International news for oil and gas professionals
After two decades of declining oil production, the US is seeing progressive increases in production of both crude oil and lease condensate since 2008.
Congress and federal agencies will keep the US oil and gas industry busy over the next 4 years.
European gas industry leaders gathering in Vienna for the second day of the 27th annual European Autumn Gas Conference finally heard some encouraging views about natural gas in Europe.
Leaders of Europe's natural gas industry gathered Nov. 13 in Vienna at the 27th annual European Autumn Gas Conference to hear what most already know: Expensive, oil-indexed-priced natural gas in Europe is struggling to compete with plentiful coal and subsidized renewables.
BP PLC on Nov. 15 announced resolution of criminal and securities claims by the US government against the supermajor related to the April 2010 deepwater Macondo well blowout, which resulted in a massive spill off Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP PLC and the US Department of Justice reached a settlement regarding some criminal aspects of the Macondo deepwater well blowout but US prosecutors continue to pursue civil claims that BP committed "gross negligence" when nearly 5 million bbl of oil escaped from the well during 2010.
US President Barack Obama's decision on the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline project could be the first major policy test in the president's second term, American Petroleum Institute officials said.
The US oil and gas industry potentially could make a significant positive contribution to federal fiscal negotiations if the administration of reelected President Barack Obama adopts sensible policies, according to American Petroleum Institute Pres. Jack N. Gerard.
The US Environmental Protection Agency denied requests for waivers to the federal Renewable Fuels Standard after rejecting suggestions that not doing so would pose significant economic hardship to drought-stricken agricultural operations.
Most of the interest so far in the International Energy Agency's medium-term global energy outlook has been on its suggestion that the US could surpass Saudi Arabia as the world's leading crude oil producer by 2017.
A recent projection that the US will become the world's leading oil producer after 2020 has drawn a challenge from analysts at Deutsche Bank (OGJ Online, Nov. 13, 2012).
Steel manufacturer Nucor Corp. of Charlotte, NC, and Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. agreed to a joint natural gas drilling program for the Piceance basin in Colorado in efforts to ensure Nucor a long-term, reliable gas supply while helping Encana with development costs, the companies said.
The Papua New Guinea government cabinet has approved InterOil Corp.'s Gulf LNG project to be supplied by the Elk-Antelope onshore gas fields with conditions including the 50-50 split between the government and InterOil.
Nothing inspires US bipartisanship quite like coercion from abroad.
