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Oil-in-place estimates hiked at Horse Hill in UK’s Weald basin

Nutech Ltd. has upped estimates of total oil in place at the Horse Hill-1 (HH-1) well in the Weald basin of southern England to 158 million bbl/sq mile, excluding the previously reported Upper Portland Sandstone oil discovery . US analogues have estimated recovery factors of 3-15%, which may be produced using conventional technology. In a report to UK Oil & Gas Investments PLC (UKOG), which holds 20.36% interest in the 55-sq-miles Horse Hill licenses near Gatwick airport, Nutech says the oil lies within a 653-ft aggregate net pay section, primarily within three argillaceous limestones and interbedded mudstones of the Kimmeridge and the mudstones of the Oxford and Lias sections. About 72% of the oil in place—114 million bbl—lies within the Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge interbedded limestone and mudstone sequence. “Drilling the deepest well in the basin in 30 years, together with the ability to use concepts, techniques, and technology unavailable […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Horse Hill oil discovery sparks fracking fears

One of the largest oil discoveries in British history stirs fears of a major hydraulic fracturing campaign. Photo by David Gaylor/Shutterstock LONDON, April 10 (UPI) — With major oil deposits uncovered in England, an advocacy group said it was concerned about the pace of the fledgling shale industry in the country. U.K. Oil & Gas Investments announced there may be as much as 100 billion barrels of oil onshore in the Horse Hill license area of the Weald basin in southern England. "Appraisal drilling and well testing will be required to prove its commerciality, but this Weald hybrid play has the potential for significant daily oil production," UKOG Chief Executive Officer Stephen Sanderson said in a statement. The discovery comes as the country contemplates the future of North Sea production, where older fields are in a steady state of decline. Operating expenses in the North Sea are up 8 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Feed Yourself

Five percent of the world’s oil tanker capacity is waiting to load up near Basra Iraq, where production is way up. The United States has only one month of oil storage capacity left. After that, what comes in must go straight to market, likely for as little as $20 a barrel. Is peak oil dead?  And why isn’t the economy responding to cheaper oil? We’ll ask the guru, Richard Heinberg. He’s one of the people who popularized the oil squeeze, with his book "The Party’s Over". Heinberg has a new book out  Afterburn: Society Beyond Fossil Fuels . After that, during this Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, a couple of us hope to persuade you to grow some of your own food. Marjory Wildcraft, from  growyourowngroceries  joins us. There’s a lot of reasons we need to pay attention to the food supply.

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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The Reported Death of Peak Oil Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

Last year I posted a lot of data published in the EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2014  published in May of last year, and the next one is due out Tuesday April 14. We are looking forward to that. But the EIA’s International Energy Outlook 2014 , published last September, completely slipped by me. How did I miss that? But I looked at their predictions for world Crude plus Condensate production I found it very interesting. In the below, though the data was posted in September, I have assumed the 2014 data was complete. Though it may be a little off it is close enough for, as the saying goes, “government work”‘. The data is in million barrels per day with the last data point 2040. IEO World The EIA is expecting World C+C to reach just over 99 million barrels per day in 2040. That will be up 21.25 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil slips further below $57, still heads for weekly gain

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil edged further below $57 a barrel on Friday, pressured by evidence of ample supplies including the biggest jump in U.S. inventories since 2001 and Saudi Arabian output reaching a record high. The market was still heading for a weekly gain, having rallied on Thursday in response to strong German economic data that lifted the oil demand outlook and easing concern about a rapid rise in Iranian oil supplies. Brent crude LCOc1 had slipped 13 cents to $56.44 a barrel by 0552 ET, but remained on track for its third weekly gain in four. U.S. crude CLc1 was down 43 cents at $50.36. "Most of the fundamental factors are still pointing to lower prices," said Eugen Weinberg, analyst at Commerzbank. "At the moment, we have an oversupply of more than 1 million barrels per day." The price of Brent has halved from $115 a barrel in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Saudi demand optimism lifts oil prices

Riyadh expects steady increase in global demand for oil and supply-side concerns fade in second half of 2015. UPI/A.J. Sisco NEW YORK, April 9 (UPI) — Prospects for a brief slowdown in U.S. oil production and demand expectations from Saudi Arabia gave oil prices a major lift in Thursday trading. Ibrahim al-Muhanna, an adviser to the Saudi Petroleum Ministry, said before the Saudi Economic Association in Riyadh the bear market for crude oil was an unnatural and temporary market phenomenon given growth expectations in a recovering global economy. "I am of the view that the world’s current political, economic or petroleum problems are temporary and their effect on the whole world system is limited," he said in his address. "In most aspects, especially the economic ones including those of energy and oil, the world is on a progressive track where setbacks are temporary and short-lived." At a minimum, he […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil edges back from 6 percent fall, but outlook weak

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices rose more than a percent on Thursday, clawing back part of the 6 percent slump in the previous session that was triggered by a shock jump in U.S. crude inventories and record Saudi output, although analysts said sentiment remained bearish. A 10.95 million-barrel surge in U.S. crude stockpiles to 482.4 million last week, the biggest gain in 14 years, and Saudi oil production of 10.3 million barrels a day in March had battered crude futures on Wednesday. "Total U.S. crude stocks continued to fly far above 5-year highs, setting new records every week," Societe Generale analysts said in a note. Cushing, the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate contracts, is now filled to 85 percent of its total working capacity of 70.1 million barrels, the bank said. Brent crude LCOc1 was up 73 cents at $56.28 a barrel by 2.48 a.m. EDT, while U.S. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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NYMEX May gas settles at $2.528/MMBtu, down 9.1 cents

The NYMEX May natural gas futures contract fell 9.1 cents Thursday to settle at $2.528/MMBtu, a new 33-month prompt-month low, as the market reacted to a larger-than-expected build in natural gas storage stocks. The last time a prompt-month NYMEX gas futures contract settled at a lower price was June 20, 2012, when it settled at $2.517/MMBtu. US natural gas in storage rose 15 Bcf to 1.476 Tcf for the week ended April 3, the US Energy Information Administration said Thursday, above consensus expectations of a build between 9 Bcf and 13 Bcf. At this time in 2014, the EIA reported an 8-Bcf withdrawal and the five-year average change is a pull of 2 Bcf, according to EIA data. Phil Flynn, Price Futures Group senior analyst, called the storage report "the final straw of the shoulder season." "With warm [weather] in the Midwest and the shoulder season really in full […]

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Iran’s Khamenei says neither rejects, accepts nuclear deal, details key

ANKARA (Reuters) – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday demanded that all sanctions on Iran be lifted as soon as a final agreement with world powers on curbing Tehran’s nuclear program was concluded. In a live speech on Iranian state television, Khamenei said he neither backed nor rejected an interim accord reached between Iran and the powers last week. Its details would be decisive, he said, making his first comment on the framework deal. The publication of a U.S. fact sheet showing terms that were at variance with the Iranian view of the agreement showed "devilish" U.S. intentions, he said. "I neither support nor oppose it," he said. "Everything is in the details; it may be that the deceptive other side wants to restrict us in the details." "The White House put out a statement just a few hours after our negotiators finished their talks…this statement, which […]

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Iran will only sign nuclear deal if sanctions lifted ‘same day’: Rouhani

ANKARA (Reuters) – Iran will only sign a final nuclear accord with six world powers if all sanctions imposed over its disputed atomic work are lifted on the same day, President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised speech on Thursday. Iran and the powers reached a tentative agreement last week in the Swiss city of Lausanne aimed at restricting Tehran’s nuclear program in return for removing the economic penalties. All sides are working toward a June 30 deadline for a final deal on the nuclear work, which Western powers fear is aimed at developing an atomic bomb but Tehran says is purely peaceful. "We will not sign any deal unless all sanctions are lifted on the same day … We want a win-win deal for all parties involved in the nuclear talks," Rouhani said. Since the preliminary agreement was reached, Iran and the United States seem to have different […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple