as much as 24 billion barrels of oil and natural gas reserves left in the North Sea and production is on pace to increase by 14 percent between 2013 and 2018. The finance minister said Scotland may be the largest oil producer and the second largest gas producer in the European Union. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple