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Gasoline Price Study to Fuel Debate on U.S. Oil Exports

The push to end a four-decade limit on exporting U.S. oil may get a boost from a government study set for release as soon as today that will explain the relationship between crude oil and domestic gasoline prices. Supporters of lifting the ban anticipate the Energy Information Administration analysis will affirm what they suspect: that overseas sales won’t raise the price Americans pay at the pump because the price of gasoline is tied to the global oil supply. While some recent studies have reached a similar conclusion, the analysis from the non-partisan EIA could make a stronger impression with lawmakers. “We don’t have to prove gas prices are going to go down,” Robert Dillon, a spokesman for Senator Lisa Murkowski , an Alaska Republican, said in an interview. “We just have to prove they aren’t going to go up.” The EIA analysis is being released at a crucial time. […]

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TransCanada: Energy East pipeline application submitted

TransCanada submits application to Canadian regulators for Energy East oil pipeline. (UPI/Shutterstock/tcly) Pipeline planner TransCanada Corp. said Thursday it filed a formal application for its Energy East pipeline project for eastern Canadian oil refineries. The Energy East oil pipeline involves the construction of a new 930-mile segment and converting 1,800 miles of gas line for oil service. It’s designed to carry 1.1 million barrels of oil per day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to eastern Canadian refineries. "Energy East will also eliminate the need for Eastern Canada to import most of the 700,000 barrels it consumes every day," Russ Girling, TransCanada’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. TransCanada said Energy East would make eastern Canadian refineries more competitive because they’d be sourced by domestic crude and bring in more than $7 billion in tax revenues during its first 20 years of operation. Critics of the project said […]

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Texas oil production tops 2.2 million bpd

Texas regulator says oil production up more than 20 percent year-on-year. UPI/Gary C. Caskey Crude oil production for Texas was up more than 20 percent year-on-year to just over 2.2 million barrels per day, a state regulator said. The Texas Railroad Commission released preliminary figures for August, saying Wednesday production of 2.23 million bpd was up 24 percent from August 2013. Total monthly production in August was 69.2 million barrels, up from the 55.6 million produced during August 2013. Texas is the No. 1 oil producer in the United States. Texas hosts part of the Permian shale basin , which the U.S. Energy Department said is the most prolific with average production of around 1.3 million bpd. The Texas Railroad Commission adopted new shale rules , effective Nov. 17, meant to address disposal well operations in areas that may be prone to seismic activity. Hydraulic fracturing operations have been […]

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U.S. average gas price headed below $3

A gas station at the entrance to the Holland Tunnel sells gas for below $3 a gallon in Jersey City, N.J. on Oct. 29, 2014. This week, the national average for a gallon of regular might hit $3, a low that hasn’t been reached since 2010. UPI/John Angelillo Motor club AAA reports a national average price Thursday of $3.01, 32 cents less than one month ago. Lower crude oil prices and seasonal demand issues are in part responsible for the declining price at the pump. The department’s Energy Information Administration said its sentiment was consistent with price watchers like AAA, which are showing the average statewide price moving below the $3 mark for more than half of all U.S. states. "Current market prices and conditions indicate that a U.S. average retail price below the symbolic $3 per gallon mark is possible in the coming weeks," EIA said in a […]

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Two New Bakken Crude Oil Pipelines Online by 2016

Pipeline Construction | Click to Enlarge Dallas, TX-based Energy Transfer Partners announced a joint venture with Houston-based Phillips 66 at the end of October, 2014, to build two pipelines that will move crude oil out of North Dakota’s Bakken Shale field. Energy Transfer Partners will have a 75% interest in the pipelines. Phillips 66 will have a 25% interest, and will pay a proportionate cost of the construction. Both the “Dakota Access Pipeline” and “Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline” are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016. “We look forward to working with Phillips 66 to build this much-needed pipeline infrastructure to link rapidly growing supplies of domestically produced light crude oil in the Bakken and Three Forks play to refineries throughout the country,” said Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren. According to Energy Transfer Partners, the Dakota Access Pipeline is expected to deliver in excess of 450,000 b/d of crude […]

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US shakes off torpor with 3.5% growth

US real GDP growth The US economy expanded at an annualised rate of 3.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2014, ending years of mediocre domestic growth and shaking off the more recent weakness in other major global economies. The figure came in well ahead of analysts’ expectations of 3 per cent growth – supporting the US Federal Reserve’s decision to end its third round of quantitative easing on Wednesday. But the details portray an economy that is steady, not accelerating. They suggest the US economy is ploughing forward, despite drag from the eurozone and emerging markets, but not rapidly enough to become the engine of global growth. “The growth in household consumption was disappointing, and business investment grew only moderately,” said Gad Levanon at the business organisation the Conference Board. “We expect the US economy to grow at about a 2.5 per cent rate on average in […]

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In the path of the pipeline

BRADSHAW, Neb. — The only sign of the six-year fight over the 400 acres of land that belong to Shannon and Kevin Graves is a wooden stick on the edge of a cornfield across from their modest home, located down a dirt road about an hour west of Lincoln. The stick marks where a section of the Keystone XL pipeline may one day be laid. Each day, as their nephew Daniel tends their cornfields, Kevin and Shannon Graves drive about 15 minutes away to their store, Tradition Hardware, located in the one-street town of Polk. Over the years, that daily drive past the stick has morphed into a reminder that, even as the battle over the Keystone XL has ignited a renewed environmental movement that sways state, national and international politics, at the end of the day, the pipeline fight is a local one. “It’s not a political issue […]

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Report for API quantifies new technologies’ 2013 US economic benefits

WASHINGTON, DC, Oct. 30 10/30/2014 By Nick Snow OGJ Washington Editor Innovations in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling that have driven the energy renaissance in the US were responsible for about 48% of the nation’s crude oil production and shaved as much as 94¢/gal off of fuel prices in 2013, according to a recent report commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute. “For the first time in generations, surging domestic production is driving our energy security and creating large benefits for consumers,” said Kyle Isakower, API vice-president, regulatory and economic policy. “Over the last 5 years, nearly every barrel of new US production can be attributed to the use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies, and that production is reshaping global markets in a way that is strengthening the US both economically and diplomatically,” Isakower told reporters during an Oct. 30 teleconference. The study, by ICF International , compared […]

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Conoco 3Q Profit Rise, 2015 Capex Seen Lower

Oct 30 (Reuters) – ConocoPhillips, the largest U.S. independent oil and gas company, on Thursday reported higher third-quarter profit after the sale of its Nigerian unit and said overall spending would decline next year, partly in response to falling crude oil prices. Crude oil prices have tumbled more than 20 percent in recent weeks as global demand slows and supplies rise. Crude traded in New York fell to a more than two-year low on Monday at $79.44 a barrel but recovered a bit to above $81 on Thursday. Conoco expects to spend less than $16 billion next year, down from the $16.7 billion projected for 2014, Ryan Lance, the chief executive officer, told investors on a conference call to discuss earnings. Over the last several years, Conoco has shed lower-margin assets, directing more capital to projects like shale drilling in Eagle Ford area in south Texas and the Bakken […]

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Oil Rout Seen Diluting Price Appeal of U.S. LNG Exports

Oil’s collapse is eroding the appeal of potential U.S. LNG exports to Asia as it cuts the cost of competing supplies linked to the price of crude. Brent’s 22 percent drop this year outpaced the 8.9 percent decline in natural gas at Henry Hub, the benchmark for U.S. liquefied natural gas shipments that are scheduled to begin in 2015. When the cost of processing and shipping American supplies to Asia is taken into account, the price advantage over oil-linked cargoes from producers such as Qatar has more than halved, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. While the U.S. shale boom prompts the world’s biggest natural gas producer to plan exports of the fuel, it’s also boosting the country’s crude output to the most in 30 years, helping drive down global oil prices . “The U.S. will not sell cheap gas,” Umar Jehangir, the deputy secretary of development and joint […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple