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Alaska LNG gets export nod

Federal government clears way for liquified natural gas exports from Alaskan mega-project to countries without a U.S. free-trade agreement. File Photo by Heather Snow/Shutterstock WASHINGTON, May 29 (UPI) — Alaskan lawmakers cheered a federal decision that clears the way to send liquefied natural gas from state ports to non-free trade markets in Asia. The U.S. Energy Department gave conditional consent for the Alaska LNG Project to ship LNG sourced from domestic reserves to countries that don’t have a free-trade deal with the United States. "Receiving the conditional license to export LNG to non-free trade agreement countries is a major milestone for the Alaska LNG project and great news for Alaska," U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski , chair of the Senate Energy Committee, said in a statement. The Republican senator’s office said Alaska has more than 35 trillion cubic feet of gas on hand on the North Slope. The LNG project, […]

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Gov. Wolf forms Pennsylvania gas pipeline system taskforce

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) formed a Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force to help state agencies, natural gas producers, and communities closely work together as thousands of miles of pipelines are proposed to move gas and related products from wellheads to markets. The Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force (PITF) also will include representatives from the state legislature, federal and local governments, and environmental organizations, he said in announcing the group’s formation on May 27. “We need to work with the industry to make sure that the positive economic benefits of Pennsylvania’s rich natural resources can more quickly be realized in a responsible way,” Wolf said. “This taskforce is part of our commitment to seeing the natural gas industry succeed.” He named John Quigley, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s acting secretary, chairman of PITF. “Over the next decade, we could see the construction of as many as 25,000 miles of gathering […]

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EPA proposes renewable fuel quotas for 2014, 2015, and 2016

The US Environmental Protection Agency proposed renewable fuel quotas for 2014 that it said reflect the year’s actual biofuel use, and for 2015 and 2016 and, for biodiesel, quotas through 2017 that increase steadily over time. It proposed using authority granted by Congress to reduce quotas below federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) levels established under the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA). The proposal’s steadily increasing volumes indicate that biofuels remain an important part of the nation’s strategy to improve energy security and address climate change, it said. Under the notice of proposed rulemaking , which Administrator Gina McCarthy signed on May 29, EPA proposed adjustments to advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel targets for all 3 years. The proposed quotas for 2015 and 2016 “are expected to spur further progress in overcoming current constraints in renewable fuel distribution infrastructure, which in turn is expected to lead to […]

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Exxon CEO Mocks Renewable Energy

The CEO of one of the world’s largest oil companies downplayed the effects of climate change at his company’s annual meeting Wednesday, telling shareholders his firm hadn’t invested in renewable energy because “We choose not to lose money on purpose.” “Mankind has this enormous capacity to deal with adversity,” ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson told the meeting, pointing to technologies that can combat inclement weather “that may or may not be induced by climate change.” The comments, which met with applause, were first reported by The Associated Press. At the meeting, shareholders sided with the company’s board and voted against a measure proposed by Father Michael Crosby and Sister Pat Daly, representatives of a Milwaukee-based Roman Catholic organization, to add a climate change expert to the company’s board. In a letter to shareholders, Tillerson and his colleagues wrote that “to set aside one seat for an environmental specialist or for […]

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Russia calls on oil producers not to boost output – local media

MOSCOW Russia is calling on oil producers around the world to refrain from increasing output, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday, according to Russian news agencies, just days before he is due to meet officials from OPEC. The Russian economy has been hit hard by lower oil prices, which have almost halved from a peak in June last year of $115 per barrel. Oil and gas sales account for around half or Russia’s state budget revenues. "We call for all countries to keep their output unchanged," Novak was quoted as saying by TASS news agency. Several other local media outlets also reported his call to global oil producers. The Russian minister is due to hold talks with some officials from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) next month in Vienna, just before the group’s meeting on Jun.5. Russia is not a member of OPEC, and Novak […]

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Is The Oil Glut Real?

As it appears GDP will be seasonally adjusted again, I find myself wondering just one thing: why? Earlier GDP figures showed the US economy on the brink of recession for the first two quarters of this year. Now, with more fudging going on, who knows what it will show. The government appears to be following the Hollywood mantra: if you can bend perception enough, it will become reality. Look no further than the Federal Reserve, which continues to raise expectations of higher interest rates in the second half of this year, in hopes of inducing faster growth. Of course, the age of propaganda is now upon us; where perception trumps the truth, until that is, the house of cards burns and falls, which it always does. The US consumer responded to lower gas prices not by spending but by saving, despite predictions from investment banks and the Fed. They […]

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Oil gains 1 percent on U.S. inventory drop

LONDON Crude oil prices rose around 1 percent on Friday after U.S. inventories fell for a fourth straight week, although prices were set for a weekly drop on a stronger dollar. Oil saw steep falls earlier this week as a resurgent dollar weighed on the market amid concerns U.S. crude supplies may have started rising again after three weeks of draws. North Sea Brent crude has shed more than 3 percent this week, its second straight weekly loss, while U.S. crude is set to end a record weekly winning streak with a loss of more than 2 percent. July Brent LCOc1 was up 60 cents at $63.18 a barrel by 0820 GMT. U.S. crude CLc1, also known as West Texas Intermediate or WTI, was up 70 cents at $58.38. U.S. inventory data and wildfires in Canada, which knocked out 10 percent of its oil sands output, also supported prices. […]

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U.S. Oil Prices Pare Losses on Supply Drop

By Nicole Friedman NEW YORK–U.S. oil prices pared losses but stayed lower Thursday after weekly inventory data showed a drop in crude supplies but an unexpectedly large increase in production. Light, sweet oil for July delivery recently fell 16 cents, or 0.3%, to $57.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent, the global benchmark, traded up 40 cents, or 0.6%, at $62.46 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. U.S. commercial crude-oil supplies fell by 2.8 million barrels in the week ended May 22, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a drop of 1.1 million barrels. The EIA also reported that U.S. crude-oil production rose by 304,000 barrels a day last week to 9.57 million barrels a day, the highest level in weekly data going back to 1983. In monthly data, which don’t exactly line up with weekly data, […]

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The Tanker Market Is Sending a Big Warning to Oil Bulls

Four months into oil’s rebound from a six-year low, the tanker market is sending a clear signal that the rally is under threat. A sudden surge in demand for supertankers drove benchmark charter rates 57 percent higher in the two weeks through May 20. OPEC will have almost half a billion barrels of oil in transit to buyers at the start of June, the most this year, while analysts say about 20 million barrels is being stored on ships in another indication the glut has yet to dissipate. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is pumping the most oil in more than two years, determined to defend market share rather than prices. A record cut to the number of active U.S. drilling rigs and billions of dollars of spending reductions by companies since last year’s price plunge has yet to translate into a slump in barrels produced. The world […]

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Natural Gas Futures Slide as Supplies Jump

By Christian Berthelsen Natural gas futures suffered their largest one-day drop in more than two months on Thursday as U.S. inventory data showed supplies rose more than expected last week. The natural gas market had been chugging higher earlier in May as above-normal spring temperatures fueled expectations of higher demand for gas-fired generation to power air conditioning. But Thursday’s data showed that even elevated demand wasn’t enough to overcome surging gas production from U.S. shale formations. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said national gas stockpiles rose 112 billion cubic feet in the week ended May 22, compared with the 99 bcf rise projected in a consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. The increase brought total stored supplies to 2.1 trillion cubic feet, less than 1% below average for this time of year, as the market has almost fully recovered from the severe drawdown to power […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple