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California Replaces Oil by Rail From Canada With Domestic

California , the nation’s largest gasoline market, has cut its oil-by-rail volumes from Canada by 86 percent this year while buying more crude made in America. The most populous U.S. state received 3,142 barrels a day by rail from Canada in July, down from 6,669 in June and a peak of 22,871 in December, California Energy Commission data show. Meanwhile, it more than doubled the oil delivered by rail from Colorado , took a record amount from Utah and brought in more barrels from New Mexico and North Dakota. The oil-by-rail shipments have surged to a seasonal record as the state’s refiners, lacking direct pipeline access, turn to trains to bring in production from U.S. shale formations. The boom has boosted domestic output to the highest level in 28 years, bringing the nation closer to energy independence. “In the California scheme of things, the change in Canadian rail volumes […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Punitive regulations would harm Pennsylvania, PIOGA president says

WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 8 09/08/2014 A severance tax and other election-year proposals potentially could dismantle Pennsylvania’s unprecedented natural gas production growth, the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association’s president warned. “From severance tax proposals of 5-10% to legislation to retroactively impose a $3 million/well ‘fee’ for every well that has been drilled on state forest land, it appears that some elected officials want to scrap the effective policies and regulations that have allowed Pennsylvania to become the second-largest natural gas producer in the US in 5 short years,” PIOGA Pres. Louis D. D’Amico said on Sept. 4. The proposals have come from Keystone State politicians from 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tom Wolf to members of the state’s General Assembly from both parties, he said. “With natural gas production at an all-time high, a reasonable 5% severance tax would generate over $1 billion in 2015,” Wolf said in a Sept. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Shell Turns On Taps at Cardamom Field in Gulf of Mexico

Hess To Form MLP For North Dakota Oil, Gas Transport Assets Production is now underway from the Cardamom development, the second major deep-water facility Shell has brought online in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico this year, following the start-up of Mars B in February. Oil from the Cardamom subsea development (100-percent Shell) is piped through Shell’s Auger platform. When at full production of 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boepd), Auger’s total production capacity will increase to approximately130,000 boepd. "Cardamom is a high-value addition to Shell’s production at the Auger platform and is another example of our excellence in deep-water project delivery," said Marvin Odum, Shell Upstream Americas director. "The work to extend the production life of our first deep-water, tension-leg platform is impressive and involved advanced exploration and development technology.  Our additional opportunities in deep water mean that this will remain an important, high-return growth area for […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Canadian rail struggles to keep up with grain, oil transport

The statistics of 2013 speak for themselves — record grain output in the Canadian Prairies of 76 million mt and record crude-by-rail (CBR) loadings from neighboring Alberta and Saskatchewan of 250,000 b/d. And with Canadian oil sands production continuing to rise, there’s a growing concern over the possibility of a standoff between the grain and oil industries for rail space and locomotives. Adding to that concern is the fact that last year neither the number of grain hoppers nor the tank cars being hauled by Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railway increased significantly to keep pace with the unprecedented demand to move both commodities from interior regions to consuming markets. But while there are no new hoppers to be delivered over the short term, the order books of tank car manufacturers are bulging with 40,000 additional cars due to be delivered by late 2015 to carry more crude from […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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EU adopts new Russia sanctions but delays action

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Monday shied away from slapping new economic sanctions on Russia right away over its actions in eastern Ukraine. Instead, the 28-nation bloc said the punitive measures will come into force "in the next few days" depending on how well the cease-fire agreement in eastern Ukraine will be upheld. European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said in a statement delaying the sanctions would leave time for "an assessment of the implementation of the cease-fire agreement and the peace plan." "Depending on the situation on the ground, the EU stands ready to review the agreed sanctions in whole or in part," Van Rompuy said. Ukraine, Russia and the Kremlin-backed separatists agreed Friday to an immediate cease-fire and an exchange of prisoners. While the truce appeared to hold on Monday, the agreement seemed fragile over the weekend when occasional fighting occurred. The EU sanctions are […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Kremlin comes to rescue of Rosneft

| License Photo The Kremlin has a vested interest in ensuring sanctions-strapped oil company Rosneft can maintain operations, the Russian prime minister said Monday. Western governments have enacted sanctions on Russia’s energy and defense sectors in response to crises simmering on the Ukrainian border with Russia. When Russian oil company Rosneft was targeted, Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin , himself sanctioned, he said the company’s strategy was affected. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told Russian business daily Vedemosti it was incumbent upon the government to prop up Rosneft with more than $40 billion from a national welfare fund. "The company needs to keep up production, since Rosneft is a major contributor to the budget," he said. "In this regard, we have to help them by maintaining the investment level." Sechin in July said the government-controlled oil company was operating under difficult conditions because of the sanctions, but added he […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Russia Sees Oil Output Edging Down In 2015

Hess To Form MLP For North Dakota Oil, Gas Transport Assets MOSCOW, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Russian oil production, a major source of government revenue, may decline slightly next year, having risen steadily since 2009, the Energy Ministry said on Monday. The ministry said oil production in 2015 was seen at 525 million tonnes (10.54 million barrels per day) compared to an expected 525.3 million tonnes this year. Last year’s oil output, which generates 40 percent of state revenues, stood at 523.3 million tonnes, a post-Soviet high. Output declined by 0.6 percent in 2008 because of a global financial crisis, but has risen steadily since 2009 thanks to the introduction of a more favourable tax regime and other fiscal measures. With Russia’s $2 trillion economy heavily dependent on crude exports and on the brink of recession, oil production and prices are closely monitored by the Kremlin. The government is […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Why Peak Oil Refuses To Die

By | Sun, 07 September 2014 00:00 | Perhaps you’ve seen one of the recent barrage of articles claiming that fears of an imminent peak and decline in world oil production have either been dispelled (because we actually have plenty of oil) or are misplaced (because climate change is the only environmental problem we should be concerned with). I’m not buying either argument. Why? Let’s start with the common assertion that oil supplies are sufficiently abundant so that a peak in production is many years or decades away. Everyone agrees that planet Earth still holds plenty of petroleum or petroleum-like resources: that’s the kernel of truth at the heart of most attempted peak-oil debunkery. However, extracting and delivering those resources at an affordable price is becoming a bigger challenge year by year. For the oil industry, costs of production have rocketed; they’re currently soaring at a rate of about […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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BP Gets Support From U.K. Government in U.S. Lawsuit Over Spill

BP Plc (BP/) got support from the U.K. government in its U.S. court fight over the level of compensation required under a settlement of lawsuits stemming from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The U.K. told U.S. Supreme Court judges in a filing that decisions to authorize payments to people who were not injured by the spill raises “grave international comity concerns by undermining confidence in the vigorous and fair resolution of disputes.” The filing shows the government’s interest in the treatment of one of the country’s most prominent companies. BP, the second-largest British oil producer, is seeking a ruling from the U.S.’s top court after failing to persuade a Louisiana district judge and an appeals court to limit payments under a 2012 settlement to compensate victims of the spill. BP says payments are unfairly being to made to claimants whose businesses couldn’t have been affected by the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple