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Bakken Shale Rig Count Decreases by One to 191

DMR: North Dakota Hits Record Oil & Gas Production – June 2014 Bakken Oil Well Bakken Oil Well | Click to Enlarge The  Bakken-Three Forks rig count  decreased by one to 191 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 193 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 19 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up. In recent Bakken news, North Dakota hit nearly 1.1-million b/d oil in June 2014, setting a new record, according to the Department of Mineral Resources’ (DMR) August Director’s Cut . During the same month, North Dakota also had record monthly gas production (1,253,154 mcf/d), and the highest recorded number of producing wells (11,079). Read more : North Dakota Hits Record Oil & Gas Production – June 2014 The U.S. rig count decreased by 17 to 1,896 rigs running by the end […]

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North Carolina fracking protests scheduled

A grassroots group in North Carolina said it plans to hold rallies Monday to protest hydraulic fracturing legislation pending in the state’s government. Advocacy group Frack Free N.C. said a public meeting Monday before the state Mining and Energy Commission is a "critical opportunity" to weigh in on draft legislation covering hydraulic fracturing , the controversial drilling practice dubbed fracking. Gov. Pat McCrory in June signed the so-called Energy Modernization Act, a bill the grassroots group said could result in $1 million in fracking contracts in the state by lifting a fracking moratorium. "Rather than tamping down resistance to hydraulic fracturing, the state’s newest legislation on fracking Senate Bill 786, dubbed the Energy Modernization Act, has only strengthened it and increased the controversy across the state," the advocacy group said. Fracking critics say some of the chemicals used in the process are a threat to groundwater supplies. The process, […]

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Lowest Crude Since January Cuts U.S. Gas to $3.48, Lundberg Says

The cheapest crude oil since January has refiners producing fuel at record rates, helping lower the cost of gasoline at pumps across the country. The average price for regular gasoline at U.S. pumps dropped 4.21 cents in the two weeks ended Aug. 22 to $3.4785 a gallon, according to Lundberg Survey Inc. The average is based on information obtained at about 2,500 filling stations by the Camarillo, California-based company. Prices are 8.01 cents lower than a year ago, the survey showed. Retail prices dropped as West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell below $94 a barrel. U.S. refiners are processing the most petroleum for this time of year in records dating back to 1989. “It’s crude oil at work,” Trilby Lundberg , the president of Lundberg Survey, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “The down factors outweighed the up factors. One of the many factors include robust U.S. oil production.” […]

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Statoil mulls impact of Russian sanctions

Norwegian energy company Statoil stands by its partners in Russia, though Western sanctions do present some obstacles, the company’s top executive said Monday. Rosneft last week announced it started an exploration program in the Barents Sea through a partnership with Statoil. Rosneft was the target of Western economic sanctions imposed in response to the Kremlin’s stance on crises in Ukraine. Statoil Chief Executive Officer Helge Lunde said Rosneft is a steady partner , though sanctions have complicated the relationship. "We hope for a diplomatic solution, but of course [the imposition of sanctions] hasn’t made it any easier for either Rosneft or companies working with that company and other Russian companies," he told the Wall Street Journal. "But our aim is to continue the [Rosneft] partnership, and we hope for diplomatic solutions." Russia and Norway are the top energy suppliers to the European market. Lund said, however, bilateral ties may […]

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ANALYSIS: UK gas demand so far in August up 19% year on year

UK gas demand so far in August has been around 19% higher than last year despite a much slower rate of storage injections this month, as demand from other sectors has risen, a Platts analysis of National Grid figures showed Friday. UK gas demand so far this month has averaged around 159 million cubic meters/day — up from around 133 million cu m/d during the same period last year — as higher gas burn and exports, stronger local distribution zone (household) demand and a boost in demand from industrial units all contributed to the demand hike. This has continued the recent trend of UK gas demand being higher than in 2013, after June demand was higher than a year earlier. UK gas demand averaged 176 million cu m/d in June against the June 2013 average of 160 million cu m/d. This also confirmed the recent bucking of the trend […]

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Statoil Warns of Delays in Russian Energy Projects

Statoil CEO Helge Lund said Monday that Western sanctions against Russia might delay some of the Norwegian oil group’s projects with Russian partner Rosneft. Bloomberg News STAVANGER, Norway— Statoil AS A has warned that Western countries’ sanctions against Russia will slow down the process of gaining approval for some of the company’s joint ventures with Russian oil group OAO Rosneft . Norway’s largest oil group said Monday that it will stand by its 27-month-old partnership with the state-controlled Russian company because it hopes diplomacy will resolve Russia’s standoff with the U.S. and Europe over the crisis in Ukraine . "This will be a more bureaucratic process, so that things will take more time," Statoil Chief Executive Helge Lund said in an interview at the Offshore Northern Seas energy conference. Mr. Lund said not all of Statoil’s joint-venture projects with Rosneft would be slowed down, as sanctions target mainly shale-, […]

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Wood Mac: 10B Barrels of Undeveloped Resources on NCS

Norway has 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent of discovered hydrocarbons that are yet to be developed, according to new analysis released Tuesday at Stavanger’s ONS 2014 conference by Wood Mackenzie. Wood Mackenzie said that, despite being at different stages of evaluation, facing intense investor scrutiny and considerable technical and commercial challenges, more than 60 percent of these resources could be commercialized – potentially adding $106 billion to Norway’s oil and gas industry revenues. The oil and gas industry research firm said that the 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent of undeveloped resources are held with 206 discoveries – ranging in size from under one million boe to the giant 2.4 billion boe at Johan Sverdrup – and spread across the Norwegian Continental Shelf. James Webb, Wood Mackenzie’s upstream analyst for North West Europe, commented: "We consider 4.8 billion boe likely be economic, 1.6 billion boe potentially economic and […]

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Can You Guess Which Country Depends Most Heavily on Russian Gas?

When it comes to energy, Germany is a bit of a conundrum. It’s a global leader in renewables usage, having increased the share of renewables in its total energy consumption from 6% to an impressive 25% over the past decade. Yet it’s also a heavy user of coal – a fact that’s glaringly inconsistent with its sustainable energy leadership. What’s even more surprising, however, is that Germany is actually the biggest importer of natural gas from Russia. According to BP’s latest annual review , it imported close to a whopping 40 billion cubic meters of gas from the Russian Federation in 2013. That places it well ahead of even Ukraine, which imported about 25 billion cubic meters, as the chart below shows. German reliance on Russia Germany relies on imports to supply more than 70% of its domestic energy demand, with Russia alone representing a quarter of the country’s […]

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Oil Slips, Brent Trades Around $102 a Barrel

By Eric Yep Crude-oil futures continued to slide in Asian trade Monday as oversupply concerns outweighed tensions in oil-producing regions like the Middle East. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October traded at $93.54 a barrel at 0442 GMT, down $0.11 in the Globex electronic session. October Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.11 to $102.18 a barrel. Both the global oil benchmarks ended lower last week. Nymex crude has now been down for four consecutive weeks while Brent has been down for three of the past four weeks. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange halted electronic futures trading on contracts for a few hours due to technical issues, but trading has resumed on its platforms. The Obama administration is considering a wider military campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, after the beheading of American journalist James Foley. The […]

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Brent Extends Drop as Mideast Oil Supply Stays Safe; WTI Steady

Brent fell for a second day amid speculation that turmoil across the Middle East won’t threaten crude supplies. West Texas Intermediate was steady in New York after a technical issue disrupted electronic trading. Futures dropped as much as 0.6 percent in London . Libya’s production increased even as Islamist militias seized Tripoli’s international airport, while supply from Iraq remained uninterrupted by its struggle to form a new government. CME Group Inc., the world’s largest futures market, halted most of its Globex platform for about four hours, suspending contracts including oil and commodities. “The region is in chaos but production continues to rise,” Robin Mills, the head of consulting at Manaar Energy Consulting and Project Management, said by phone from Dubai. “Brent’s been pretty weak. Global demand is still sluggish.” Brent for October settlement declined as much as 64 cents to $101.65 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple