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IEA Sees Spread of Shale Revolution Before End of Decade

The shale boom that has transformed the oil industry in the U.S. will spread beyond North America before the end of the decade, sooner than previously expected, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. Associated Press LONDON—The shale boom that has transformed the oil industry in the U.S. will spread beyond North America before the end of the decade, sooner than previously expected, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday, while at the same time warning of significant aboveground risks to conventional supply over the next five years. The use of techniques such as "fracking" to unlock previously inaccessible oil reserves in the U.S. have transformed the country’s oil industry, putting it on track to become the world’s largest oil producer by 2020, according to the IEA. However, a mixture of legal, political and investment constraints have meant […]

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Breaking Bad Meets Fargo Reveals Underbelly of Shale Boom

Even in the underbelly of North Dakota ’s Bakken oilfields, the murder of Doug Carlile stands out, a tale of a Matt Damon look-alike felon, an Indian tribal leader and an accused hit man with a check list that included items like “practice with pistol.” There’s even a voice from the grave: “If I disappear or wake up with bullets in my back, promise me you will let everyone know that James Henrikson did it.” Those were the words Doug Carlile spoke to his family about his business partner before a masked gunman cut him down in the kitchen of his Spokane, Washington , house last December. Police say that Carlile’s murder was probably motivated by a series of complex business transactions that “went bad” in North Dakota’s oil fields . Spurred by breakthroughs in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, North Dakota now produces more than 1 […]

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API: We can't wait any longer for Keystone XL

The American Petroleum Institute said the time for waiting for the administration of President to decide on the Keystone XL oil pipeline is over. "The administration has demonstrated it lacks the political leadership to take the steps necessary to make U.S. energy security a reality," API President and CEO Jack Gerard said in a statement Monday. "We cannot stand by while the administration waits — and waits — until it is politically convenient to do the right thing." API said Senate leaders are expected to vote Wednesday on a measure to build the pipeline. Pipeline planner TransCanada submitted an application for a permit to build Keystone XL across the U.S.-Canadian border more than five years ago. President Obama said he’d weigh the pipeline against its environmental footprint. Those in favor of Keystone XL said it will provide a layer of energy security and be a source of economic stimulus […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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API: We can’t wait any longer for Keystone XL

The American Petroleum Institute said the time for waiting for the administration of President to decide on the Keystone XL oil pipeline is over. "The administration has demonstrated it lacks the political leadership to take the steps necessary to make U.S. energy security a reality," API President and CEO Jack Gerard said in a statement Monday. "We cannot stand by while the administration waits — and waits — until it is politically convenient to do the right thing." API said Senate leaders are expected to vote Wednesday on a measure to build the pipeline. Pipeline planner TransCanada submitted an application for a permit to build Keystone XL across the U.S.-Canadian border more than five years ago. President Obama said he’d weigh the pipeline against its environmental footprint. Those in favor of Keystone XL said it will provide a layer of energy security and be a source of economic stimulus […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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North Dakota Production Tops 1 Million Barrels a Day

North Dakota , home to the Bakken shale formation, became the fourth state in U.S. history to produce more than 1 million barrels of oil a day in April. Output increased by 2.5 percent from March to 1,001,149 barrels a day, the state’s Department of Mineral Resources reported today. Texas, California and Alaska have crossed the million-barrel mark. Only Texas remains above it, at almost 3 million barrels a day. Production will increase through the summer as better weather allows crews to finish more wells, Lynn Helms, the department’s director, said during a conference call with reporters today. “Permitting and drilling activity indicates that we’ll continue to see production grow and build well above 1 million barrels a day,” he said. Oil and gas from the Bakken and other shale formations helped the U.S. produce the equivalent of 87 percent of its energy needs in 2013, the highest level […]

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Canada Approves Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline

The Canadian government approved Enbridge Inc. (ENB) ’s Northern Gateway pipeline, eliminating the final major regulatory obstacle for the conduit that would move Alberta oil to the Pacific coast for shipment to Asia. The approval of the C$6.5 billion ($6 billion) project by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet is subject to Enbridge satisfying the 209 conditions placed on the proposal by a regulatory review panel in December, Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford said in a statement today from Ottawa. “The proponent clearly has more work to do in order to fulfill the public commitment it has made to engage with Aboriginal groups and local communities along the route,” Rickford said in the statement . Canada’s petroleum producers are seeking ways to get land-locked and price-depressed Alberta crude to world markets, especially after delays to TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Harper’s government has made building energy infrastructure a national […]

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Gas Siphoning Seen Unlikely in Ukraine Seeking EU Ties

Ukraine seeking closer ties to the European Union means natural gas flows from Russia to the 28-nation bloc are unlikely to be disrupted, according to Maplecroft Ltd. and Energy Aspects Ltd. UkrTransGas is shipping full volumes from Russia to Europe, the Ukrainian pipeline operator said yesterday, one day after its own supply was cut by Russia amid a two-month long pricing dispute. All imports needed to meet domestic needs can be replaced with gas from Europe for now, Naftogaz Ukrainy’s Chief Executive Officer Andriy Kobolyev said. Russia’s OAO Gazprom (GAZP) cut supplies after a payment deadline expired, echoing disputes that disrupted flows in 2006 and 2009, when the state-run company accused Ukraine of siphoning off transit gas, a charge it denied. Ukraine, which carries Russian gas meeting about 15 percent of the European Union’s needs, is seeking closer ties with the bloc after former President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted […]

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Europe lends cash to Polish gas project

The European Investment Bank said a Polish natural gas pipeline project will add a layer of diversity to the European gas corridor. EIB said it was lending $132 million to Polish natural gas transmission company Gaz-System for the expansion of a pipeline that could bring gas, including domestically sourced liquefied natural gas, to the border of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine "This marks an important step towards better security of the energy supply in Europe," Laszlo Baranyay, EIB vice president in charge of lending in Poland, said in a statement from Luxembourg . The EIB said the Polish gas project is "crucial" to European energy security . Dubbed the Lwowek-Odolanow gas pipeline, it will have a length of 100 miles once it’s completed in 2017. Russian energy company Gazprom said Monday it would send natural gas through Ukraine only if it was paid in advance. European consumers get […]

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Gazprom Neft readies for arctic drilling

Russian energy company said it plans to conduct drilling operations in the northern Pechora Sea during the ice-free months of 2014. The company said a drilling platform was delivered to the Dolginskoye field in the arctic waters of the Pechora Sea. "An exploration well will be drilled from the platform during the ice-free months of 2014 to further investigate the field’s geological structure and prepare it for full-scale development," the company said in a statement Monday. Changing weather patterns are leaving parts of the arctic region ice-free for longer periods of time, giving energy companies more time to try to exploit the estimated 90 billion barrels of undiscovered oil and 1.6 quadrillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas thought to lie beneath the arctic waters. Gazprom Neft is the oil arm of the Russian energy company Gazprom, which was the target of Greenpeace demonstrations against arctic […]

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Gazprom says flow of gas to Europe uninterrupted

MOSCOW (AP) — An explosion at a key pipeline in Ukraine has not disrupted the flow of gas to Europe, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said on Wednesday. The blast, which occurred Tuesday far from where government troops are fighting pro-Russia separatists, came a day after Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine in a dispute over price and overdue payments. Moscow says it is waiting for Kiev to pay at least $1.9 billion of its $4.5 billion debt before the talks on clearing the debt and agreeing on prices could resume. Gazprom said Monday that it would need to start pumping by mid-October to insure adequate winter supplies for Ukraine. Vitaly Markelov, Gazprom’s deputy chief executive, told reporters on Wednesday that gas flows had not been disrupted and that European customers are receiving the contracted amounts. Markelov refused to speculate on the cause but said poor maintenance of pipelines in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple