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Baku, Tehran sign energy agreements

Azerbaijan said it signed a memorandum of understanding to broaden energy ties in the Iranian oil and natural gas sector. The State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic said its delegates have spent the last three days in Iran visiting with ministers and representatives from the energy sector. SOCAR said it reviewed interests expressed by Iran’s Khazar Exploration and Production Co. to work on oil and gas issues ranging from production to transportation of reserves between the two Caspian nations. "The event ended with signing of a memorandum of understanding between Iran’s Khazar Exploration & Production Co. and SOCAR," the Azeri company said Thursday. Iranian Minister of Communication and Information Technologies Mahmoud Vaezi met in Baku with SOCAR Director Rovneq Abdullayev in early August to review an offer from Baku to coordinate energy policies more closely for the sake of the needs of the European community. Azerbaijan is scheduled […]

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Pemex Tax Burden Bloated by Water Content in Oil Barrels

Petroleos Mexicanos , the crude producer that accounts for about a third of state revenue in Mexico, said it pays taxes on oil production volume that’s inflated by water and other measurement inaccuracies. Under existing law, the company known as Pemex pays some taxes based on reported volume at the wellhead, it said by e-mail yesterday. In the statement, Pemex cut its year-to-date production to 2.34 million barrels a day from a previously reported 2.47 million. Output was overstated because of water content and inefficient measuring and separation systems. “The water content and measurement distortions have increased the fiscal burden on Pemex,” the Mexico City-based company said in the statement. Facing a 10th straight year of production declines, Pemex said output at the end of the year would be about 2.35 million barrels a day. That’s the second revision in a month after Exploration and Production Director Gustavo Hernandez […]

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Pemex says miscalcuation leads to slashed crude output

Mexican state Pemex has revised its annual production target for the year to 2.35 million b/d from 2.44 million b/d, its lowest level for three decades, the oil and natural gas monopoly said Friday. January-through-July production data has been reduced by 126,000 b/d, or 5%, because of miscalculations by antiquated measuring equipment, Pemex said. Water had been counted as oil in the calculations, it added. –Ronald Buchanan, [email protected] –Edited by Richard Rubin, [email protected]

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Siluria turns natural gas into gasoline for $1 per gallon

Pete Bergstrom monitors the conversion of natural gas to gasoline at Siluria Technologies in Hayward. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle The clear gas produced from natural gas is made for about $1 per gallon. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle A control panel monitors the production of ethylene from natural gas. The ethylene can be converted to gasoline, diesel or jet fuel. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Pete Bergstrom monitors the conversion of natural gas to gasoline at Siluria Technologies in Hayward. The process costs much less than refining crude oil. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Erik Scher, vice president of research and development engineering, monitors production of ethylene from natural gas at a Siluria Technologies plant in Hayward, Calif. on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014. The startup energy company is announcing that Saudi Aramco, one of the world’s largest oil companies, is its latest major investment partner. Photo: Paul Chinn, […]

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Siluria Technologies Turns Natural Gas Into Gasoline in Hayward, Calif.

Siluria Technologies says it can produce large quantities of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and chemicals at roughly $1 per gallon. The clear liquid flowing from a collection of pipes and wires in a Hayward, Calif., industrial park smells just like gasoline, and for all practical purposes, it is. But it wasn’t made from crude oil. Instead, it came from natural gas, the fuel whose sudden abundance in America is reshaping the country’s energy landscape. Siluria Technologies says it can produce large quantities of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and chemicals at a lower cost than traditional refineries and chemical plants. At today’s natural gas prices, Siluria’s technology could make gasoline at roughly $1 per gallon, according to the company. The oil industry has taken notice. Siluria reported Wednesday that its latest, $30 million fundraising round was led by Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company. For Aramco, the move may […]

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Gulf of Mexico lease draws advocacy fire

The advocacy group said it was frustrated with the latest auction of 434,000 acres in the Gulf of Mexico to energy explorers. Campaigner Marissa Knodel said the sale comes despite the lack of comprehensive congressional action taken in response to the BP oil spill in 2010. "The federal government’s addiction to fossil fuels threatens the health and vitality of the waters, wildlife and coastal communities in the Gulf of Mexico," she said in a statement Thursday. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said the acreage auctioned off this week could lead to the production of between 116 million and 200 million barrels of oil and 538 billion and 938 billion cubic feet of natural gas. A coalition of oil and gas groups pressing for more access to offshore reserves said in a letter to the Interior Department this week offshore incident response has improved dramatically in the wake of […]

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Oil Rigs Slide Most Since 2012 With Crude at 7-Month Low

The number of rigs targeting oil in the U.S. shrank this week by the most since 2012 as crude trades at a seven-month low and drillers redirect equipment to focus on the most profitable plays. Oil rigs tumbled by 25 this week to 1,564, the lowest level in a month and the largest drop since Dec. 21, 2012, data posted on Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) ’s website today show. Those targeting gas meanwhile jumped to the highest in five months, the Houston-based field services company said. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude declined for a fifth week, the longest losing streak in nine months. Lower prices threaten to halt a surge in the oil rig count as energy producers use a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to draw record volumes out of shale formations from North Dakota to Texas. The shale boom has raised domestic production to […]

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Native concerns over oil vetted in Canada

The Canadian government said it set the schedule to hear concerns from the aboriginal community about expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline. Pipeline company Kinder Morgan wants to spend more than $5 billion to twin the existing pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia. The company said the expansion would at least double the corridor’s existing capacity of 300,000 barrels of oil per day. Advocacy groups and members of the aboriginal community have expressed concern about the potential environmental impact of more oil pipelines to the western Canadian coast. The National Energy Board, a Canadian regulator, said it would hear oral evidence at a Monday hearing in Edmonton. "The board recognizes that aboriginal peoples have an oral tradition for sharing stories, lessons, and knowledge from generation to generation," NEB said in a statement Thursday. "This information cannot always be shared adequately in writing yet it will make up an […]

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Russian Trucks Reach Luhansk as Kiev Denounces 'Invasion'

Trucks carrying what Russia says is humanitarian aid reached the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, after crossing the border in what the government in Kiev denounced as an “invasion.” Tension escalated as Oana Lungescu, a spokeswoman for NATO, said by e-mail that since the middle of this month the alliance had received “multiple reports” of direct involvement of Russian airborne, air defense and special operations forces in eastern Ukraine. Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, said that no Russian artillery or military forces are there. The U.S., European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization denounced the convoy’s entrance into Ukraine, with a Pentagon spokesman saying Russia continues to add troops near the border with Ukraine. The convoy is a “flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty,” White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters at a briefing today. Related: Russia is invading under the cover […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Russian Trucks Reach Luhansk as Kiev Denounces ‘Invasion’

Trucks carrying what Russia says is humanitarian aid reached the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, after crossing the border in what the government in Kiev denounced as an “invasion.” Tension escalated as Oana Lungescu, a spokeswoman for NATO, said by e-mail that since the middle of this month the alliance had received “multiple reports” of direct involvement of Russian airborne, air defense and special operations forces in eastern Ukraine. Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, said that no Russian artillery or military forces are there. The U.S., European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization denounced the convoy’s entrance into Ukraine, with a Pentagon spokesman saying Russia continues to add troops near the border with Ukraine. The convoy is a “flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty,” White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters at a briefing today. Related: Russia is invading under the cover […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple