Category:

Goodrich scores success in Mississippi shale

Goodrich Petroleum Corp. said Monday it was declaring success with its latest hydraulic fracturing campaign in a shale basin in Mississippi. The company said it reached an average production rate of 1,460 barrels of oil equivalent during a test of a well in the Tuscaloosa Marine shale in southwest Mississippi. "The company is temporarily running four rigs as it is in the process of swapping out the oldest rig for a newer, more technologically advanced rig, with plans to go to as many as five rigs by the end of the year pending continued success," a Goodrich statement read. Goodrich made similar claims with the portion of the shale play that sits in Louisiana in April. Goodrich has more than 300,000 net acres spread out over the so-called Tuscaloosa marine shale reserve area, which the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources estimates contains approximately 7 billion barrels of oil. © […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Colorado State Increases Atlantic Storm Forecast to 10

Colorado State University increased the number of storms it expects to develop during the Atlantic hurricane season to 10 from nine. The forecast calls for four of those to become hurricanes, one of them a major system, said Phil Klotzbach , lead author of the outlook. In April, his team predicted three hurricanes, with one growing into a major storm. “We raised the number slightly because El Nino isn’t coming on as strong as we thought,” Klotzbach said by telephone today. “We’re still pretty confident it will be a quiet season.” Atlantic hurricanes can disrupt U.S. and Mexican natural gas and oil production and affect refineries and agriculture. An estimated $10.6 trillion of insured coastal property in 18 states from Maine to Texas is vulnerable to storm strikes, according to the Insurance Information Institute in New York. The 30-year average is for the Atlantic to produce 12 storms during […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Market dynamics key to US LNG exports to Asia, witnesses say

US exports of LNG to Asia are more likely to be determined by overseas market dynamics than by US government policies, witnesses told a US House Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee on May 29. The observations came as the US Department of Energy proposed giving priority in its national interest determinations to LNG export proposals that already meet National Environmental Policy act requirements ( OGJ Online, May 29, 2014 ). “I think there’s a prevailing view in the industry that LNG prices in Asia will come down to around $13[/MMbtu} and domestic gas prices will rise to around $6. That would make exports close to a wash for US producers,” Mikkal E. Herberg, research director in the National Bureau of Asian Research’s Energy Security Program, told the committee’s Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee. Jane Nakano, a fellow in the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Energy and National Security […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Separatists Storm Border Post in Eastern Ukraine

Hundreds of separatist fighters attacked a district border control headquarters in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk on Monday in the largest battle against the country’s border protection forces since unrest in the east began. A government spokesman said the action appeared to be aimed at seizing control of the border with Russia to open it to forces and supplies. The attack in Luhansk, Ukraine’s easternmost province, began at 4 a.m. and fighting was still raging at noon. Oleg Slobodyan, a spokesman for the Ukrainian state border service, said about 500 rebels had stormed the district headquarters building in the Mirny neighborhood, using automatic weapons and rocket launchers with snipers posted in nearby apartment buildings. Five rebels were killed and eight wounded, Mr. Slobodyan said, though there was no independent confirmation of that count. Seven border guards were injured, he added. The attack was a deeply […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Ukraine, Russia Near Gas-Price Truce

Ukraine and Russia came closer to a truce in their long-running feud over natural-gas prices Monday after agreeing on new proposals to break the deadlock. The two sides agreed during talks in Brussels to consider a new proposed price and draw up a repayment plan for natural-gas debts accrued by Ukraine, the European Union’s Energy Chief Günther Oettinger said. They are due to reconvene by the middle of next week. Russian gas monopoly OAO Gazprom and Ukraine’s state energy firm Naftogaz will now complete the proposals and consult with their shareholders before giving a verdict. If they agree on a deal, it would mark the end of a dispute that spiraled since Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovych, a Russian ally, left office in February. "Real progress has been made. Intensive discussions led to a bilateral meeting between the CEOs of Gazprom and Naftogaz who discussed key commercial issues for […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russia sees some gas debt paid by Ukraine

Payments for gas deliveries in February and March were made by the Ukrainian government, averting a disruption, the Russian Energy Ministry said Monday. The Ukrainian government announced the payment Friday and a spokesman for the Russian Energy Ministry confirmed its receipt in a statement to state news agency RIA Novosti. "The Russian energy ministry confirms it had received $786 million in two payments, intended [to cover deliveries] in February and March," he said . The debt payment follows a round of trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the European Union. EU member states rely on Russia for about a quarter of their gas needs and similar disputes in 2006 and 2009 left European consumers without gas as much of those supplies run through a Soviet-era pipeline network in Ukraine. Alexei Miller , chief executive of Russian energy company Gazprom, said his company would postpone the start […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Futures Rise on China Data

Crude-oil futures rose in Asian trading hours Monday helped by stronger manufacturing data from China, even as some analysts remained skeptical about the resilience of the country’s oil demand. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at $103.26 a barrel at 0507 GMT, up $0.55 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.41 to $109.82 a barrel. Both oil benchmarks ended last month on a stronger note with Nymex WTI crude gaining around 3% in May, while Brent crude gained around 1.24%. This month, the oil market will be watching the scheduled meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and any potential changes to oil-production quotas by the cartel’s members. The gathering begins June 11 in Vienna. Over the weekend, data showed China’s official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 50.8 in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

WTI Oil Rises After China Factory Data Signals Growth

West Texas Intermediate crude rebounded from its lowest close in more than a week after manufacturing expanded at the fastest pace this year in China , the world’s second-biggest oil consumer. Brent’s gains were capped as Libya said one of its ports would reopen. Futures gained as much as 0.6 percent in New York. China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index climbed to 50.8 in May, the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing in Beijing reported yesterday. Manufacturing data from Europe and the U.S. are due today. Libya’s Hariga port is set to reopen after authorities approved salary payments to Petroleum Facilities Guard members who are preventing crude loadings, according to National Oil Corp. “The Chinese manufacturing PMI came out better than expected, indicating the continued improvement of the economy,” Michael Poulsen, an analyst at Global Risk Management Ltd. in Middelfart, Denmark , said by e-mail. WTI […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Gas Speculators Least Bullish of ’14 as Prices Retreat

Natural-gas stockpiles are recovering faster than estimated from a winter battering in the U.S., with prices now 30 percent below a peak in February. Hedge funds reduced their bets on a rally for a fifth week and to the lowest level since December, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Prices dropped 5.7 percent in May as inventory gains surpassed analysts’ estimates for four consecutive weeks. Stockpiles are now 40 percent below the five-year average level, compared with 50 percent in April. “We’ve had a pretty mild May and that’s raised hopes that these big storage injections will continue all summer,” Phil Flynn , a senior market analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago , said by phone May 30. “There’s growing optimism about the supply picture.” Natural gas fell 4.7 cents, or 1 percent, to $4.505 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple