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CNPC raises gas output from Turkmen fields to meet Chinese winter demand

Singapore (Platts)–12Nov2013/419 am EST/919 GMT China National Petroleum Corp has ramped up production at its gas fields in Turkmenistan in anticipation of higher winter demand in China, the company said Tuesday. Gas from the Amu Darya project’s 31 wells is now flowing at rate of 19.8 million cubic meters/d or nearly 700,000 Mcf/d, while sales volumes have risen 11.7% year on year to 18.1 million cu m/d, CNPC said. Gas production comes from two blocks in the Bagtyiarlyk contract area on the right bank of the Amu Darya River. CNPC signed a production sharing agreement for the acreage in 2007 and production started in 2010. CNPC said it has primarily carried out capacity expansion at Block A, where the gas processing capacity is now 6.5 billion cu m/year, while sales gas send-out capacity has reached a new high of 18 million cu m/d. A second phase development will see […]

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China wary of sourcing too much gas from the US

China wary of sourcing too much gas from the US Concerns that a surge in US gas exports to China could undermine prospects for further expansion of Australian gas sales may be overblown, with the Chinese likely to be wary of sourcing gas from America. A paper by the National Bureau of Asian Research in the US highlights political concerns in Beijing about relying on the US, which will prompt China to look instead to Australia and Canada for additional supplies of gas in volume. Australia will overtake Qatar as the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, which is transported by ships to end markets, from 2017, thanks to burgeoning demand, mainly in north Asia. By that time, Australia will have the capacity to export an estimated 88 million tonnes of LNG annually, which could rise to 130 million tonnes since many projects being developed have ready expansion prospects. […]

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Natural gas could spell doom for nuke power

Page added on November 11, 2013 If today’s global fracking frenzy had kicked into high gear a decade ago, thousands of jobs at FirstEnergy Corp.’s Davis-Besse, Perry and Beaver Valley 1 and 2 nuclear plants in northern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania could have been imperiled by now. “That’s fair to say,” Jennifer Young, FirstEnergy spokeswoman, said. But while job security at those massive power-generation stations is never strong enough to put workers at ease — especially with economic pressures brought on by the natural gas boom jolting the nuclear industry — Ms. Young said the situation appears more stable for FirstEnergy’s holdings than it does for nuclear plants in other parts of the country. The era of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” of shale bedrock has caused a drop in natural gas prices, which has caused energy markets to react. Much of the hype is based on the anticipated fracking […]

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Lebanon’s gas boom-in-waiting goes into deep freeze

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 7 (UPI) — Lebanon’s energy boom-in-waiting seems to be more or less on permanent hold these days, with little prospect that the country’s perpetually feuding politicians can set aside their sectarian rivalries to get exploration under way. But the danger of spillover from the Syrian civil war next door and meddling by regional powers like Saudi Arabia and Iran could well put the whole economy-saving enterprise into deep freeze for a long time. The most immediate problem is that Lebanon, squeezed by a national debt of $60 billion and its economy crumbling by the day, has been without a government since March, when the Iranian-backed Hezbollah engineered the collapse of a so-called unity Cabinet. All efforts to cobble together a new one have foundered on the sectarian rivalries that have dogged the tiny Mediterranean state since France bestowed independence in 1943. At that time, Christians, headed […]

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Lebanon's gas boom-in-waiting goes into deep freeze

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 7 (UPI) — Lebanon’s energy boom-in-waiting seems to be more or less on permanent hold these days, with little prospect that the country’s perpetually feuding politicians can set aside their sectarian rivalries to get exploration under way. But the danger of spillover from the Syrian civil war next door and meddling by regional powers like Saudi Arabia and Iran could well put the whole economy-saving enterprise into deep freeze for a long time. The most immediate problem is that Lebanon, squeezed by a national debt of $60 billion and its economy crumbling by the day, has been without a government since March, when the Iranian-backed Hezbollah engineered the collapse of a so-called unity Cabinet. All efforts to cobble together a new one have foundered on the sectarian rivalries that have dogged the tiny Mediterranean state since France bestowed independence in 1943. At that time, Christians, headed […]

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Shell to Drill First Wells in $10 Billion Ukrainian Project

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) , which signed a $10 billion shale gas deal with the Ukrainian government this year, expects to start drilling in the Yuzivska field next year. Shell will need to drill as many as 15 wells to complete the initial exploration appraisal of the 8,000 square-kilometer (3,100 square-mile) Yuzivska field in the eastern part of the country, Graham Tiley, the country manager of Shell Ukraine , said in an interview in Kiev On Nov. 6. Separately, the company has also completed drilling its first well in the Kharkiv region and is preparing to drill two more next year, he said. Ukraine, which depends on expensive Russian gas imports to cover more than 60 percent of its consumption, is pushing to develop its own reserves, both onshore and offshore, in the Black Sea . The government signed a production-sharing agreement with Chevron Corp. (CVX) yesterday for […]

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Canada boasts of gas potential in western provinces

CALGARY, Alberta, Nov. 7 (UPI) — The Montney field across Alberta and British Columbia holds more than 400 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the Canadian government said. The National Energy Board, along with provincial energy regulators, announced they completed the first-ever study of the marketable unconventional resources in the Montney area. The governments said the formation holds 449 trillion cubic feet of marketable natural gas and 1.1 billion barrels of marketable oil. “At current consumption rates the Montney gas resource would meet Canadian needs for 145 years,” NEB Chairman Gaetan Caron said in a statement Wednesday. “The report clearly shows that Canadian energy markets will be well supplied with natural gas far into the future.” The NEB said Montney’s marketable gas reserves add to a lucrative resource base already under development in Western Canada. Montney stretches from northeast British Columbia to northwest Alberta. The NEB said it’s been […]

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Eni Says Libyan Protests Could Block Gas Exports to Italy

By Liam Moloney ROME–Libyan natural gas exports to Italy may grind to a halt if protests at a key terminal continue, Paolo Scaroni, chief executive of Italian energy giant Eni SpA (ENI.MI), said Wednesday, indicating that civil unrest in the north African country could interrupt critical supplies to Europe ahead of winter. Protests at the Mellitah terminal are “pushing us to interrupt total [gas] exports to Italy,” said Mr. Scaroni in a radio interview. “This is worrying.” The Mellitah terminal, which is jointly run by Eni and the Libyan National Oil Company, is key to facilitating gas exports via the Greenstream pipeline from Libya to Italy. The pipeline can supply more than 10% of gas demand in Italy. However, Mr. Scaroni played down the risk to Italy’s gas supplies. “I see no problems of supply, there’s plenty from other parts of the world and with the present benevolent [warm] […]

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Natural gas gains squeeze family-run oil firms

AP Photo NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — The black-and-white photo on the wall of Jennifer Tracey-Carlo’s heating oil company shows her father and grandfather standing beside a small fleet of gleaming delivery trucks, offering a glimpse into a time when oil was king and honoring the two men who built the business. Tracey-Carlo, the third generation to run Tracey Energy Services in New Haven, says oil dealerships like hers once expanded with a growing population and followed the exodus to suburbia. “We have their grandchildren,” she said of customers whose families grew up with hers. “As people moved further, we’d move with them.” Now, the industry faces a relentless boom in cheaper natural gas, on top of a more than 50 percent drop in the number of homes heated by oil between 1973 and 2011. The threat to the industry dominated by family businesses is particularly keen in the […]

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Congress Seen Debating Oil Exports While Wary of Gas Cost

Congress probably will consider loosening restrictions on U.S. oil exports, though a push by industry to sell more crude overseas will be resisted by members concerned about the impact on gasoline prices, lawmakers said. Senator Lisa Murkowski , the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, believes the debate on oil exports will happen “sooner rather than later,” according to Robert Dillon, a spokesman for the Alaska lawmaker. “It’s something we are looking at,” Dillon said. The chairman of the committee, Senator Ron Wyden , an Oregon Democrat, agrees the debate is coming though he would need to see benefits to consumers before supporting such a move, said spokesman Keith Chu in an e-mail. The American Petroleum Institute is developing the “necessary legal analysis” and may “highlight potential violations” of global trade rules in support of natural gas and oil exports, according to an internal planning […]

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