“Dueling studies” is the phrase one former US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member used to describe anticipated cost/benefit reports on contentious power market designs. But, the image of consultants riffing with research reports like dueling bangos in American folk music applies to just about every US energy debate, and even more so in a presidential election year.
Posts Tagged ‘upstream’
Beyond basics, is there such a thing as informed energy debate? The API joins in
By Katharine Fraser | August 17, 2012 07:02 AM Comments (0)
Petrodollars: CNOOC’s Nexen deal another step in its oil diversification drive
By News Desk | August 6, 2012 11:19 AM Comments (0)
The acquisition of Canada’s Nexen by CNOOC, announced last month, makes sense on many fronts.
It gives CNOOC a stake in the North Sea, which means it’s effective now “long” the Brent market, where China has major exposure; and it also gives it a greater stake in what happens with WTI, since Nexen’s Canadian crude sold into the US will be tied to that benchmark.
Robert Perkins writes in this week’s Oilgram News column, Petrodollars, on the reasons why the deal is a logical one for CNOOC.
A century of oil production expected for the Williston Basin
By Meghan Gordon | July 31, 2012 03:46 PM Comments (0)
Here come more eye-popping figures out of the Williston Basin, that 143,000-square-mile swath of oil and gas potential that appears well on its way to upending US energy markets.
In a study commissioned by the North Dakota Pipeline Authority and North Dakota Industrial Commission, Platts unit Bentek Energy said oil production from the basin could more than quadruple from 2011 levels to 2.18 million b/d by 2025. North Dakota’s share alone could reach 2 million b/d, the study said.
The predicted surge in output — which would hit 1.777 million b/d by 2017 — relies on researchers’ assumption that companies would drill at a constant annual rate of 2,350 wells in North Dakota and 250 wells in Montana through 2021.
“By 2022, Bentek believes the best Williston acreage will be developed and that the number of new wells will decline by approximately 10% annually due to a reduction in well site inventory,” the study said.
At those production levels, the planned infrastructure expansions would be almost sufficient through 2020, but only if Enbridge builds its proposed Sandpiper Pipeline, which would carry 325,000 b/d from Beaver Lodge, North Dakota, to Superior, Wisconsin. If Enbridge does not build the line, the region would need more pipeline capacity in 2017.
The oil industry’s lure of the deep (waters)
By Starr Spencer | July 20, 2012 05:33 PM Comments (0)
If you thought 2008 was a heyday for deepwater drilling, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
At least that’s the message suggested by the first two drillers, Noble Corporation and Diamond Offshore, that reported second-quarter earnings this week. While earnings were healthy, it was the commentary by the drillers’ managers that made Wall Street sit up and take notice.
Both companies say they expect the global ultra-deepwater segment to carry the ball for them going forward. And that “forward” looks pretty darn good.
At the Wellhead: the long decline in Indonesian oil and gas output
By News Desk | July 16, 2012 09:55 AM Comments (0)
Indonesia at one time had so much oil that it was a significant exporter, and it was a member of OPEC. Now it’s trying to reverse a decline in both output and reserves. Mriganka Jaipuriyar discusses the problem in this week’s Oilgram News column, At the Wellhead.
In the energy debate, is there hope for a “rational middle?”
By Gary Gentile | July 3, 2012 02:02 PM Comments (0)
The Kid’s Page in the July 3 Washington Post features a story with an intriguing headline: “Where does electricity come from? Hint: Not from that switch on your wall.”
Documentary film maker Gregory Kallenberg, maker of the 2009 film “Haynesville,” found while promoting the movie that many adults were equally in the dark about vital energy issues. ”Running into people who didn’t understand where energy came from or how much we used of it was a common occurrence,” Kallenberg says in one of several new short films he is making under the title of “The Rational Middle.”
Regulation & The Environment: fixing the BOPs to avoid another Macondo
By News Desk | June 25, 2012 08:35 AM Comments (0)
The failure of the blowout preventers underneath the Deepwater Horizon platform is viewed as a major reason why the blowout itself turned into such a catastrophe. They were supposed to prevent such an occurence; they didn’t. In this week’s Oilgram News column, Gary Gentile discusses the new requirements that companies now face with regards to their BOPs as a result of the Macondo disaster.
Back to the future: “Dallas” and the oil biz returns to TV
By Steven McGinn | June 20, 2012 04:51 PM Comments (0)
The saying goes, what’s old is new again. Certainly fashion trends follow this notion, as bright-colored articles of clothing are everywhere again, like blinding lights from a disco floor.
Look no further than television: “Dallas” is back.
Upcoming Gulf of Mexico lease sale looks to be robust: BOEM, analysts
By Starr Spencer | June 18, 2012 05:38 PM Comments (0)
To hear industry and even sale sponsor US’ Bureau of Ocean Energy Management talk, the first Central Gulf of Mexico lease sale in nearly two years, scheduled for this week, appears even in advance to have a lot going for it.
Central Sale 216/222, the first auction in that busy and discovery-rich area of the Gulf since the April 2010 Macondo oil spill, should be “robust,” according to John Rodi, Gulf regional director for sale sponsor US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
At the Wellhead: Repsol’s flop in Cuba raises plenty of questions about country’s oil future
By News Desk | June 18, 2012 12:26 PM Comments (0)
Repsol has drilled what is known in the business as a “duster,” a dry hole. It was an extremely expensive duster, and it has brought into question whether Cuba will be the big oil producer that some have envisioned. In this week’s At the Wellhead column from Oilgram News, Leslie Moore Mira discusses the fallout from Repsol’s setback.