Regular Features
- OGJ Newsletter
  International news for oil and gas professionals
- Journally Speaking
  - Defining energy security
    Energy security means different things in different places. In countries highly dependent on imported oil and gas, for example, concern about energy security tends to focus on supply.
- Editorial
  - Obama spurns jobs
    Now the president must appease his labor constituency. In rejecting construction of an important pipeline, US President Barack Obama has foreclosed employment for thousands of workers and stalled if not killed a project hugely beneficial to energy security.
- EQUIPMENT | SOFTWARE | LITERATURE
General Interest
- Obama administration rejects Keystone XL permit application
  US President Barack Obama’s administration rejected the cross-border permit for the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline, saying that a deadline imposed by Congress does not give it time to properly determine if the proposed project is in the national interest in its current state.
- Ill-conceived rules could harm US refining, API officials warn
  US refiners have enough operating or planned capacity to meet domestic demand for the foreseeable future, but the situation could change if ill-conceived proposed regulations are adopted, American Petroleum Institute officials warned.
- Hovensa to close 500,000 b/d US Virgin Islands refinery
  Hovensa LLC is closing its 500,000 b/d refinery at St Croix, USVI, the joint venture of Hess Corp. and Petroleos de Venezuela SA reported.
- President’s Jobs Council calls for ‘all-in’ energy strategy
  The US should adopt an “all-in” energy strategy to meet its energy needs, according to President Barack Obama’s Jobs Council in a Jan. 17 report entitled, “Road Map to Renewal.”
- White House NOC issues National Ocean Policy draft
  The White House’s National Ocean Council issued a National Ocean Policy draft on Jan. 12 that describes actions the federal government might take to address the most pressing challenges facing oceans and US coasts, as well as the Great Lakes.
- Watching Government: Behind the pipeline safety bill
  Amid gridlock caused by hyperpartisanship, the 112th US Congress nevertheless passed some bills in 2011. Many came at the 11th hour when the federal government faced imminent financial default, shutdown, or similar calamities.
- EU poised to impose stricter sanctions on Iranian oil
  Denmark’s government expressed confidence that the European Union would impose harsher sanctions on the oil and banking sectors of Iran for its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons.
- Japan backs Iranian sanctions
  Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi told US Sec. of the Treasury Timothy Geithner that his country would take “concrete steps” to reduce its oil dependency on Iran.
- Watching the World: The world energy dilemma
  As much of the world heads towards increased confrontation with Iran, one of the questions that will naturally arise is whether the loss of Iran’s oil supplies can be made up elsewhere.
- Simmons & Co.: US 2011 gas imports off; Japan to pull global LNG
  Preliminary data for 2011 have prompted Simmons & Co., Houston, to forecast US natural gas imports for the year will drop by 7% over 2010, a decline driven by fewer Canadian import and LNG cargoes.
- Simmons & Co.: Reduced drilling could help gas market by yearend
  While the 2012 US natural gas market will continue to be oversupplied despite increased demand, future production levels will be largely a function of this year’s capital discipline, according to an outlook from analysts at investment bank Simmons & Co. International.
- Exploration/Development Briefs
- The Editor's Perspective
  - Antioil agenda lies behind fights over pipelines, fracing
    In battles over hydraulic fracturing and the Keystone XL pipeline, the oil and gas industry must never underestimate the resolve of its opponents.