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Resale Prices Tumble on Electric Cars

ENLARGE Pat Hoban, of Capitol City Nissan in Chamblee, Ga., expects a lot of late model Leaf electric cars to soon land in a weak market for used electric cars. Photo: Dustin Chambers for The Wall Street Journal Nissan Motor Co. ’s Leaf electric car has been a big seller for Atlanta car dealer Pat Hoban over the past three years, thanks to its low monthly lease price. But as those car leases are beginning to expire amid cheap gasoline, the vehicle is becoming a bit of a headache. Mr. Hoban expects between 100 and 150 of the leased vehicles to be returned to his Capitol City Nissan dealership on a monthly basis over the next two years as their leases expire. The problem: used Leafs aren’t attracting much demand. With gas prices down 33% from a year ago, and buyers cooling toward electric vehicles, some auto makers are […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Governor Dalrymple Commits to Infrastructure

SB 2103 to Fix Critical Infrastructure Governor Dalrymple of North Dakota signed legislation that grants massive emergency funding to counties and cities statewide in order to bolster the lagging infrastructure. On Monday, the ND Senate unanimously approved SB 2103 for roads and other critical infrastructure throughout the state with the bulk of the resources allocated to its oil producing counties. The $1.1 billion is in addition to a $2.3 billion infrastructure spending package that is already in place. The bulk of the money is targeted to fix roadways and bridges that have not been able to keep up with the increased traffic of heavy oil field equipment that the shale boom has brought to the Bakken area. Many of the region’s oil-producing counties still use hundreds of miles of gravel roads as main transportation routes often seeing as many as 1,000 vehicles a day, compared to fewer than 50 before […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. crude oil production holding steady

U.S. crude oil production holding steady during weak market era, though rig deployment declining. UPI/Gary C. Caskey WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (UPI) — U.S. crude oil production for the week ending Feb. 20 held steady amid rig count reductions and planned cuts in upstream spending, federal data show. The U.S. Energy Information Administration in a weekly status update said total oil production for the week ending Feb. 20 was 9.29 million barrels per day, relatively unchanged from the previous week but nearly 15 percent higher than the same week in 2014. Total production in the Lower 48 was 8.78 million bpd, unchanged from the previous week. Production from Alaska increased 1 percent from last week to 501,000 bpd. Total imports of 5.1 million bpd for the week was nearly 6 percent less year-on-year. Canada remains the top crude oil exporter to the U.S. market, sending around 3.1 million bpd across […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Whiting to cut Bakken rig deployments

Sign up for our daily Energy Newsletter Whting Petroleum plans rig reductions in North Dakota, but notes overall production should increase during the first quarter. Photo by David Gaylor/Shutterstock DENVER, Feb. 26 (UPI) — U.S. shale player Whiting Petroleum said it expects overall production to rise, though fewer wells are planned in areas like the Bakken play in North Dakota. Whiting said its fourth quarter total production average of 131,260 barrels of oil equivalent per day was 30 percent higher year-on-year and 13 percent above third quarter 2014 levels. First quarter production levels are expected to average 163,000 boe per day. Whiting, which has headquarters in Denver, acquired rival Kodiak Oil & Gas last year in an all-stock transaction valued at $6 billion. Whiting Chairman James Volker said the acquisition made his company the largest producer in the Bakken shale region in North Dakota, a basin at the heart […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Who’s to Blame for the Exploding Oil Trains?

Railroads and oil companies bicker over the cost of new rules The Feb. 16 explosion near Mount Carbon, W.Va. A week after a CSX train hauling crude oil derailed and exploded 30 miles southeast of Charleston, W.Va., on Feb. 16, its mangled, charred tank cars were still being hauled from the crash site. Of the 27 cars that derailed, 19 had been engulfed in flames. The wreckage burned for almost three days. “It’s amazing no one was killed,” says John Whitt, whose home is one of a handful clustered near the crash site, along the banks of the Kanawha River. Some were within 30 yards of the site. One home was destroyed. Exploding oil trains—this was only the latest in a series—have emerged as a dangerous side effect of the U.S. energy boom. A lack of pipelines connecting new fields in North Dakota and Texas to refineries and shipping terminals has led to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Alberta Energy Drillers Pivot to Natural Gas as Oil Plunges

(Bloomberg) — Alberta’s energy producers are pivoting toward developing gas reserves rather than oil after crude lost half its value last year. The number of gas development rigs in Canada’s biggest energy producing province almost doubled in December to 157, the most for that month since at least 2010, the Alberta Energy Regulator said in data posted on its website late Wednesday. The number of crude development rigs fell by 4.3 percent to 134. Alberta’s gas prices dropped 35 percent last year while oil fell 46 percent. U.S. crude prices have plunged below $50 from last year’s high above $107 after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries resisted calls to cut output amid a surge of U.S. crude production. While most conventional petroleum rigs in Alberta produce both gas and oil, the collapse of crude prices is prompting drillers to focus on wells with higher gas volumes, Mark Oberstoetter, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Lower gasoline prices dampen U.S. consumer inflation

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. consumer prices in January posted their biggest drop since 2008 as gasoline prices continued to tumble and underlying inflation rose modestly, which could allow a cautious Federal Reserve more room to hold off on raising interest rates. Other data on Thursday showed a rebound in business investment spending plans, but probably not enough to change expectations of moderate economic growth in the first quarter. "It will be some time before the Fed gets the necessary confirmation that inflation will move back to target in the medium-term, and we continue to see September as the most natural starting point for the lift-off in rates," said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York. The Labor Department said its Consumer Price Index fell 0.7 percent last month, the largest decline since December 2008, after slipping 0.3 percent in December. It was the third straight […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Wrench thrown in British shale gas gears

British shale pioneer Cuadrilla Resources denied permit for shale well operations, but says no fracking involved. Photo courtesy: Cuadrilla Resources LONDON, Feb. 26 (UPI) — British shale pioneer Cuadrilla Resources said it was "perplexed" by a regional council’s decision to deny a planning application for pioneer well developments. The company said it was denied a planning application to conduct seismic operations to get a better understanding of the resource potential at its Grange Hill site in Lancashire County, home to substantial potential reserves of shale natural gas. "We are perplexed and disappointed by the decision," the company said in a statement. There was no statement on the decision from Lancashire County itself on the permit application. Cuadrilla said the well operations did not involve any actual drilling or hydraulic fracturing operations. It received federal permits to move forward in Lancashire from the British Environment Agency earlier this month. Donna […]

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Ukraine Says It Will Pull Back Heavy Weapons as Situation in East Stabilizes

Ukraine’s army said it would begin pulling back heavy weapons from the front lines of the conflict in its eastern region on Thursday. WSJ’s Greg White reports. Photo: Getty MOSCOW—In the clearest sign yet that a cease-fire is taking hold, Ukraine’s army said it would start pulling back heavy weapons from the front lines of its 10-month conflict with Russia-backed militants. Ukraine announced the move Thursday after reporting two days of reduced shelling and no deaths among servicemen. The start of the withdrawal marks the second stage of an agreement struck two weeks ago, aimed at ending the fighting that has cost more than 5,000 lives and created the worst tensions between Russia and the West since the Cold War. Officials in Kiev said shelling was still taking place and expressed concerned that separatists want to continue recent advances and seize more territory, such as the industrial port city […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Ukraine’s Naftogaz Withheld Payment After Russia Cut Gas Supplies

ENLARGE Naftogaz Chief Executive Officer Andriy Kobolyev said Ukraine had the funds available to make the payment to Russia’s Gazprom for March gas supplies, but wouldn’t say how much money had been set aside. Photo: Bloomberg News BRUSSELS—The chief executive officer of Naftogaz, Ukraine’s state-owned natural gas company, said Thursday he couldn’t authorize paying Russia for March gas supplies because of a sharp drop in the amount of gas delivered by OAO Gazprom since Feb. 22. Russia has threatened to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine for nonpayment but Andriy Kobolyev said in a telephone interview from Kiev that Gazprom had been delivering 42 million cubic meters of gas daily to Ukraine, instead of 112 mcm as had been contracted. This was in breach of the gas-supply agreement signed on Oct. 30 in Brussels and meant he couldn’t responsibly authorize a prepayment to Gazprom for March gas deliveries. “There […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple