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Iran mulling currency side step

Iranian lawmaker to review swapping out U.S. dollar for trade deals with Russia. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian Hadi Qavami, a delegate from an Iranian-Russian committee inside the Iranian parliament, said he’s heading to Moscow at the invitation of his counterparts in the Kremlin. "Replacing (the U.S.) dollar with ruble in bilateral and multilateral transactions between Iran and Russia tops the agenda of the upcoming visit of an Iranian delegation to Russia," he said Saturday. Iran has long been searching for a way around the U.S. dollar to circumvent sanctions imposed by Western powers in response to its controversial nuclear program. Russia now has sanctions pressure of its own issued in response to Western frustration over Moscow’s stance on Ukraine. Iran and Russia have been mulling an oil-for-goods swap deal for much of the latter half of 2014. U.S. officials have said it would be "very troubling" if such a deal were […]

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Kuwait Said to Deny Permits to Saudi Chevron Staff at Oil Fields

Kuwait stopped issuing work permits for Saudi Arabian Chevron Inc. employees at oil fields the Persian Gulf nations are developing jointly, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter. Saudi Chevron, a subsidiary of Chevron Corp. (CVX) , can’t issue or renew work permits for employees at the Wafra oil fields because Kuwait’s ministry of labor and social affairs halted services to the company, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter isn’t public. A number of Saudi Chevron staff, including U.S. citizens, left Kuwait after their permits expired, and other foreign employees are expected to follow them, two of the people said. The Kuwaiti measures will hurt output at the Wafra oil fields located in a shared neutral zone along Saudi Arabia’s border with Kuwait, according to a letter of objection that Saudi Chevron sent to the Kuwaiti government, a copy of […]

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Yemen rebel movement in charge of oil ministry

Houthi movement in Yemen gets control over Oil Ministry as government in Sana’a charts new course. UPI/Mohammad Abdullah Members of the Houthi movement are handed control over the Yemeni oil ministry under a new government, the prime minister announced. Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah unveiled his new government Saturday, allocating control over the Oil Ministry to the Houthi movement. The government in Sana’a was under dueling threats from the northern Houthi movement, a Shiite group, and southern separatist groups that at times have been associated with al-Qaida. Western leaders had expressed concerns about rebel activity in Yemen. An August letter signed by U.S., European, Asian and Middle Eastern envoys to Yemen said the Houthi movement had a place in Sana’a, but expressing concerns about the group’s disrespect for political transition that began with the so-called Arab Spring in 2011. In mid-October, Norwegian energy company DNO International declared force majeure […]

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Sendai Vote Signals Quicker Pace on Reactor Restarts

Japan quickened its pace to restarting its idled atomic reactors after local officials voted to resume operations at Sendai’s nuclear plant on the nation’s southern island. Council members for the town of Satsumasendai on the island of Kyushu voted 19 to four to restart the reactors as soon as possible in an almost 3 1/2 hour meeting interrupted frequently by the shouts of protesters opposing the measure. “If they do manage to restart these, it would obviously make the follow-on reactors a lot easier to deal with,” Tom O’Sullivan, founder of Tokyo-based energy consultant Mathyos, said before the vote. “It kind of opens up the path to further restarts in different areas.” Sendai’s two reactors are the first of Japan’s atomic plants in line to restart under tougher safety rules set by the Nuclear Regulation Authority, the agency created after the Fukushima disaster to restore confidence in the industry. […]

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China’s oil demand setting records

Chinese economy taking on more oil than ever, data show. UPI/Stephen Shaver The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its October report the global economy should grow by 0.6 percent next year to 3.6 percent. The Chinese and Indian economies should remain flat, while Europe continues to falter. Though treading water, analysis from Platts found found Chinese apparent oil demand, a reflection of how much oil goes into domestic refineries combined with net oil product imports, averaged 10.35 barrels per day in September, up 7.4 percent year-on-year . September’s average is up more than 6 percent from the previous month , which was the highest level reported for the year. Platts attributed the rise to a shift in Chinese economic policies and to the end of routine maintenance at some of its refineries. Chinese economist Xiang Songzuo said last week gross domestic product expanded 7.3 percent during the […]

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BHP Billiton Eyes Sale Of US Shale Gas Assets In Profit Drive

URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/135620/BHP_Billiton_Eyes_Sale_Of_US_Shale_Gas_Assets_In_Profit_Drive Hess To Form MLP For North Dakota Oil, Gas Transport Assets BHP Billiton is planning to sell its Fayetteville shale gas assets in the US, in the latest effort to trim its portfolio in the region and focus on more profitable petroleum liquids. LONDON, Oct 27 (Reuters) – BHP Billiton is planning to sell its Fayetteville shale gas assets in the United States, the mining and energy group said on Monday, in the latest effort to trim its portfolio in the region and focus on more profitable petroleum liquids. The petroleum division of BHP, the world’s largest miner, is one of the largest foreign investors in the U.S. onshore oil and gas sector. The unit has grown in importance within BHP in the least few years, thanks to a market outlook that has been brighter for energy than for other commodities. Within the petroleum business, however, BHP […]

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China’s ‘new normal’ for consumption

This picture taken on March 8, 2014 shows shoppers looking at the goods at a supermarket in Yichang in central China’s Hubei province. China’s inflation rate dropped to 2.0 percent year-on-year in February, down from 2.5 percent in January, the government said on March 9, prompting economists to warn that the risk of deflation was rising. CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO ©AFP While multinationals have been bleating about tumbling sales in China , official retail data from the world’s second-biggest economy tells a more robust story. What gives? The correct read on Chinese shoppers’ propensity to buy is key both for the companies who are increasingly dependent upon the market and for the country itself: consumption, billed as a new growth engine, is required to offset the slowdown in investment. Consumer goods manufacturers Unilever , Nestlé , and Colgate-Palmolive all reported declines in China sales in the third quarter to […]

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Revealed: EIA’s forecasts for individual tight oil plays (part 1)

This is a Frack Lab exclusive. The EIA gave me their long-term forecasts—previously unpublished—for oil production from individual tight plays, including the Bakken, Eagle Ford, Wolfcamp, Bone Spring, Spraberry and more, out to 2040. There are the areas wholly responsible for the U.S. oil boom of the past several years, so I’d think there would be wide interest in EIA’s forecasts for particular plays. Yet the EIA has not released these forecasts themselves. I’m posting the data here—freely available—for anyone who is interested. First I’ll show the data, then list links for downloading this data set and some other related data. Finally I’ll tell more about how I got the data, and put it in context. If you find this data useful, please go to the end of this post and click “worth it” to help me earn a bonus—which helps me continue doing this work. Data set downloads […]

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Repsol strikes black gold in Gulf of Mexico

Spanish energy company Repsol finds major oil deposit in ultra-deep waters of Gulf of Mexico. (UPI/Shutterstock/James Jones Jr.) The company said it ran through a 492-foot thick column of oil about 200 miles off the coast in Louisiana in the ultra-deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The company made the discovery in the Leon well in the Keathley Canyon 642 block. Repsol’s declaration comes less than a week after claims of a similar significant discovery of oil from U.S. energy company Chevron in the same Keathley Cameron reserve area. "With the Leon discovery, Repsol continues to strengthen its position in the United States, which is one of the company’s key strategic areas," the company said in a statement. The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 put drilling operations in the region on hold temporarily. Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced […]

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Continental brings South Korea to Oklahoma shale

Continental Resources brings South Korean partner into emerging Oklahoma shale basin. UPI/Gary C. Caskey U.S. shale player Continental Resources said Monday it has signed a deal with a South Korean company to develop its gas assets in Oklahoma. Continental, which has headquarters in Oklahoma City, announced it sold 49.9 percent of its stake in the Northwest Cana Woodford shale basin to South Korean conglomerate SK Group for roughly $360 million. "We are excited to establish this joint venture with such an established and highly regarded major international energy company," Harold Hamm, Continental’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. Continental has a stake in 37 producing wells in the Cana Woodford shale. The company said it plans to start drilling into the Oklahoma shale basin next month, with four rigs deployed through its partnership with SK Group by the end of the year. Oil services company Baker […]

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Bakken Shale Rig Count Decreases By One to 191

QEP Midstream Operations Map | 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 194 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 13 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up. In recent Bakken news, San Antonio, TX-based Tesoro Logistics LP agreed to buy Denver, CO-based QEP Resources Inc.’s natural gas pipeline and processing business, QEP Field Services, for 2.5-billion in late October of 2014. The deal also includes a 58% ownership in QEP Midstream Partners. The acquired assets operate over 2,000 miles of natural gas and crude oil gathering and transmission pipeline, with locations in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale and the Rocky Mountain region. The assets have have a combined 2.9 billion cf/d of natural gas and 54,000 b/d of crude oil throughput capacity. Read more : Tesoro Buys QEP’s Bakken […]

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Increasing ethanol use has reduced the average energy content of retail motor gasoline

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review EIA has adjusted its estimates of the energy content of retail motor gasoline in the Monthly Energy Review (MER) to reflect its changing composition. Ethanol and other oxygenates, which have lower energy content than petroleum-based gasoline components, have seen their share of total gasoline volumes increase from 2% in 1993 to nearly 10% in 2013. As a result, EIA’s estimate of motor gasoline’s average energy content per gallon has declined by about 3% over this 20-year period. The adjustment in EIA’s estimate of the average energy content per gallon of motor gasoline reflects changes in response to 1990 Clean Air Act (CAA) regulations that split the U.S. gasoline market into three segments: conventional, oxygenated, and reformulated . Oxygenated and reformulated gasoline was required to be blended with compounds that contained oxygen, such as MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) or ethanol. While these […]

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FracInsight Offers Better View of Where to Fracture Rock

Knowing where to place perforations and individual hydraulic fracturing stages remains a challenge for the oil and gas industry. As a result of incorrect hydraulic fracturing, approximately 25 to 30 percent of zones in unconventional wells don’t produce. “We understand where we want to place and drill wells, but often, Mother Earth is complex,” said Dan Buller, global advisor and principal petrophysicist for unconventional reservoir optimization and formation & reservoir solutions at Halliburton. “Placing these horizontal wells exactly where they’re targeted is problematic sometimes. Once you’ve done the drilling and/or geosteering, you want to evaluate where you’ve penetrated the earth model. Once you penetrate, where are the optimal places to stage frac a well and to place perforations?” To address this issue, the company created FracInsight, an unbiased repeatable tool that selects perforations and frac stage locations from the best available formation evaluation data along a horizontal well. FracInsight […]

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Mercedes Drivers Stung by Shale Boom’s Quirks at the Pump

The shale oil boom is proving far less kind to Mercedes-Benz drivers than it is to those sitting behind the wheel of a Toyota Camry or Chevrolet Impala. While regular gasoline -chugging drivers are paying just $3.04 a gallon in the U.S., the lowest in four years, those cruising around in luxury cars and demanding only the finest of grades, known as premium, have seen smaller declines. The price gap between the two grades swelled last week to the widest since 2008. Shale drilling is one of the main reasons behind the growing divergence. The record oil being pumped at U.S. shale formations tends to be more easily turned into low-octane gasoline. That’s helping push its price down more than the cost of premium fuel as benchmark U.S. crude oil sank below $80 a barrel for the first time since 2012. “You’re at their mercy; if you want to […]

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Shell Seeks 5 More Years for Arctic Oil Drilling Drive

Print Back to story Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) is asking the Obama administration for five more years to explore for oil off Alaska’s coast, saying set backs and legal delays may push the start of drilling past the 2017 expiration of some leases. Shell, which has spent eight years and $6 billion to search for oil in the Arctic’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas, said in letter to the Interior Department that “prudent” exploration before leases expire is now “severely challenged.” “Despite Shell’s best efforts and demonstrated diligence, circumstances beyond Shell’s control have prevented, and are continuing to prevent, Shell from completing even the first exploration well in either area,” Peter Slaiby, vice president of Shell Alaska, wrote to the regional office of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Shell’s plans to produce oil in the Arctic were set back in late 2012 by mishaps involving a drilling […]

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Rosneft Extends Monthly Decline Before Earnings Report

OAO Rosneft, the Russian state-run oil company targeted by international sanctions, headed for a fourth monthly decline before it reports what analysts estimate will be the first drop in dollar revenue since 2009. The stock fell 0.8 percent to $5.37 in London , pushing this month’s retreat to 7.9 percent. The ruble weakened 0.8 percent to 42.28 per dollar, extending a three-month drop to 17 percent, the biggest among emerging-market currencies. Oil touched a 28-month low in New York . Rosneft’s third-quarter earnings report today will show a 12 percent drop in dollar revenue from a year earlier, according to the average of 11 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. “The stock is under enormous pressure, and if we see the ruble continue to plunge and the sanctions continue to squeeze the economy, this pressure will deepen,” Sergei Pigarev, an analyst at Rye, Man & Gor Securities in Moscow, said […]

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Post Carbon Institute’s LTO Reality Check

The Post Carbon Institute has just released a critique of the EIA’s Light Tight Oil projections. It is titled DRILLING DEEPER . The report is highly critical of the EIA’s projections and should be read by everyone interested in Peak Oil. All data on all charts is in million barrels per day unless otherwise specified. EIA Oil Projection First a look at the EIA oil projections for US production from all sources. They expect offshore to increase to 2 million barrels per day by 2016, an increase of almost 600,000 bpd from current production. Also note that the EIA has US almost peaking in 2016 and increasing only slightly until the peak in 2019. EIA LTO Hi Lo Projection The EIA has several projections, covering all bases. However the reference, or most likely, will be the only one covered in this post. EIA LTO Projection Here is where all […]

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Oil Stays Rangebound After Yet Another Weekly Drop

By Eric Yep Crude-oil futures traded in a narrow price range in Asian hours Monday with oversupply concerns still weighing on market sentiment. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at $81.08 a barrel at 0448 GMT, up $0.07 in the Globex electronic session. December Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.13 to $86.00 a barrel. Nymex West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil benchmark, has been down for four consecutive weeks, and Brent crude has posted losses for five weeks in a row. Market participants continued to speculate about the level of oil production from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting countries, especially Saudi Arabia. In addition to Saudi Arabia’s crude-oil exports, the market also needs to consider the oil producer’s exports of petroleum products which are ramping up quickly, analyst Miswin Mahesh at Barclays said. "Saudi […]

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Brent Crude Holds Losses as Goldman Cuts Forecasts; WTI Steady

Brent held losses after its fifth weekly decline as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its crude price forecasts, predicting supply growth from non-OPEC producers will outpace global demand. WTI was steady in New York . Futures were little changed in London , after sliding 0.8 percent on Oct. 24. Accelerating output from producers outside of North America including Brazil and Azerbaijan will result in an oversupply in 2015, Goldman Sachs said. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, scheduled to meet in Vienna next month, should let the market balance itself instead of trying to intervene, according to Hasan Qabazard, a former head of the group’s research division. “Oil prices may decline further until we get some comments from OPEC that they will cut production,” Ken Hasegawa , an energy trading manager at Newedge Group in Tokyo , said by phone today. Supply is increasing faster than demand, he said. […]

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Goldman Cuts Oil Forecasts as U.S. Market Clout Increases

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) cut its forecasts for Brent and WTI crude prices next year on rising global supplies, predicting OPEC will lose influence over the oil market amid the U.S. shale boom. The bank is becoming more confident in the scale and sustainability of U.S. shale oil production and said U.S. benchmark prices need to decline to $75 a barrel for a slowdown in output growth. Brent will average $85 a barrel in the first quarter, down from a previous forecast of $100, and West Texas Intermediate will sell for $75 a barrel in the period, from an earlier estimate of $90, analysts including Jeffrey Currie wrote in a report. The biggest members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are discounting supplies to defend market share rather than cutting production to boost prices that have collapsed into a bear market . The highest U.S. output in […]

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Oil Speculators Bet Wrong as Rebound Proves Fleeting

Hedge funds rushed back into oil too quickly, boosting bullish bets amid a rebound last week, only to then watch surging U.S. crude supplies push prices right back down to a two-year low. The net-long positions in West Texas Intermediate futures rose 5.7 percent in the seven days ended Oct. 21, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Short bets shrank 20 percent, the most in three months, while longs dropped 2.8 percent. After rising as analysts speculated prices had reached a floor, WTI sank again after stockpiles climbed nationally and at Cushing, Oklahoma , the delivery point for New York Mercantile Exchange futures. It fell to $80.52 on Oct. 22, the lowest settlement since June 2012, and ended the week down 24 percent from the year’s high. The U.S. benchmark, which slipped into a bear market Oct. 9, may dip to $75 by the end of year, Bank […]

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After victory in key Iraqi town, time for revenge

JURF AL-SAKHAR Iraq (Reuters) – After helping government forces break Islamic State’s grip over a strategic town just south of Baghdad on Saturday, Shi’ite militias decided it was time for payback. A Reuters witness saw the fighters in green camouflage uniforms scream and swear at members of the Islamist group as they kicked and struck them with rifle butts in Jurf al-Sakhar. As the angry crowd of militiamen around the unarmed militants swelled, shots rang out. The three men lay soaked in blood in the dirt with gunshot wounds to the head. "Those dogs are Chechens. They don’t deserve to stay alive. We took confessions from them and we don’t need them anymore," said one of the Shi’ite militiamen. The victory could allow Iraqi forces to prevent the Sunni insurgents from edging closer to the capital, sever connections to their strongholds in western Anbar province and stop them infiltrating […]

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Nigeria At Risk Over Falling Oil Price–FG

The Federal Government, yesterday, raised an alarm over the decline in the global crude oil prices, saying that it is already putting in place stricter measures to cushion the effect of the drop on the Nigerian economy. "Nigeria has two to three months of rainy day savings to cushion it while contingencies are put in place should world oil prices continue to fall," Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Co-ordinating Minister for Economy told the Financial Times. Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that should oil price dip below $78, the country would have to draw down on the Excess Crude Account (ECA). She said, "Our intention is not to run in there and raid it, but even if prices continue to go down we can survive sufficiently for two to three months. That is the time needed to get other measures in place. What you don’t want is a hard landing." "Our buffers are slimmer this […]

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Nigeria: Pirates Seize Police Gunboat, Abduct Four Police Officers, Six Oil Workers in Bayelsa

The rising spate of insecurity in Bayelsa state heightened Friday as gunmen, suspected to be sea pirates, carried out attacks on barges and boats along the Nembe waterways in Bayelsa, abducting six oil workers and four policemen. The pirates also dispossessed the policemen of a gunboat and made away with the arms onboard. The attacks, according to witnesses, occurred separately on Friday causing fear and tension amongst coastal communities and boat operators as the security operatives appeared helpless and defeated. When contacted for comments, the spokesperson for Bayelsa police command, Alex Akhigbe, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said he was on official duty in Abuja and unaware of developments in Bayelsa. The state Police Commissioner, Valentine Ntomchukwu, claimed he was busy in a meeting. Witnesses however said the Police gunboat was escorting a barge operated by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) when it was attacked. The sea pirates, […]

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Venezuela Scraps Plans to Sell U.S. Refining Arm Citgo Petroleum

Venezuela shelved a planned sale of about $10 billion in U.S. refineries as surging North American crude output pushes down energy prices and profit margins. The country ruled out selling its U.S.-based refining subsidiary Citgo Petroleum Corp., Finance minister Rodolfo Marco Torres told Caracas-based El Universal in an interview published yesterday. The nation will keep investing in Citgo, he said, echoing comments made by President Nicolas Maduro last month. Citgo said in a July 29 filing that state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA was looking for a buyer, threatening to undermine bondholders and other creditors by removing a sovereign asset that could be seized in the U.S. in the event of a default. Former oil minister Rafael Ramirez said in August that Citgo was worth at least $10 billion, while Barclays Plc said last month that the company’s equity value is between $7 billion and $9 billion. “Refining […]

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Pro-Europe parties on track for big election win in Ukraine, partial count shows

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko hailed a sweeping victory for pro-Europe parties in an election on Sunday, saying the vote showed people backed his plan to end a separatist conflict, his pro-Western course and democratic reforms. Poroshenko’s bloc was fractionally ahead of the party of his ally, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, with both taking over 21 percent of the votes cast from a field of 29 competing parties, early figures from the vote count showed on Monday. Addressing Ukrainians two hours after polling ended on Sunday night, he thanked voters for backing a "democratic, reformist, pro-Ukrainian and pro-European majority". "The majority of voters were in favour of the political forces that support the president’s peace plan and seek a political solution to the situation in the Donbass," Poroshenko said, referring to the region of the industrialised east where government forces have been fighting separatist rebels. The result […]

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U.S. Gasoline Falls to Lowest Since 2010, Lundberg Says

The average price of regular gasoline at U.S. pumps slid to the lowest level in almost four years, dropping 18.18 cents in the two weeks ended Oct. 24 to $3.0759 a gallon, according to Lundberg Survey Inc. Prices are 28.69 cents lower than a year ago, according to the survey, which is based on information obtained at about 2,500 filling stations by the Camarillo, California-based company. The average is the lowest since Dec. 17, 2010, as oil, which makes up 64 percent of the pump price, has fallen by 24 percent from this year’s peak in June. “The crude oil price crash has been passed through by refiners,” Trilby Lundberg, the president of Lundberg Survey said in a telephone interview yesterday. “Retailers will probably be pressed to pass through at the pump a few more pennies of price-cutting sometime soon.” The highest price for gasoline in the lower 48 […]

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Keystone Foes Energized as Price Pinch Oil Sand Allure

Falling oil prices have energized opponents of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. U.S. benchmark crude has tumbled 10 percent this month, closing at $81.01 a barrel in New York trading last week, and further declines are forecast. At $75, a government analysis said producers may be discouraged from developing Canada ’s oil sands without pipelines like Keystone. “It changes the narrative quite a bit,” Anthony Swift, an international lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington , said of the tumble in crude prices. The pace of oil-sands production is key in the debate over Keystone, a Canada-to-U.S. line TransCanada Corp. (TRP) proposed in September 2008 when oil was more than $100 a barrel. Environmentalists oppose developing oil sands because the process releases more greenhouse gases than other types of crude. President Barack Obama has said he won’t approve the $10 billion project if it would significantly exacerbate […]

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Do we have an oil chicken race ahead?

Do we have an oil chicken race ahead? A week ago I wrote my story “ The falling oil price may presage a future recession ”. Along the same lines Gaurav Sharma has contributed a story on Forbes with the title “ Saudis Vs Oil Markets: Who’s Playing Whom ?” I like to high light these part of his story: “While the world was focused on Brent and WTI price dips, the OPEC Reference Basket of twelve crude oils from its member countries slipped from $89.37 on 7 October (just days after the Saudi move) to $81.67 per barrel on 23 October. Popular discourse about Saudi motives seems to be that oil minister Ali Al-Naimi does not want to see a repeat of the 1980s when cuts in production saw his country lose global market share.” “Within OPEC, only Kuwait (needing a breakeven price of $75), Qatar ($71) and […]

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Brent, WTI unable to hold rally

Oil prices unable to hold on to rally, with both major indices falling in Friday trading. (File/UPI/John Angelillo) Brent crude oil prices rallied Thursday nearly 3 percent on word producer Saudi Arabia was trimming output. The price for December delivery in early Friday trading was down around $1 per barrel from the previous session’s high of $86.75. Contracts beyond December show Brent prices moving closer to the $90 per barrel mark. Prices had contracted in response to supply and demand dynamics. Brent prices rallied in recent trading on word China was experiencing quality growth. Most major Asian stock indices reported down days Friday, though only modestly with the Shanghai Composite off 0.01 percent. West Texas Intermediate continued its trend toward $80 per barrel in early Friday trading, down more than $1 per barrel to trade at $80.89 for the December contract. WTI had followed the Brent rally Thursday, though […]

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Crude Gives Back Gains; Saudi Oil Policy Seen Unchanged

Print Back to story West Texas Intermediate retreated from the biggest gain since September amid speculation a drop in Saudi Arabian oil supply to the market isn’t a signal for production cuts. Brent widened its premium to WTI. Futures capped a fourth weekly decline. Saudi Arabia ’s crude supplies slipped last month even as production increased, a person familiar with the kingdom’s oil policy said yesterday. Both Brent and WTI have dropped more than 20 percent from this year’s high in June on concern global supply is outpacing demand. “The Saudis are not cutting production,” said Tariq Zahir, a New York-based commodity fund manager at Tyche Capital Advisors. “They can tolerate low prices. We have plenty of supply and the trend for oil is to go lower.” WTI for December delivery dropped $1.08, or 1.3 percent, to end at $81.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange . […]

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Natural Gas Rallies on Signs of Chill and Bargain Buying

By Timothy Puko NEW YORK–Natural gas prices rebounded Friday, flipping from morning losses into small gains on slight signs of cool weather and an influx of bargain buyers, analysts said. The front-month November contract settled up 0.1 cent, or 0.03%, to $3.623 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had hit a new intraday low for 2014, dipping to $3.558/mmBtu before a steady rally started after 11 a.m. Updated weather forecasts show a slight chill possible for the start of November, analysts said. That could drive heating demand at a time when traders had expected temperatures to be comfortable. But the change was only slight, and the new low prices may have played an even larger role in the move, said Aaron Calder, senior market analyst at energy-consulting firm Gelber & Associates in Houston. The $3.50/mmBtu mark is key in the natural gas market […]

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Islamists kill 31 Egyptian soldiers in Sinai

Islamist militants killed 31 Egyptian soldiers on Friday in two separate attacks in the northern Sinai Peninsula, the deadliest day in months in the volatile desert region. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi summoned ministers and officials to an emergency meeting of his National Defence Council after the attacks. Egypt ’s armed forces were reportedly preparing for reprisals in response to the attacks. More On this topic Investors eye Egypt energy opportunities US seeks Egypt’s help to counter Isis Blast in central Cairo kills at least two Egypt swelters in nationwide power cut IN Middle Eastern Politics & Society Tunisia police kill six ahead of poll Tunisia poll takes place amid disillusionment Houthi expansion threatens Yemeni strait Turkey allows Kurds to relieve Kobani The first, a massive car bomb explosion at a checkpoint protected by armoured vehicles northwest of the town of Arish, killed 28 soldiers. The second, a drive-by shooting […]

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Mexico’s Pemex 3Q Loss Widens On Lower Crude Output, Prices

MEXICO CITY, Oct 24 (Reuters) – Mexico’s state-owned oil company Pemex reported a sharply deeper third quarter loss on falling crude output and prices, the company said on Friday in a filing with the Mexican stock exchange. Pemex said its quarterly loss totaled 59.65 billion pesos ($4.44 billion) during the July to September period, compared with a year earlier loss of 39.14 billion pesos ($2.98 billion). The company reported third-quarter revenues of 406.5 billion pesos for the quarter, down 0.7 percent compared with same period last year. Higher interest payments and foreign exchange losses also weighed. Pemex’s crude oil production was down 4.3 percent during the quarter to 2.398 million barrels per day (bpd), compared with 2.506 million bpd during the third quarter of 2013. Meanwhile, the average price of Pemex’s crude exports fell 8.4 percent to $92.08 per barrel, compared with $100.53 per barrel during the same period […]

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Berkshire’s BNSF to Add Surcharge on Older Oil Tank Cars

BNSF Railway Co. (BRK/A) plans to apply a $1,000 surcharge for each older tank car that hauls oil, as the railroad owned by Warren Buffett ’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. encourages shippers to scrap the puncture-prone cars. The charge, which will take effect Jan. 1, will add about $1.50 a barrel to the cost of shipping oil across the country. It’s the first one announced by a major U.S. railroad for older cars known as DOT-111s, and won’t apply to cars called CPC-1232s that are built to higher standards adopted in October 2011, according to a BNSF notice. The Obama administration in July proposed phasing out thousands of the older tank cars within two years and lowering speed limits as part of new rules to reduce the risk of hauling crude by rail. The plan followed a series of fiery accidents, including the derailment and explosion of a crude train […]

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Energy Traders’ Obsession With Winter Begins

The consensus is growing that it won’t be as bad as last winter, which was pretty… Read More Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg There are almost as many weather-driven seasons in the world as there are things to count. Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes have a season. So do cyclones in the Indian Ocean and off Australia , fall foliage in the U.S. and cherry blossoms in Japan and Washington . Even colds, flu and allergies get time on the calendar. In a week, another season will start, one that will move markets and dent wallets: the U.S. heating season. From November to March, as temperatures fall, the U.S. will burn the most natural gas of the year. Some early forecasts suggest the Midwest, the major user of gas heat, might get a break from the prolonged “polar vortex” that punished it last year. In 2013, the U.S. consumed a little more […]

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Oil Producers Form New Group to Lobby to Lift Crude Export Ban

Print Back to story Oil producers are forming a coalition dedicated to ending the four-decade U.S. ban on crude exports, signaling a more serious turn in their push to sell to overseas customers. The Producers for American Crude Exports includes ConocoPhillips, along with at least 13 other companies, company spokesman Daren Beaudo said in a statement. Hess Corp. (HES) , Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) , Continental Resources Inc. are also in the group, according to a disclosure statement filed to Congress. As U.S. oil production increases to its highest point in three decades, advocates for exports say the ban is anachronistic and they point to studies showing positive effects from allowing exports, including more production in the U.S. and cheaper gasoline prices. Even so, energy analysts and lobbyists said success for the effort isn’t certain in Washington, where the focus has long been on how to cut ties to […]

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Report: U.S. on path to energy independence

Shale steering United States toward energy independence, Wood Mackenzie finds. (UPI/Shutterstock/Lilac Mountain) HOUSTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) — The United States is on the path to energy independence because it’s producing more reserves than it consumes, analysis from Wood Mackenzie finds. Wood Mackenzie finds oil and natural gas production in the United States is up 42 percent from 2007 in part because of hydraulic fracturing , horizontal drilling and other drilling applications tied to the shale industry. Higher production and lower demand, in turn, means the economy is relying less on external sources to meet its energy demands. "A country can achieve energy independence through two channels — it can either produce more or consume less, and the United States is doing both," James Brick, a senior analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said in a Thursday statement. Wood Mackenzie finds demand is decreasing in United States because the transportation sector is […]

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Construction starts on Cameron LNG plant

Ground broken on Louisiana plant designed for liquefied natural gas exports. (UPI/Shutterstock/tcly) Construction began in Louisiana on a plant cleared to export around 1.7 billion cubic feet of U.S. natural gas per day, joint venture partners said. Officials from the consortium led by Sempra Energy and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. were on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony in Hackberry, La., for the Cameron liquefied natural gas project . "We look forward to 2018 when the first LNG cargo is loaded and on its way to global markets," Farhad Ahrabi, chief executive officer at Cameron LNG, said in a Thursday statement. Development group Cameron LNG said the Hackberry plant represents a $10 billion investment. Once completed, it will be able to export 12 million tons of LNG, or around 1.7 billion cubic feet per day. The groups behind the project have export deals with several Asian countries. Critics of U.S.-sourced LNG […]

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‘Fracking tax’ in play in Pennsylvania governor race

Could this gas well in Washington Township be part of the solution to Pennsylvania’s underfunded public schools? Ty Wright/Bloomberg via Getty Images Could this gas well in Washington Township be part of the solution to Pennsylvania’s underfunded public schools? Pennsylvania Republican Governor Tom Corbett’s reelection campaign is being fought, and lost, over the issue of public education. Corbett has consistently trailed his Democratic opponent by double digits in polls where voters have repeatedly identified education as their number one electoral priority. Tom Wolf, the Democrat, is running against the deep cuts Corbett made to state support for schools, which resulted in the loss of at least 23,000 education jobs and local property tax hikes statewide. In June, the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators found that three-fourths of the surveyed school districts expected further tax increases this year . In response, Wolf promises to wrest desperately needed revenue from the […]

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Study: Oil, Gas Drilling Activities Provide Major Economic Stimulus for US

The economic benefits to the United States from the energy industry have more than doubled in just the past ten years, even after accounting for inflation, according to a new study by The Perryman Group. The growth in the industry is worth about $1.2 trillion in gross product each year, the study noted, adding that the growth in the oil and gas industry since the economic recession has been “dramatic.” In fact, since the start of the economic recovery, the energy industry has contributed about 30 percent of the total job growth for the nation, Dr. Ray Perryman, president and CEO of The Perryman Group, said. While it is generally recognized that a thriving oil and gas sector helps to create new jobs within and outside of the energy sector, it is less well-recognized just how important the industry is to overall employment. However, the study shows just how […]

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Continental Confirms Productivity of Springer Play

Continental Resources Inc. confirmed the repeatability and growth potential of its new Springer play in the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP) with four new wells drilled in Grady County, Okla. The Oklahoma City-based company estimates the four new wells – which had an average horizontal lateral length of about 4,475 feet – to have estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) of 940,000 gross barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per well in the oil fairway of the play for a well with a 4,500-foot lateral section. The four recent wells were drilled to an average vertical depth of approximately 12,625 feet and average total measured depth of about 17,650 feet. “These individual delineation wells in the play are generating excellent returns, with shallow decline rates compared to other unconventional resource plays,” said Continental Chairman and CEO Harold G. Hamm in an Oct. 23 press statement. “We expect to realize even strong […]

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Oilfield Discovered Onshore UK near London’s Gatwick Airport

Several UK-focused oil and gas companies reported Friday that an oil discovery of perhaps up to 20 million barrels has been made near London’s Gatwick Airport in southern England. The discovery – made by the Horse Hill-1 well located on the northern side of the Weald Basin near Gatwick Airport – was of an oil accumulation in the conventional Upper Jurassic Portland Sandstone at a top reservoir depth of 1,791 feet. Solo Oil, one of a number of companies involved in the Horse Hill consortium, said that a preliminary most likely estimate of 3.1 million barrels of gross in place hydrocarbon volume has been calculated within the upper Portland, with a further gross un-risked in place prospective hydrocarbon volume of 16.8 million barrels of oil in a separate lower sand in the Portland interval located in an untested fault block to the south. The well is being deepened to […]

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New land rig orders, construction continues despite oil price drop

Houston (Platts)–24Oct2014/540 pm EDT/2140 GMT New orders for land rig building continue even amid the recent drop in oil prices, and analysts and drillers insist that industry’s appetite for new state-of-the-art drilling units has not been slaked. Big land drillers Patterson-UTI and Nabors said during respective third-quarter earnings calls this week that they have each contracted several newbuild rigs in the past three months. Patterson inked deals for seven of its trademark APEX rigs and Nabors for three of its new PACE-X brand rigs for US work in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas and the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale of Louisiana/Mississippi. The Tuscaloosa is an emerging but fast-developing play where industry continues to work out early-stage problems relating to the depth, pressure and optimal drilling zones of the reservoir. Not only are drillers still inking deals with upstream operators for newbuild rigs, particularly for US use, but customers […]

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Putin unleashes fury at US ‘follies’

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi ©AP Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday accused the US of undermining the post-Cold War world order, warning that without efforts to establish a new system of global governance the world could collapse into anarchy and chaos. In one of his most anti-US speeches in 15 years as Russia’s most powerful politician, Mr Putin insisted allegations that its annexation of Crimea showed that it was trying to rebuild the Soviet empire were “groundless”. Russia had no intention of encroaching on the sovereignty of its neighbours, he insisted. More On this story Russia takes EU to court over sanctions EU energy deal will hurt Putin, says Davey Drinks with Russian soldiers in Lugansk Global Insight US experts fear Russia sanctions blowback Editorial Putin is leading Russia down an isolationist path […]

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Barroso: EU climate change mettle unrivaled

European ambition on climate initiatives unmatched, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said. UPI/Anatoli Zhdanov Members of the European Union agreed early Friday to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent, increase the renewable energy footprint by 27 percent and enhance energy efficiency by 27 percent from a 1990 benchmark by 2040. "No player in the world is as ambitious as the European Union when it comes to cutting greenhouse gas emissions," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement. European member states account for about 11 percent of the global emissions. The agreement reached early Friday builds on a package of 20 percent targets for the three measures by 2020. Some member states had balked on protection for certain sectors of the energy industry, arguing economic interests in a struggling eurozone should be considered. ”The EU climate action commissioner is very proud that the 28 EU […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple