By Samantha Santa Maria | April 5, 2013 01:40 PM Comments (4)
Consider the facts: Lower-48 gas production averaged at 72.1 Bcf/d in January, close to all-time highs, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Gas rigs, meanwhile, were at 14-year lows, averaging at 434 for the same month.
Simple answer to the question: Not if you’re trying to gauge supply, they’re not.
By Bridget Hunsucker | March 29, 2013 06:16 PM Comments (0)
Two trains carrying crude oil derailed in the US this month, making headlines that garnered more attention to a recent debate over the in-vogue shipping method’s environmental impact.
The popularity of crude by rail shipments has opponents of major proposed crude pipeline projects (like Transcanada’s Keystone XL) asking the question: is rail transport safe?
By Brian Scheid | March 15, 2013 03:00 PM Comments (2)
In the budget proposal he released this week, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan made a rather convincing case for why the federal government needs to stop funding renewable energy sources like wind and solar at the expense of fossil fuels, pointing to the Obama administration’s trend of bankrolling failed projects.
While you may have only heard about the fallout from Solyndra, the bankrupt solar startup that received a $535 million federal loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, highlighted two other “failed” solar projects the Obama administration continues to waste money on.
By News Desk | March 11, 2013 12:01 AM Comments (0)
No one could argue that major changes haven’t jolted the oil industry in the last several years, which have galvanized upstream companies and demanded major changes. Between the so-called “shale gale” of frenzied drilling for unconventional gas and later oil, the Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that raised safety standards for offshore drilling, and the severest economic recession since the 1930s, operators have been forced to adapt. They have pared down balance sheets, merged, partnered up in joint ventures and found ways to shave costs from projects through continually improving technology.
In this week’s Oilgram News column, “New Frontiers,” Starr Spencer, senior editor for oil, looks at where E&P companies have been and how they are transforming and re-positioning for the years ahead.
By Starr Spencer | November 28, 2012 06:21 AM Comments (0)
E&P companies continued to tout the efficiencies and cost-slashing prowess of “pad” drilling and other savings measures undertaken during third-quarter earnings conference calls, highlighting a trend that has been especially notable this year as companies have stepped up activity across a growing number of unconventional fields.
Operators seemed particularly proud of snipping down the number of days needed to drill wells. For example, in South Texas’ prolific Eagle Ford Shale field, Forest Oil aims to migrate to pad drilling, which allows multiple wells to be drilled from a single site rather than moving the rig after each well, company CEO Patrick McDonald said during his company’s call last month.
“We’ve installed a rig walking system that will allow us to skid the rig over in a much shorter time period and allow us to drill four well pad locations in approximately 60 days — a significant time savings over current single-well style drilling,” McDonald said.
By John Roberts | November 27, 2012 04:17 AM Comments (3)
Cyber assault is emerging as the principal concern for energy security. One oil major told me a few days ago: “We’re constantly under cyber attack.” But there is still a sense of denial hanging over the issue.
So while no less a figure than US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta can describe the al-Shamoon virus which assaulted Saudi Aramco and Qatar’s Rasgas in August as constituting probably the most destructive attack the business sector has yet sustained, Saudi Aramco itself has sought to downplay the impact. Read the rest of this entry »
By Gary Gentile | November 16, 2012 03:48 PM Comments (0)
While the $4.5 billion settlement announced between the US and BP is getting all the attention, a smaller number deserves notice.
Part of the fines and penalties BP will pay over five years for its negligence in the 2010 blowout and spill at its Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico will go to establish a program designed in part to make such tragedies less frequent.
By Edward Levy | November 9, 2012 03:13 PM Comments (0)
More than a hundred thousand workers in the heart of the UK’s oil and gas industry in Aberdeen could find themselves slowly cut off from London’s financial markets and government halls if the country doesn’t find a way to expand airport capacity around the capital soon.
Nicol Stephen, a Scottish Liberal Democrat peer in the House of Lords, told the house in a debate on Wednesday that busy airports around London, and fee structures that favor long-haul trips over flights within the UK, mean some airlines could cut services. Stephen cited a decision by UK domestic carrier Flybe to close its Aberdeen-to-Gatwick route in October as evidence.
By News Desk | September 10, 2012 10:43 AM Comments (0)
With Macondo fresh on their minds, and drilling activity rising in the Caribbean or GOM areas close to it, some hard questions are being asked about the region’s approach toward the potential for a spill. In this week’s Oilgram News column “At the Wellhead,” Leslie Moore-Mira discusses some of the issues facing the Caribbean’s littoral nations.
By Starr Spencer | September 8, 2012 11:39 AM Comments (0)
Here’s a brief capsule of the US oil market in recent months, as what used to be a fairly predictable industry has become a suspenseful rocket ride along a trajectory of activity that has soared to levels not seen in decades:
Volatile crude prices. Price differential blowouts between West Texas Intermediate and waterborne crudes. A horde of new oil production from shale plays and a frenzy of midstream projects to capture, process and transport it. And a refining sector that’s enjoying lucrative product exports and high margins from buying advantaged crude at low prices.
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