Category:

New passenger vehicle diesel registrations in US up 11.5%, hybrids up 65% from 2010-2013; diesel 2.5x hybrids

« General Motors posts May record of 276,109 Vehicles in China | Main | ANSYS Fluent now includes Li-ion battery models; ANSYS, GM, NREL, ESim CAEBAT project » New registrations of all types of diesel passenger vehicles—passenger cars, light-duty trucks, vans, SUVs and heavy-duty pickup trucks (> 8,500lbs gvwr)—increased 11.5% (from 6,337,460 units to 7,068,439), and registrations of hybrid-electric passenger vehicles increased 65% (from 1,717,601 units to 2,826,885) from 2010 through 2013, according to a new analysis and supporting data released by the Diesel Technology Forum . Diesel registrations were 2.5 times those of hybrids over the period, according to the data. When looking only at cars and SUVs over that period, diesel registrations in the US increased 30% from 640,779 units to 833,324 units; registrations of hybrid cars and SUVs climbed 65% from 1,714,966 units to 2,821,599. Hybrid car and SUV registrations were 3.4 times those of diesel […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Gulf Of Mexico Crude Oil Production

Folks who follow this blog know that I am a data hog. That is I track data from the US as well as production from the rest of the world. But there are periods during the month when there is just no new data coming in. During the first 10 days or so of a month is such a time, almost no new data is posted anywhere. So I try to find something else to post. It is on the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. The last data point on all charts is March 2014. All data is in barrels per day except the first chart below which is in thousand barrels per day. The EIA gets their data from BSEE, (Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement), a branch of Department of the Interior, not the Department of Energy as you might expect. The BSEE is a little […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Lower crude feedstock costs contribute to North American refinery profitability

First-quarter 2014 financial results continued a three-year trend of North American refineries showing considerably higher profitability than European refineries as measured by earnings per barrel processed. While many factors contribute to refinery profitability, lower North American crude oil prices compared with world prices have been a key factor driving this outcome. North American refiners’ earnings per barrel processed were more than $6 per barrel (bbl) higher than their European competitors for the first three months of 2014, based on an analysis of 26 energy companies with refinery operations that submit financial and operating information by segment to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These SEC financial data allow for analysis of the entire refining sector by comparing just the refining business of global integrated companies (that explore and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Energy Industry Placing Big Bets on Republican Senate Win

Energy companies are giving more to Republicans to help them win a U.S. Senate majority and counter President Barack Obama ’s environmental agenda. Electric utility political action committees have donated 63 percent of their cash this election cycle to Republican candidates. That represents a partisan flip from four years ago when they gave 55 percent to Democrats and just 43 percent to Republicans, according to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics in Washington . Oil-and-gas company committees skew even more to Republicans. They’ve given 83 percent of their cash to the party’s Senate and House candidates so far, 11 points higher than in 2010, the last election in the middle of a presidential term, according to data compiled by the center. Employees of one company, Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) , have more than tripled donations to the Republicans’ Senate election fund from four years ago, at $94,800. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

More inspections needed for oil trains, senator says

More inspections are needed to ensure oil delivered on the U.S. rail network is safe, a leading senator from North Dakota said. U.S. Sen. John Hoeven , a Republican member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said an appropriations bill at the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee calls for ways to improve crude oil transportation by rail. "Rail safety begins with the rails, which means we need more inspectors, more inspections and more technology to monitor rail conditions and train movement," Hoeven said in a statement Wednesday. "The measures we’re including in the [appropriations] bill will help to prevent accidents in the first place, and to mitigate their impact when they do occur." About 950 barrels of oil spilled when two trains operated by BNSF Railway collided and derailed in North Dakota in late December. More than 40 people died in a similar accident in Lac-Megantic […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Chesapeake Energy Faces Charges It Misled Landowners in Michigan

Michigan’s attorney general filed criminal charges against Chesapeake Energy Corp. , alleging that the natural-gas producer misled landowners to obtain leases in the state. Prosecutors contend that Chesapeake in 2010 assured Michigan landowners that holding mortgages weren’t obstacles to signing leases allowing the company to drill for gas, but later cited those mortgages as a reason for canceling the deals. "Chesapeake therefore obtained uncompensated land options from these landowners by false pretenses, and prevented competitors from using the land," the attorney general’s office said Thursday. The complaint says that Chesapeake signed leases with as many as 800 landowners, but honored fewer than 30 leases. "We believe this action has no merit and we will vigorously contest these baseless allegations," said Gordon Pennoyer, a spokesman for the company, which is based in Oklahoma City. The charges include one felony count of conducting a criminal enterprise and eight felony counts of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Canada Aims to Sell Its Oil Beyond U.S.

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would ship from oil fields in Alberta, Canada (above) to the Gulf of Mexico, but the project remains uncertain. The Washington Post/Getty Images Last fall, Canadian oil producer Husky Energy Inc. sent a batch of crude on a journey to India. It was just a drop in a sea of global oil transactions, but a step toward reshaping North American energy trading. The million-barrel shipment to Indian Oil Corp. , described by Husky as a test sale, foreshadowed what Canadian producers hope will become many new overseas markets for their oil. "We are doing it opportunistically to have the wheels greased" for more exports far afield if they become feasible, said Asim Ghosh, Husky’s chief executive. Recently, Husky also shipped a batch of oil to Italy’s Eni SpA. While the U.S. debates whether to loosen a decades-old prohibition on shipping its oil overseas, Canada […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

2014: Peak Oil Sands Investment?

Does the shelving of the Total SA Joslyn mine signal that the recent wave of oil sands investment has peaked? This past week, Total SA And their business partners  decided to shelve the Joslyn Mine project , which places $11 bn in oil sands investment into the “unlikely” category. As an economist, I always look at other informal indicators of macroeconomic trends. Some other informal indicators are pointing to a crest in the recent wave of oil sands investment. – The price of diesel at the pump is approaching its 2007 levels, which raises variable costs for operating machinery. – Multiple fatalities in oil sands projects as S-A-F-E-T-Y is trumped by P-R-O-D-U-C-T-I-O-N. – Companies shedding contract employees, layoffs or hiring freezes as corporations regroup. – House flipping is back in Calgary as more people enter the market to sell $600,000 duplexes. – More frequent instances of rude wait staff […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

TAP pipeline for southern Europe seeking bids

Potential contractors for the planned Trans-Adriatic pipeline for Europe need to demonstrate "very specific expertise," the project consortium said Thursday. The TAP consortium, based in Switzerland, said it was moving forward with the pre-qualification of potential contractors for the construction of the planned 540-mile gas pipeline through Greece, Albania, the Adriatic Sea and Italy. "The scope of work for this contract is rather complex — potential contractors must demonstrate very specific expertise in constructing natural gas compressor stations, as well as other multi-disciplinary energy infrastructure experience, including strong project management skills," TAP Procurement Director Knut Steinar Kvindesland said in a statement . TAP said it issued a contract notice this week for the compressor stations needed in Albania and Greece for the transport of natural gas through the pipeline. Companies interested in the contracts need to reply no later than June 16. TAP would transport natural gas from the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Ukraine gets extra day of gas debt relief

| License Photo Ukraine gets an extra day to pay off its $2.2 billion debt for Russian gas deliveries, Russian energy company Gazprom said. Gazprom had set a June 9 deadline for Ukraine to pay off its debt to avoid potentially triggering a repeat of gas shortages that gripped Europeans in 2006 and 2009. Debt rows in those years prompted Gazprom to cut gas through Ukraine, which hosts the bulk of the Russian gas bound for Europe through its Soviet-era transit network. Alexei Miller , the top executive at Gazprom, met in Berlin with Andrei Kobolev, his counterpart at Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz, to discuss the debt issues. "On request of the Ukrainian party, the debt settlement deadline was postponed until June 10, due to June 9 being a holiday in Ukraine," the Russian energy company said in a statement Wednesday. The $2.2 billion in debt covers gas bills […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Will the curse of oil drag down Vladimir Putin?

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (R) reviews a map during a meeting with Alexei Miller, the CEO of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, at Putin’s residence outside Moscow on Oct. 29, 2012.Alexei Nikolsky / AFP / Getty Images We will look back at 2014 as the year Russian President Vladimir Putin pushed all his chips into the center of the table — risking everything to make Russia a world power again. Even his apologists now acknowledge that Putin wants to resurrect the Russian empire with most of the Soviet Union’s lost territories either incorporated into Russia, as with Crimea, or in its orbit, similar to eastern Ukraine and Belarus, as well as the Caucasian and Central Asian states. The range of Putin’s geostrategic tools is also on display: the Eurasian Union, military brawn and proxy militias in the near abroad, and Russia’s petroleum exports as the main source of income and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Peak Oil Revisited…

In a lecture to the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy in February of 2014 Steven Kopits, who is the Managing Director of the consultancy, Douglas Westwood explains how conventional “legacy” oil production peaked in 2005 and has not increased since. All the increase in oil production since that date has been from unconventional sources like the Alberta Tar sands, from shale oil or natural gas liquids that are a by-product of shale gas production. This is despite a massive increase in investment by the oil industry that has not yielded any increase in ‘conventional oil’ production but has merely served to slow what would otherwise have been a faster decline. More specifically the total spend on upstream oil and gas exploration and production from 2005 to 2013 was $4 trillion. Of that $3.5 trillion was spent on the ‘legacy’ oil and gas system. This is a sum […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Time to be honest about our energy prospects

THE problem is not that there is not enough coal left underground; there is. But the task of lifting it, transporting it and using it depends on many other factors, most importantly on the continued availability of oil as a lubricant for all the machines involved in the supply chain, and as a fuel for transportation. It is reckoned that there are some 109 years of coal left under current consumption assumptions according to a new report by BP, an energy producer.  Broadly that is in line with forecasts by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris which also predicts the availability of other fuels. Discussions about fossil fuel reserves start by aggregating firm and expected supplies from known and almost unknown sources, equating the resulting volume against fairly loose forecasts of economic activity including the assumption that rising costs will be accepted by consumers. While the EROEI (Energy […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

WTI Falls a Second Day on U.S. Fuel Inventories

West Texas Intermediate fell for a second day after inventories of gasoline and distillate fuels increased in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent slipped before a meeting of the European Central Bank . Futures dropped as much as 0.4 percent in New York . Gasoline stockpiles increased by 210,000 barrels to 211.8 million in the seven days ended May 30, while distillate inventories, including heating oil and diesel, climbed by 2.01 million barrels to 118.1 million, the Energy Information Administration reported yesterday. The ECB may become the first major central bank to take rates negative today as President Mario Draghi seeks to ward off deflation. “An overall bearish picture resulted from total hydrocarbon stocks increasing,” Harry Tchilinguirian , head of commodity markets strategy at BNP Paribas SA in London , said in a report. “The door is still open for a short-term correction in prompt WTI, possibly […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Crude oil declines despite US supply drop

Crude oil declined in price Thursday after an unexpectedly large drop in U.S. stockpiles was offset by rising supplies of refined fuels. Benchmark U.S. oil for July delivery was down 42 cents to $102.22 a barrel at 0750 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract shed 2 cents to close at $102.64 on Wednesday. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, was down 25 cents to $108.16 a barrel. The Energy Department reported Wednesday that U.S. crude supplies fell by an unexpectedly wide margin of 3.4 million barrels last week. That normally would push prices higher but supplies of diesel and other refined fuels rose and demand was weak. A report from payrolls processor ADP that U.S. hiring slowed in May also pushed down energy prices. In other energy futures trading on Nymex: – Wholesale gasoline was little changed at $2.934 a gallon. – […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Natural-Gas Prices Set 4-Week High on Long-Term Supply Concerns

By Timothy Puko NEW YORK–Natural gas prices hit their highest closing price in four weeks Wednesday as traders worried about how quickly producers are refilling depleted stockpiles. Prices for the front-month July contract settled up 1.1 cents, or 0.2%, at $4.64 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a level not seen since early May. Wall Street analysts and brokers on Wednesday predicted the gas producers made the year’s largest addition to storage last week, but that wasn’t enough to convince the market that prices will drop. The forecast of a 117-billion-cubic-feet surplus is 26% better than average for this time of year, but traders want to see record additions before they will sell, said Tom Saal, a broker at INTL FCStone Latin America in Miami. "Until we see an injection of … biblical proportions, the market is still not going to be convinced …" […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

OPEC Loses Price Power as Saudis Take Control

OPEC isn’t moving oil markets like it used to. As Saudi Arabia , the world’s largest oil exporter, has acted with more independence and crude prices stabilized, the group’s gatherings in Vienna to discuss output have lost potency. The CHART OF THE DAY shows how the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which produces about 40 percent of the world’s oil, is meeting less frequently and having a smaller effect on prices. The impact of OPEC’s output decisions, measured by how much the price of international benchmark Brent crude moved after meetings compared with the daily average for that year, was ten times greater in 2008 than 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “OPEC meetings used to be a race for any sound-bite from oil ministers, but in such a stable price environment they’re more likely to produce a snore,” said Olivier Jakob , managing director at Petromatrix GmbH, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil could be $15 more per barrel without more Middle East investment

If the Middle East fails to invest adequately in its oil fields, global oil prices could spike by an additional $15 per barrel in the 2020s. That comes from the  International Energy Agency  in a new report assessing global energy investment needs through 2035. The report estimates the investment in energy required to meet global demand over the next several decades. For example, $1.6 trillion was spent on energy supplies across the globe in 2013. That figure is expected to climb to $2 trillion annually over the next 20 years, with more than half of the annual sum going to offset declining production. In other words, the world will be forced to cough up over $1 trillion each year just to keep energy production flat. While those figures are hard to fathom, they point to a future in which fossil fuels – oil in particular – become more expensive […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

World needs $48 trillion in investment to meet its energy needs to 2035

IEA World Energy Outlook special report sees rising role of governments in shaping investment decisions Meeting the world’s growing need for energy will require more than $48 trillion in investment over the period to 2035, according to a special report on investment released today by the International Energy Agency (IEA) as part of the World Energy Outlook series. Today’s annual investment in energy supply of $1.6 trillion needs to rise steadily over the coming decades towards $2 trillion. Annual spending on energy efficiency, measured against a 2012 baseline, needs to rise from $130 billion today to more than $550 billion by 2035. “The reliability and sustainability of our future energy system depends on investment,” said IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven . “But this won’t materialise unless there are credible policy frameworks in place as well as stable access to long-term sources of finance. Neither of these conditions should be taken for […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Crude Supplies Adequate for World to Cut Imports From Iran, White House Says

The White House on Wednesday said global crude-oil supplies were sufficient to allow other nations to cut imports from Iran, though efforts to further curtail such sales were on hold while nuclear talks continue. "The United States has committed to pause efforts to further reduce Iran’s crude-oil sales for a six-month period," spokesman Jay Carney said. "In return for this and other limited relief measures, Iran has committed to take steps that halt—and in key respects roll back—progress on its nuclear program." The Obama administration has sought to squeeze Iran financially by limiting its access to financial markets and hard currency. The White House statement came in a statement required by Congress regarding the global supply of petroleum products from countries other than Iran. The statement was referring to existing agreements on Iran nuclear talks. "There currently appears to be sufficient supply of non-Iranian oil to permit foreign countries […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

U.S. sees no signs of Iranian oil deal with Russia

There are no indications Iran has reached a deal to swap oil for goods with the Russian government, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said. Iran in April said it was in serious negotiations with the Russian government to swap oil for goods. In a letter sent Monday, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said sanctions on Iran’s energy sector should be able to interrupt the deal. "It is very troubling that a potential agreement with Russia could allow Iran to increase its oil exports by nearly 500,000 additional barrels per day," his letter to Secretary of State John Kerry read. Marie Harf, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, told reporters during her regular press briefing Tuesday, however, that no such arrangement was in place. "We have no indications that reports of an oil-for-goods deal have moved forward with Russia," […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Deaths in fresh wave of Iraq violence

A wave of attacks across Iraq, including a twin car bombing in the country’s north, killed at least 20 people, officials said.  Wednesday’s violence, which struck in and around Baghdad, as well as in Salaheddin and Kirkuk provinces also wounded at least 50 people. No group immediately claimed responsibilty for the attacks, but Sunni fighters have frequently detonated bombs in the disputed northern territory.  Two people were killed when a suicide bomber set off a truck bomb in Suleiman Bek, while a corpse booby-trapped with explosives killed a policeman in nearby Tuz Khurmatu. Both towns, like Kirkuk, lie in the disputed territory, which stretches from Iraq’s border with Iran to its frontier with Syria. In the adjoining province of Salaheddin, two separate bombings left a policeman and a soldier dead. And in Baghdad, a car bomb killed four people in a shopping area of the Sunni-majority northern neighbourhood of Saba […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Maliki’s call for unity conference in Anbar may be too late

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ’s call on May 28 for holding a conference to resolve the Anbar crisis did not come as a surprise. However, the residents of Anbar felt that this call came late. In his weekly speech , Maliki called on “Anbar tribes and all those who confronted al-Qaeda and Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) militants to attend an expanded conference that achieves national unity far from disputes.” “I call on all people and tribes, who find enough will, awareness and ability in their hearts to support those who carried arms, issued fatwas to fight al-Qaeda, and joined the army and police, to hold an expanded conference as soon as possible. The conference will aim at declaring national unity in Anbar, to get rid of al-Qaeda. I hope that we will not bring up the disputes, although we respect them and we will work […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

New Gulf infrastructure opens up export growth

A tug boat maneuvers near an oil tanker at the Al-Basra Oil Terminal. (BEN LANDO/Iraq Oil Report/Metrography) Oil exports increased by an average of 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May over April, with a third single point mooring (SPM) buoy put into action and a new platform metering crude in the Basra Gulf. The average 2.58 million bpd of exports was a massive jump from the previous month, which itself was revised upward after the final data were calculated. It is an important milestone in a country that is solely dependent on oil revenue, especially as the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP) remained ou… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigeria No Longer Has Tangible Oil Trade With U.S. – Petroleum Minister

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has stated that Nigeria no longer has any tangible trade in crude oil with the United States of America, following the shale oil boom in the country. Alison-Madueke said this yesterday at an interactive forum on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which is awaiting passage at the National Assembly. She warned that the development should spur Nigerians to impress it on the legislature to pass the PIB as soon as possible. The minister said this just as the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Dakuku Peterside, also disclosed that the National Assembly would in its consideration of the bill expunge a certain provision that allows ministerial discretion in granting extension to the three-year deadline to end gas flaring after the PIB is passed. Represented by the Group Coordinator, Corporate Strategy and Planning of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Americans oil giants are looking to partner with Mexico's Pemex.

The miracles of modern engineering and, specifically, fracking and deepwater drilling are rapidly changing the risk-reward assessments of petroleum investment. When OPEC members meet in Vienna next week, the organization is scheduled to offer its latest assessment of global demand and projected production. And closer to home, U.S. oil titans are aligning with Mexico’s Pemex to secure access to new crude oil. As I reported in an earlier post , there’s good reason for Mexico’s newfound optimism and popularity. At the time, Pemex, the state-run oil monopoly and world’s fourth largest producer, had just discovered three deep-water deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, with an estimated 26.5 billion barrels of crude oil. And there’s no doubt about the high quality of that crude. So it shouldn’t have surprised anyone when California-based Chevron quietly became the first major international oil producer to partner with Pemex following landmark legislation that Pemex […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Americans oil giants are looking to partner with Mexico’s Pemex.

The miracles of modern engineering and, specifically, fracking and deepwater drilling are rapidly changing the risk-reward assessments of petroleum investment. When OPEC members meet in Vienna next week, the organization is scheduled to offer its latest assessment of global demand and projected production. And closer to home, U.S. oil titans are aligning with Mexico’s Pemex to secure access to new crude oil. As I reported in an earlier post , there’s good reason for Mexico’s newfound optimism and popularity. At the time, Pemex, the state-run oil monopoly and world’s fourth largest producer, had just discovered three deep-water deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, with an estimated 26.5 billion barrels of crude oil. And there’s no doubt about the high quality of that crude. So it shouldn’t have surprised anyone when California-based Chevron quietly became the first major international oil producer to partner with Pemex following landmark legislation that Pemex […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Chinese cities falling behind pollution goals

| License Photo Less than 5 percent of the major Chinese cities subject to air quality monitoring have met national standards, the government said Wednesday. Li Ganjie, vice minister for environmental protection, said only 3 of the 74 major cities subject to air quality monitoring met national quality standards set in 2013, the official Xinhua News Agency reported . Beijing in May announced new standards meant to cut emissions from various pollutants, ranging from mercury to tin. Last month, the government said it would pull more than 5 million cars off the road as part of a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions , a critical step for a country facing a growing ecological crisis and international pressure to reduce pollution. Early this year, Chinese officials said the amount of smog blanketing major metropolitan areas like Beijing meant the country’s agricultural future may be at risk. A report from […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Focus on Relentless Improvement Needed for Big Oil's Success in Shale

Big oil companies can be successful in shale, but success requires a focus on “relentless productivity improvement”, according to the leader of BHP Billiton’s U.S. onshore business. BHP’s U.S. shale production from its assets in the Eagle Ford, Permian Basin, Fayetteville and Haynesville comprised 42 percent of the company’s 670,000 barrel of oil equivalent per day (boepd) production, compared with 34 percent from Australia, 13 percent from the Gulf of Mexico and 11 percent from international operations. The company’s oil and gas production has doubled in the past five years due to development of its Australia and U.S. Gulf assets and acquisition of unconventional U.S. assets. But the company, which had primarily been focused on deepwater, realized a year into its operations in U.S. shale that its offshore business model would not work, Rod Skaufel, assets president of shale for BHP Billiton, told reporters at a briefing in Houston […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Focus on Relentless Improvement Needed for Big Oil’s Success in Shale

Big oil companies can be successful in shale, but success requires a focus on “relentless productivity improvement”, according to the leader of BHP Billiton’s U.S. onshore business. BHP’s U.S. shale production from its assets in the Eagle Ford, Permian Basin, Fayetteville and Haynesville comprised 42 percent of the company’s 670,000 barrel of oil equivalent per day (boepd) production, compared with 34 percent from Australia, 13 percent from the Gulf of Mexico and 11 percent from international operations. The company’s oil and gas production has doubled in the past five years due to development of its Australia and U.S. Gulf assets and acquisition of unconventional U.S. assets. But the company, which had primarily been focused on deepwater, realized a year into its operations in U.S. shale that its offshore business model would not work, Rod Skaufel, assets president of shale for BHP Billiton, told reporters at a briefing in Houston […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Renminbi use surges in home of US dollar

It is the monetary equivalent of what Chairman Mao called “bombarding the headquarters”. China’s renminbi is rapidly displacing the US dollar as a trading currency not only in Asia and Europe but now also in the US home market. The value of renminbi payments between the US and the rest of the world rose by 327 per cent in April this year from the same month a year ago (see chart) as more US corporations switched to using the Chinese currency to pay for imports from China, according to data from SWIFT, the international currency settlement firm. The reasons driving the upsurge are structural and long-term, said Debra Lodge, a managing director at HSBC in New York. First, US importers can slash the cost of imports from China by agreeing to trade in renminbi rather than US dollars, Lodge said. Second, a recent surge in the popularity of a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Hydrogen Fuel Finally Graduating From Lab to City Streets

Once relegated to the realm of science projects, hydrogen fuel cells are starting to displace fossil fuels as a means of powering cars, homes and businesses. On June 10, in the latest addition to mainstream fuel-cell use, Hyundai Motor Co. will begin deliveries of a consumer SUV in Southern California . The technology is already producing electricity for the grid in Connecticut. AT&T Inc. is using fuel cells to power server farms, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. uses hydrogen-powered fork lifts. Later this, summer FedEx Corp. will begin using hydrogen cargo tractors at its Memphis air hub. “This is the most exciting time for fuel cells in my career,” said Daniel Dedrick, head of hydrogen and combustion technologies at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California. The hydrogen market “is starting to accelerate.” Fuel cells produce electricity from hydrogen in a process that dates back to the 1830s, yet high costs […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Shale offsets many U.S. hurricane issues

Strong growth in onshore U.S. oil and gas production means fewer problems from hurricanes, the analytical arm of the U.S. Energy Department said Wednesday. Sunday marked the start of the Atlantic hurricane season. As of Wednesday, there are no cyclones reported in the Atlantic Ocean, though Tropical Storm Boris is headed north from the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico at a rate of 5 miles per hour. Though offshore oil and gas installations may be shut in by any major storm in the Atlantic, EIA said inland production could make up for any shortfall. "The effect of hurricanes on oil and natural gas production has been reduced in part by an increasing portion of U.S. production coming from inland basins such as the Bakken Shale play in North Dakota, the Williston Basin in Montana, and the Marcellus Shale play in the Appalachian Basin," it said Wednesday. Oil and gas production […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

U.S. gas production setting records

U.S. natural gas production from the Lower 48 states in May beat a monthly high set in April by 0.6 percent, analysis shows. Bentek Energy, the forecasting division of energy website Platts, said May production reached 67.7 billion cubic feet per day on average. That beat the previous monthly record set in April. Production peaked May 26 at 68.2 billion cubic feet per day and May’s average was 4.6 percent higher year-on-year. "With power utilities clearly anxious about relying on coal as a fuel source now that the Environmental Protection Agency has released its latest carbon emissions reduction program, natural gas producers have stepped up and see a clear signal to deliver as much as the market can bear," Jack Weixel, Bentek Energy director of energy analysis, said in a statement Tuesday. The EPA proposed Monday to cut emissions from existing power plants by 30 percent […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Florida to host 'paradigm-shifting' ocean energy project

The U.S. government announced plans to work with Florida Atlantic University to test a system to get energy from ocean currents, the first of its kind. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a lease to the university to test a turbine system driven by ocean currents. "This is the first time a lease has been issued to test ocean current energy equipment in federal waters," acting BOEM Director Walter Cruickshank said in a statement Tuesday. The demonstration project envisions hydrokinetic turbines deployed about 10 nautical miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. BOEM said "multiple" test devices, anchored to the sea floor, could generate as much as 100 kilowatts of power from wave energy. The university’s president, John Kelly , said the project is "paradigm-shifting development" in the race for new renewable sources of energy. A small-scale research project was conducted in 2013. An […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Florida to host ‘paradigm-shifting’ ocean energy project

The U.S. government announced plans to work with Florida Atlantic University to test a system to get energy from ocean currents, the first of its kind. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a lease to the university to test a turbine system driven by ocean currents. "This is the first time a lease has been issued to test ocean current energy equipment in federal waters," acting BOEM Director Walter Cruickshank said in a statement Tuesday. The demonstration project envisions hydrokinetic turbines deployed about 10 nautical miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. BOEM said "multiple" test devices, anchored to the sea floor, could generate as much as 100 kilowatts of power from wave energy. The university’s president, John Kelly , said the project is "paradigm-shifting development" in the race for new renewable sources of energy. A small-scale research project was conducted in 2013. An […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

The Fracking Fight's New Front Line

North Dakota is reconsidering some drilling permits.As the U.S. oil-and-gas boom rolls into its second decade, a new idea is starting to resonate with regulators and communities: Certain places should simply be off-limits to drilling. That is not how it has worked up until now. Over the past decade, oil and gas wells have been drilled for hydraulic fracturing in suburban subdivisions, airports, public parks and golf courses. As long as energy companies leased the mineral rights, they could drill almost anywhere. Now this all-or-nothing approach is starting to weaken as the fracking juggernaut, which has created jobs and lowered the U.S. trade deficit, has left some communities feeling trampled. Some cities have used their zoning authority to keep fracking far from schools and set back from homes. Fort Worth, Texas, has a drilling ordinance that runs […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

The Fracking Fight’s New Front Line

North Dakota is reconsidering some drilling permits.As the U.S. oil-and-gas boom rolls into its second decade, a new idea is starting to resonate with regulators and communities: Certain places should simply be off-limits to drilling. That is not how it has worked up until now. Over the past decade, oil and gas wells have been drilled for hydraulic fracturing in suburban subdivisions, airports, public parks and golf courses. As long as energy companies leased the mineral rights, they could drill almost anywhere. Now this all-or-nothing approach is starting to weaken as the fracking juggernaut, which has created jobs and lowered the U.S. trade deficit, has left some communities feeling trampled. Some cities have used their zoning authority to keep fracking far from schools and set back from homes. Fort Worth, Texas, has a drilling ordinance that runs […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Atlanta's Incentives Lift Electric Car Sales

Atlanta became the nation’s second-largest market for electric cars, and the top market for Nissan’s Leaf, thanks to incentives and lobbying campaigns by owners like Tim Goudie, who connects his Leaf each workday at recharging stations provided by employer Coca-Cola. Chris Aluka Berry for The Wall Street Journal Atlanta has become a surprise success for electric car makers and the reasons—state subsidies and unfettered access to carpool lanes—offer a telling lesson in what it takes to lift demand for the vehicles. Georgia provides more than $4,000 in income-tax credits on average for an electric-car purchase, cut-rate electricity, employer support of recharging stations and, in Atlanta, access to high-occupancy vehicle lanes in the city’s congested roadways. Atlanta’s emergence as the No. 2 metropolitan market in the U.S. after San Francisco for electric-vehicle sales, according to researcher IHS Automotive, illustrates how public subsidies remain key to luring buyers away from gasoline-powered […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Atlanta’s Incentives Lift Electric Car Sales

Atlanta became the nation’s second-largest market for electric cars, and the top market for Nissan’s Leaf, thanks to incentives and lobbying campaigns by owners like Tim Goudie, who connects his Leaf each workday at recharging stations provided by employer Coca-Cola. Chris Aluka Berry for The Wall Street Journal Atlanta has become a surprise success for electric car makers and the reasons—state subsidies and unfettered access to carpool lanes—offer a telling lesson in what it takes to lift demand for the vehicles. Georgia provides more than $4,000 in income-tax credits on average for an electric-car purchase, cut-rate electricity, employer support of recharging stations and, in Atlanta, access to high-occupancy vehicle lanes in the city’s congested roadways. Atlanta’s emergence as the No. 2 metropolitan market in the U.S. after San Francisco for electric-vehicle sales, according to researcher IHS Automotive, illustrates how public subsidies remain key to luring buyers away from gasoline-powered […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Hundreds of scientists to Canada PM: Pipeline report 'deeply flawed'

Hundreds of scientists have signed a letter sent to Canada’s prime minister blasting a federal review recommending the approval of the Northern Gateway  tar sands  pipeline as biased, Canadian media reported. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to decide whether to approve the $7 billion pipeline, which will extend from Alberta to British Columbia, this month. “We urge you in the strongest possible terms to reject this report,”  the letter  said, adding that the study was based on a “flawed analysis of the risks and benefits to [British Columbia’s] environment and society.” Enbridge Energy’s 730-mile pipeline  would pump  525,000 barrels of Alberta tar sands oil every day on to 220 tankers annually in Kitimat on British Columbia’s northwest coast.  Many  indigenous groups  in Canada oppose the pipeline, as well as  environmentalists  concerned about the transport of tar sands oil to the pristine wilderness of British Columbia’s coast. They said […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Hundreds of scientists to Canada PM: Pipeline report ‘deeply flawed’

Hundreds of scientists have signed a letter sent to Canada’s prime minister blasting a federal review recommending the approval of the Northern Gateway  tar sands  pipeline as biased, Canadian media reported. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to decide whether to approve the $7 billion pipeline, which will extend from Alberta to British Columbia, this month. “We urge you in the strongest possible terms to reject this report,”  the letter  said, adding that the study was based on a “flawed analysis of the risks and benefits to [British Columbia’s] environment and society.” Enbridge Energy’s 730-mile pipeline  would pump  525,000 barrels of Alberta tar sands oil every day on to 220 tankers annually in Kitimat on British Columbia’s northwest coast.  Many  indigenous groups  in Canada oppose the pipeline, as well as  environmentalists  concerned about the transport of tar sands oil to the pristine wilderness of British Columbia’s coast. They said […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Norway must ‘prepare for life after oil’

The IMF has called on Norway to cut back on spending its oil income, saying the economy needs no further stimulus and the government should focus on fostering private sector growth instead as it begins the long transition to life after oil. The budget has provided the economy with repeated stimulus even though it is running near capacity. The government needs to cut back, both to save the oil income and maintain a more neutral fiscal stance, the fund said. “The upward trend in government consumption and investment, together with the increasing labor demand from the oil and gas sector … has crowded out and increased labor cost pressure in other exposed industries,” the IMF said after ending its annual consultation with Norway. Norway has saved up its oil money in a fund now worth $870 billion, or $170,000 per man, woman and child, and will spend less than […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

G7 leaders warn Russia of fresh sanctions over Ukraine

Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print Trade, climate change and development are high on Thursday’s G7 agenda Continue reading the main story Leaders of the G7 industrial nations meeting in Brussels say they are prepared to impose further sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine. A joint statement condemned Moscow for its "continuing violation" of Ukraine’s sovereignty. The G7 summit is the first since Russia was expelled from the group following its annexation of Crimea in March. On Thursday, leaders are set to discuss the global economic outlook, climate change and development issues. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin is not at the Brussels summit, he will hold face-to-face talks with some G7 leaders – not including US President Barack Obama – in Paris afterwards. However, both Mr Putin and Mr Obama will attend a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Border Guards in Ukraine Abandon Posts

Border guards here, near the Russian border in eastern Ukraine, fled their posts for fear of attacks by separatist militias on Wednesday, helping open a strategic corridor for the transport of goods, contraband and war material from Russia that could lead to a widening of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. As evening fell in this small frontier town, a convoy of about 20 trucks, minivans and cars containing border guards and their families, including children, bumped over the rutted roads here along Ukraine’s eastern frontier with Russia. Their commander, who gave his name only as Sergei, said they had received confused orders but that they decided to leave, fearing for their lives and their families’ safety. Earlier on Wednesday, rebels overran the border guards’ central command headquarters in Luhansk, unplugging a large stretch of Ukraine’s southeastern border from central government oversight. A number of border guards […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

A Separatist Militia in Ukraine With Russian Fighters Holds a Key

Surface-to-air missiles pilfered from army bases. Defectors from Ukraine’s elite special forces. Russian fighters who slipped across a porous border. These are some of the biggest problems facing Ukraine’s military in the rebellious east, and they were all on prominent display here in the unlikely setting of the Donetsk Botanical Garden , where the Vostok Battalion, the largest separatist militia in this city of one million people, has established a training camp. “We are an international battalion,” said Aleksandr Khodakovsky, the rebel commander, who led the government’s Alfa special forces unit in the Donetsk region until he resigned after the February revolution in Kiev. Mr. Khodakovsky said that Russian citizens were among his fighters, but that the “overwhelming majority” of his force of more than 500 came from eastern Ukraine. He denied any link to Russia. As the threat of a Russian invasion into eastern Ukraine […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

A Gas Cache, Now Under Shaky Ground

Deep below the cow pastures and farming villages in this picturesque northeastern corner of the Netherlands lies an extraordinary resource: Europe’s largest source of natural gas, known as the Groningen gas field. Since its discovery in Groningen Province in 1959, the field has powered the economy of the Netherlands and has been a reliable supply of gas for Northern Europe. Five decades and counting is a remarkable run of productivity for a field of fossil fuel. But as it enters old age, Groningen has grown cranky. A half-century of extraction has reduced the field’s natural pressure in recent years, and seismic shifts from geological settling have set off increasingly frequent earthquakes — more than 120 last year, and at least 40 this year. Though most of the tremors have been small, and resulted in no reported deaths or serious injuries, they have caused widespread damage […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

IEA Says the Party’s Over

The International Energy Agency has just released a new special report called “ World Energy Investment Outlook ” that should send policy makers screaming and running for the exits—if they are willing to read between the lines and view the report in the context of current financial and geopolitical trends. This is how the press agency UPI begins its summary :  It will require $48 trillion in investments through 2035 to meet the world’s growing energy needs, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday from Paris. IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven said in a statement the reliability and sustainability of future energy supplies depends on a high level of investment. “But this won’t materialize unless there are credible policy frameworks in place as well as stable access to long-term sources of finance,” she said. “Neither of these conditions should be taken for granted.” Here’s a bit of context […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Peak Oil Is Not Coming…

It’s here. This IEA report spells out peak oil as being in the past . “Days of cheap energy over, IEA figures show” The IEA’s annual outlook on investment, released today, shows annual investment in new fuel and electricity supply has more than doubled in real terms since 2000. Costs to the oil and gas industry also have doubled in that period and the IEA warns of “gradual depletion of the most accessible reserves.” Canada is already seeing projects cancelled because of the high costs of developing the oilsands. And its contradictory stance on climate change  with rules for the oil and gas industry repeatedly delayed may contribute to future uncertainty. .@ vschmo @ traikman @ CBCNews Indeed, that report does describe the world as being past #PeakOil . No longer "in the future". #climatechange — John Klein (@JohnKleinRegina) June 03, 2014 There would be no “gradual depletion” if […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Ticks Up Ahead of U.S. Inventory Data

Oil futures are supported by an expected decline in weekly U.S. oil inventory levels, as markets keep an eye on fuel demand at the start of the summer driving season. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at $102.83 a barrel at 0556 GMT, up $0.17 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.14 to $108.96 a barrel. Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, said its data showed a 1.4 million-barrel decrease in crude-oil supplies for the week ended May 30. The U.S. Energy Information Administration will publish its own inventory data later today. Estimates from 13 analysts surveyed showed that U.S. oil inventories are projected to have fallen by 100,000 barrels, on average, last week. "Inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for Nymex WTI futures may still be tight […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple