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Nigeria: Ruling Party Blamed for Fuel Shortages

Abuja — THE ongoing fuel scarcity across Nigeria is a result of the looting of the $12 billion domestic gas fund under President Goodluck Jonathan’s watch and the administration’s failure to the pay fuel subsidy, the main opposition has alleged. The All Progressives Congress (APC), in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the People’s Democratic Party and the Jonathan administration decided to divert attention from those problems by accusing the opposition of being responsible for the scarcity, "a most laughable and irresponsible statement by a sitting government that is always so eager to blame everyone but itself for the nation’s woes." The party said Coordinating Minister of Economy and Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had, in February, promised to pay all subsidies owed to the marketers then in the sum of N264 billion, along with the accrued interest. It added that the failure to meet this […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Fuel shortages hit Nigeria as currency woes hurt importers

ABUJA/LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) – Oil-rich Nigeria’s main cities are facing acute gasoline shortages as importers feel the pinch of a plummeting local currency, tighter credit lines and unpaid government subsidies, oil traders and local industry sources said. As queues of double-parked cars stretch outside filling stations in the capital Abuja, empty tanks elsewhere are forcing consumers onto the black market just weeks before presidential elections on March 28 in Africa’s biggest economy. "I have spent 12 hours here," taxi driver Bartholomew Odey Akpa told Reuters on Monday. "I work at the airport as a car hire … and there is no fuel for me to go." Nigeria exports around two million barrels per day of crude oil but is almost wholly reliant on imports for the 40 million litres per day of gasoline it consumes. The picture is an unwelcome one for President Goodluck Jonathan, who faces former […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China hopes novice environment chief will be breath of fresh air

BEIJING (Reuters) – One year after "declaring war" on pollution, China has appointed an inexperienced outsider as its new environment minister tasked with breathing life into a massive clean-up campaign that even optimists say will take decades to complete. Beijing has vowed to reverse the damage done to its skies, rivers and soil during China’s three-decade dash for growth, putting its under-resourced environment ministry under pressure to deliver results. Leading that drive will be Chen Jining, 51, an environmental scientist and president of China’s prestigious Tsinghua University, who was appointed the country’s Minister of Environmental Protection on Friday. As China’s annual parliament opens this week, Chen will need to show an increasingly angry public that the environment remains one of the top priorities, while reassuring thousands of regional delegates that there is still room for economic growth. Academic colleagues describe him as determined and well-organized, and said his expertise […]

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China Plans to Enact Its First Laws to Curb Soil Pollution

(Bloomberg) — China plans to enact its first legislation to curb soil pollution as policy makers ready new laws amid ballooning interest in environmentalism. The nation will also amend laws to curb air and water pollution, Fu Ying, National People’s Congress spokeswoman, said at a briefing on the National People’s Congress meetings that start tomorrow. China continues to tighten legislation to limit smog and tainted oil after the biggest changes to its environmental protection laws in 25 years became effective on Jan. 1. Government reports and recent official comments about pollution have showed the extent of damage to China’s environment. Though environmental protection laws are comprehensive, they aren’t enough, Fu said, calling soil pollution a problem that is taking on more importance. China needs to cut emissions of major pollutants by half to achieve the clear skies seen in Beijing after factories were closed and traffic limited ahead of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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If solar has gotten so cheap, why isn’t there more of it?

Why don’t more homes have this sign? Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture/Flickr. Some people who worry about peak oil like to point out that renewable energy won’t save us. That is, given the amount of fossil fuels that the world uses today, it would take an unrealistically large increase in the amount of renewables available now to make up the difference as oil, natural gas and coal start to deplete. So we might as well resign ourselves now to a future of shivering in the dark. Those same peak oil doomers share what they seem to think is news to the rest of us — namely, that solar panels require oil. Petroleum-based plastics and chemicals go into solar panel components. And of course energy, mostly fossil fuels, is required to make, ship and even install solar panels. This is somehow supposed to mean that solar power is bogus and […]

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US FERC approves pipeline to boost deliveries of gas to New England

Washington (Platts)–4Mar2015/431 am EST/931 GMT The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Tuesday approved a key natural gas pipeline aiming to boost deliveries into supply-strapped New England. Spectra Energy’s Algonquin Incremental Market project would expand Algonquin Gas Transmission’s pipeline system from an interconnection at Ramapo, New York, to supply up to 342,000 Dt/d of gas to local utilities in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The project is expected to be in service in November 2016. Proposed last year, the project would include 37.4 miles of gas pipeline and other facilities in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. In addition, Algonquin would modify six compressor stations to add a total of 81,620 horsepower in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, and the company would abandon four compressor units with a total of 10,800 horsepower at a compressor station in New York. In February, FERC staff issued its final environmental impact statement […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Shell Unveils Plan to Replace Union Labor Days Before Talks

(Bloomberg) — Two days before contract talks were scheduled to resume between Royal Dutch Shell Plc and the United Steelworkers’ oil union, the company announced plans to run its second-largest U.S. refinery without union labor. Shell will have trained and deployed enough “relief workers” by mid-summer to keep the 327,000-barrel-a-day Deer Park refinery in Texas fully staffed, The Hague, Netherlands-based company said late Monday on its website. Lee Medley, president of the USW local covering workers that went on strike at Deer Park Feb. 1, described Shell’s statement on Tuesday as a “scare tactic” designed to get USW members to return to work. The announcement comes amid national strike action that’s widened to 12 refineries accounting for almost 20 percent of the capacity in the U.S.. Shell is leading the negotiations with the 30,000-strong United Steelworkers on behalf of companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. Shell said […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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More Steelworkers Cross Picket Lines as Refinery Strike Drags on

(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc said more than 20 percent of about 800 union workers at its Deer Park refinery in Texas have crossed picket lines, undermining a strike that has entered its second month. Workers also have begun returning to their jobs at refineries owned by Motiva Enterprises LLC, a joint venture between Shell and Saudi Arabian Oil Co., said Kelly Op De Weegh, a Motiva spokeswoman. LyondellBasell Industries NV and Tesoro Corp., two other refinery owners affected by the strike, are seeing a growing number of employees coming back to work, according to spokespersons for the companies who wouldn’t provide a specific estimate. “We have had workers return at all three of our sites,” said Destin Singleton, a spokeswoman for Tesoro Corp. The Steelworkers said only a small fraction of the 6,600 workers joining the strike since Feb. 1 have been crossing the picket lines. The […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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US Rig Count by Location

Baker Hughes publishes a weekly oil and gas rig count by producing basin. I have created charts of all the most productive basins in order that we can see where oil and gas rigs are increasing or decreasing. Their historic rig count, by basin, goes back 4 years. It needs to be noted that Baker Hugs does not count rigs that are not actively drilling. Rigs that are “Moving In, Rigging Up” are not counted in the Baker Hughes count though they are counted by some others including the North Dakota Industrial Commission. All rig counts are of Friday, February 27, 2015. Rig Count Total US But first, total US weekly rig count. The oil rig count stands at 986, down 623 from a high of 1,609 in October. The gas rig count stands at 280, down 656 rigs from the high of 935 in October of 2011. However […]

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Oil production in federal Gulf of Mexico expected to continue increasing

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Note: Production data have not yet been reported for four of the eight fields (Cardamom Deep, Jack, St. Malo, and Tubular Bells). Because of the long timelines associated with Gulf of Mexico (GOM) projects, the recent downturn in oil prices is expected to have minimal direct impact on GOM crude oil production through 2016. EIA projects GOM production to reach 1.52 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2015 and 1.61 million bbl/d in 2016, or about 16% and 17% of total U.S. crude oil production in those two years, respectively. The forecasted production growth is driven both by new projects and the redevelopment and expansion of older producing fields. Five deepwater projects began in the last three months of 2014: Stone Energy-operated Cardamom Deep and Cardona projects, Chevron-operated Jack/St. Malo fields, Murphy Oil-operated Dalmatian, and Hess-operated Tubular Bells. Also occurring at the end of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple