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China plays tough in energy-saving campaign

While China fell behind its energy saving targets from 2011 to 2013, tough measures will be taken to conserve energy, an official said Monday. Xie Zhenhua, vice minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner, said at a forum that work is needed to keep up with its energy saving schedule by 2015. China aims to reduce energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 16 percent from the 2010 level by 2015, according to the country’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015). The indicator dropped 9.03 percent from 2011 to 2013, accounting for only 54 percent of the overall target while 60 percent should have been completed. Xie said local governments that failed to finish their energy-saving tasks would be required to report to the central government, and no new polluting and energy intensive projects would […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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US shale boom is over, energy revolution needed to avert blackouts

I hate to say I told you so, but… In 2012, the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast that the US would outpace Saudi Arabia in oil production thanks to the shale boom by 2020, becoming a net exporter by 2030. The forecast was seen by many as decisive evidence of the renewal of the oil age, while informed detractors were at best ignored, at worst ridiculed. Among my many reports exposing the geological and economic fallacies behind the shale boom narrative are this , this , this and this . Even here on the Guardian, one headline declared the IEA report shows that " peak oil idea has gone up in flames ." But the IEA’s latest assessment has proved the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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The EIA’s Drilling Productivity Report and Other News

The EIA just released its latest Drilling Productivity Report  which is a report on all major shale plays in the U.S. All the data below, unless otherwise noted, is in barrels per day. Three Plays The EIA includes the Permian production as shale or light tight oil production. No doubt some tight oil is produced in the Permian but I think most Permian oil is conventional oil. Total Shale Oil Total shale oil production from all six shale plays. However I believe perhaps one million barrels of this is conventional production. Bakken Change This chart is interesting as it shows what the EIA expects the Bakken and Eagle Ford to do in the next few months. The last seven months of the Bakken and the last nine or ten months of Eagle Ford. They are expecting the Bakken to continue to increase at about 20,000 barrels per day per […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Pipeline Projects Key for Canada to Win N. America Oil Export Race

Sharing a border that spans more than 5,000 miles, the United States and Canada are longstanding allies that maintain numerous cultural and economic ties. Even friends, however, can compete against each other from time to time – consider the two countries’ famous rivalry in the sport of ice hockey. Within the energy sphere, Canada and its southern neighbor are engaged in a different type of competition: the race to gain first-mover advantage for exporting crude oil to markets throughout the Atlantic and Pacific basins. According to the U.K.-based research and consulting firm GlobalData, Canada is outperforming the United States in this rivalry by advancing three critical pipeline projects. TransCanada’s Energy East Pipeline , which would carry 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Alberta and Saskatchewan to refineries and terminals in Eastern Canada Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline , a twin pipeline that would carry up […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Tennessee Gas expands planned pipeline serving US Northeast

Tennessee Gas has modified its proposed Northeast Expansion Project to include a 117-mile-long supply link and additional infrastructure and renamed the proposal the Northeast Energy Direct Project, Tennessee Gas spokesman Richard Wheatley said Monday. The greenfield natural gas link will extend from the existing TGP pipeline in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, to the existing TGP pipeline in Schoharie County, New York, he said. There it will connect to the Iroquois Gas Transmission System and potentially connect with the planned Constitution Pipeline. The project also involves the construction of about 51 miles of looping along the existing TGP line in Bradford and Susquehanna counties in Pennsylvania, he said. Article continues below… Gas Daily Gas Daily offers the most detailed coverage of natural gas prices at interstate and intrastate pipeline and pooling points in major U.S. markets. Gas Daily keeps you informed about complex state and federal […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Canada, Australia Prime Ministers Talk Climate Change

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Australian counterpart, Tony Abbott, said Monday they are taking action on climate change but are against measures that they say would destroy their economies. The comments from the two leaders, who head right-leaning governments, come a week after the Obama administration released a draft rule to regulate carbon emissions from the U.S. coal industry. The proposed rule mandates that fossil-fired power plants cut U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions 30% by 2030 from 2005 levels, and come amid U.S. President Barack Obama’s push to make fighting climate change one of his administration’s achievements. Speaking at a joint news conference with Mr. Abbott, who was on his first official visit to Canada, Mr. Harper said he doesn’t feel added pressure to rethink Canada’s plans on addressing climate change in response to the Obama administration’s move. "I don’t feel any additional pressure other than the pressure we […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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McClendon's Firm To Buy $4.25B Of US Shale Assets

American Energy Partners LLP, the company started by Aubrey McClendon after he was pushed out as CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp, said it would acquire shale oil and gas assets in Texas, Ohio and West Virginia for $4.25 billion. American Energy said it would enter Texas’s Permian Basin by acquiring about 63,000 net acres of production leases from Enduring Resources LLC for $2.5 billion. The deals in Ohio and West Virginia are worth $1.75 billion. McClendon, who co-founded Chesapeake in 1989, left the company in April last year after clashes with the board over spending and a series of Reuters investigations that led to civil and criminal probes on the company. Since leaving Chesapeake, McClendon has raised more than $4 billion in cash and financing to invest in North American shale formations, mainly in Ohio’s Utica region. Oklahoma City-based American Energy struck deals […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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McClendon’s Firm To Buy $4.25B Of US Shale Assets

American Energy Partners LLP, the company started by Aubrey McClendon after he was pushed out as CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp, said it would acquire shale oil and gas assets in Texas, Ohio and West Virginia for $4.25 billion. American Energy said it would enter Texas’s Permian Basin by acquiring about 63,000 net acres of production leases from Enduring Resources LLC for $2.5 billion. The deals in Ohio and West Virginia are worth $1.75 billion. McClendon, who co-founded Chesapeake in 1989, left the company in April last year after clashes with the board over spending and a series of Reuters investigations that led to civil and criminal probes on the company. Since leaving Chesapeake, McClendon has raised more than $4 billion in cash and financing to invest in North American shale formations, mainly in Ohio’s Utica region. Oklahoma City-based American Energy struck deals […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oklahoma: Preparing to Become an Oil Producing Powerhouse

Oklahoma is poised to become the third-largest oil producing state following a strong surge in oil production in 2013 and 2014, Harold Hamm, Continental Resources Inc.’s CEO, told the Oklahoman newspaper. The rise in production began when tax incentives for horizontal drilling were started. The incentives proved to be effective, Hamm said. Horizontal drilling in the state started of slowly as drillers spent time learning the best techniques. However, as drillers learned and the incentives went into effect, drillers began applying the techniques in more than 12 different plays across the state, leading to a surge in production, Hamm added. Total oil production in the state in March, 2014 was up 17 percent over year-earlier figures, averaging 388,000 barrels of oil per day, according to figures by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). March 2014 production in the Sooner State was 49 percent over March 2012, and 80 percent over […]

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Change in US LNG permit process to streamline approvals: DOE official

A proposed change in way the US Department of Energy approves application for permission to export LNG will streamline the process by focusing on the projects that have the greatest chance of being built, a DOE official said in Houston Monday. "We need to be cognizant of market forces," Christopher Smith, principal deputy assistant secretary for Fossil Energy, said in a presentation on the proposed changes at Rice University. DOE announced a proposal last month "to review applications and make final public interest determinations only after completion of the review required by environmental laws and regulations," scrapping its previous practice of issuing conditional approvals at the outset of the approval process. Under the Natural Gas Act, the department is required to swiftly approve proposals to export LNG to countries with which the US has free trade agreements, but must determine if proposals to ship LNG to non-FTA countries are […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple