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EPA Set to Regulate Oil and Gas Methane Emissions

ENLARGE In this June 12, 2014 file photo, oil pumps and natural gas burn off in Watford City, N.D. Associated Press WASHINGTON—The Obama administration unveiled plans Wednesday to regulate methane emissions from the nation’s oil and natural-gas industry for the first time, a move aimed at meeting climate-change goals while not hampering the nation’s energy boom. The Environmental Protection Agency plans to propose federal regulations to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40% to 45% over the next decade from 2012 levels, White House and agency officials said Wednesday. The rules, scheduled to be proposed this summer and completed by 2016, would apply only to new or modified sites. For existing oil and gas operations, the EPA is set to rely mostly on voluntary measures to cut methane, a move backed by the industry. To reduce emissions, companies would have to install technology that prevents […]

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Fed: Oil Price Drops Bring Pain To Texas, North Dakota

URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/136762/Fed_Oil_Price_Drops_Bring_Pain_To_Texas_North_Dakota WASHINGTON, Jan 14 (Reuters) – A plunge in energy prices is hitting America’s oil and gas producers, leading some firms to lay off workers while others struggle to get loans, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. A wide range of policymakers, investors and economists think cheaper oil overall will benefit the U.S. economy, principally by letting households spend more money on other things. The Fed’s monthly Beige Book report on business activity had some evidence of this economic boost, with firms telling the Fed that lower gasoline prices helped holiday sales in the Chicago district and led people to buy bigger cars in the Atlanta district. But the Fed also gave a litany of examples of the pain that has come with the more than 50 percent drop in oil prices since mid-June. Compared to a month earlier, oil and gas exploration decreased in North Dakota, the […]

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Oil, Gas Managers Scale Back Hiring Plans in 2015

URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/136761/Oil_Gas_Managers_Scale_Back_Hiring_Plans_in_2015 A recent Rigzone survey paints a picture of ambiguity for oil and gas professionals in the year ahead, a steep change from survey results just six months prior. Amidst declining oil prices and uncertainty with the current economic environment, four in ten (44%) U.S. hiring managers in oil and gas anticipate less hiring in the first half of the year compared to the second half of 2014, according to Rigzone’s semi-annual hiring survey. Nearly a quarter (22%) expect more hiring and only five percent intend to not hire at all in the next six months. The survey results paint a picture of ambiguity for oil and gas professionals in the year ahead, a steep change from survey results just six months prior when half of hiring managers planned to hire more. In fact, 48 percent of hiring managers said they’ve experienced a loss of budgeted positions due […]

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Drillers Say Obama Plan to Plug Methane Leaks Imperils Oil Boom

The Obama administration said it will issue rules to cut leaks of climate-warming methane, a step the oil and gas industry warned could choke the U.S. energy renaissance fueled by hydraulic fracturing. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday it will propose rules later this year targeting new oil-and-gas equipment, aiming to cut emissions 40 percent to 45 percent by 2025. It also will expand voluntary programs with states and industry on equipment already in use, a move that falls short of the new mandates environmentalists sought. “We are outlining a comprehensive set of steps that will have a positive effect on the climate, on the economy and on public health,” Dan Utech, the top White House adviser on climate and energy, said on a conference call with reporters. By 2025, the efforts will reduce gas leaks enough to heat 2 million homes a year, he said. The announcement […]

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Russian bank tests economy at lowered oil price

Economy continues to falter in low oil price environment under Russian President Vladimir Putin. (UPI /Omar Rashidi) MOSCOW, Jan. 15 (UPI) — Oil priced at $40 per barrel is the benchmark against which the Russian economy is weighed in a new forecast, a Russian central bank official said. The Bank of Russia revised its worst-case scenario from oil priced below the $60 per barrel mark. A revised stress test puts oil at a further discount. "The $40-per-barrel [scenario] is among likely scenarios that we are looking at," First Deputy Chair Xenia Yuadaeva said Wednesday. Russia’s economy is strained by dual pressures from Western sanctions imposed after the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the low price of oil, down more than $50 per barrel from June 2014. The Russian currency continues to trade at historic lows, valued at 64 per U.S. dollar in current trading. The Russian bank in […]

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BP cuts 200 staff, 100 contractors as oil prices fall

LONDON (AP) — BP has announced it will cut an estimated 200 staff jobs and another 100 contracting jobs in light of falling oil prices. The company said Thursday the cuts will be made in onshore roles, not in offshore operational positions. Regional president Trevor Garlick said BP remains committed to its North Sea operations but needs to take "specific steps" given the challenging economic environment. He cited toughening market conditions as a reason for the cuts. Union officials fear other oil-related jobs will be cut by other firms soon as prices continue to soften. The price for the benchmark U.S. crude oil is down about 41 percent in the past three months amid oversupply.

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Tullow Oil Cuts Exploration Budget

ENLARGE Oil exploration companies, such as Tullow Oil, don’t have other parts of their business to fall back on when oil prices fall. Bloomberg News LONDON— Tullow Oil PLC Thursday said it was making its largest ever write off of $2.7 billion before tax, mostly resulting from unsuccessful exploration programs and the drop in value of licenses, discoveries and assets resulting from the plunge in oil prices . The write offs include a decrease in value of $600 million across all of Tullow’s assets, including producing oil fields, oil in the ground and equipment. They also include $1.2 billion related to discoveries in previous years that now have no prospect of commercialization amid the weaker oil prices and unsuccessful exploration drilling. The price of oil has more than halved in the past six months, hitting the exploration and production sector hard. Unlike the major oil companies BP PLC and […]

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BP poised for job cuts in North Sea arm

Anchor handling of Semi submergible in North Sea BP has told staff in Aberdeen it is cutting 300 jobs in its North Sea business, under a wide-ranging cost-cutting plan announced in December. The UK-based oil major has outlined plans to cut the roles from its 3,500-strong North Sea business, based in Scotland, over the course of 2015. More On this story On this topic IN Oil & Gas The cuts include 200 onshore staff directly employed by BP and 100 contractors. Trevor Garlick, regional president for BP North Sea, said: “We are committed to the North Sea and see a long term future for our business here. However, given the well-documented challenges of operating in this maturing region and in toughening market conditions, we are taking specific steps to ensure our business remains competitive and robust, and we are aligning with the wider industry.” “Whilst our primary focus will […]

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The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Plunging Oil Prices

Crude oil prices plunged to a six-year low Tuesday in a potentially painful threat to oil-exporting nations that rely on crude to power their economies. The drop brings some welcome relief to countries that have been struggling with economic headwinds, but brings a mixed bag for others, like the United States, that are both big producers and consumers of oil. Oil prices are still looking for a floor, in part because the persistent mismatch between global supply and demand continues even as big oil producers inside OPEC keep spooking the market by refusing to countenance any voluntary production cut. The energy minister for the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, Jan. 13, dismissed the idea that OPEC would cut production to boost prices and said it was up to other oil suppliers, such as the United States, to blink first. “Those who are producing the most expensive oil — the […]

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Abolish the Gas Tax

Gas prices in Corpus Christi, Texas AP Photo/Corpus Christi Caller-Times Tumbling energy prices are the first lucky break for U.S. consumers in years, but Washington is feeling left out. So the gougers of both parties are joining to steal some of the proceeds with the first gasoline tax hike in more than two decades. The federal gas tax is now 18.4 cents a gallon and the logic seems to be that motorists won’t notice an extra dime or more since gas prices are down 40% on average from the 2014 peak. Congress can then “invest” the windfall in roads, bridges and other projects. A convenient pretext for a tax increase arrives in May with the expiration of a temporary highway funding bill, and many otherwise intelligent Republicans are open to the idea, perhaps as a tax swap. *** Now here is a formula for popularity that only a lobbyist […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple