International news for oil and gas professionals
Much media attention has been given to Iran's ongoing threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, and a blockade's potential consequences to global oil supply.
Around the agreement between Mexico and the US allowing drilling near the maritime border, a question quietly nags: Would the administration of Barack Obama have pursued the deal if Petroleos Mexicanos were not already drilling deepwater wells and arousing concern about its ability to prevent and contain a spill?
The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) approved Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc.'s Chukchi Sea oil spill response plan in one of four US Department of the Interior actions aimed at limited exploration in shallow Arctic waters during a limited period this summer.
The US and Mexico have signed an agreement allowing exploration and development of oil and gas resources along the two countries' maritime boundary in the Gulf of Mexico.
Crude oil costs and taxes are still bigger influences than refinery production and product exports in gasoline price increases, American Petroleum Institute Chief Economist John C. Felmy said. "Together, they account for over $3, or about 84%, of what people are paying at the pump today," he told reporters.
A study commissioned by the INGAA Foundation concluded that $229.1 billion in projected US midstream oil and gas investments and operations and maintenance outlays through 2035 would support an average of 125,339 jobs/year; generate nearly $57 billion in federal, state, and local taxes; and add $511.5 billion in total economic output.
A West Virginia University research associate professor has developed a technology to remotely monitor Marcellus shale natural gas wells with help from a research partnership supported by the US Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory.
Mitsubishi Corp. agreed to acquire a partnership with EnCana Corp. to develop Cutbank Ridge undeveloped lands in northeastern British Columbia.
Teak Midstream LLC is building more than 200 miles of natural gas gathering and residue delivery pipelines and an adjoining 200 MMcfd cryogenic gas processing plant in South Texas to transport and process Eagle Ford shale gas.
Zodiac Exploration Inc., Calgary, has completed a 10-stage stimulation in the Upper Kreyenhagen formation in its 1-10 horizontal well in Kings County, Calif., followed by a flowback period.
Horizon Oil Ltd., Sydney, said its board approved the final investment decision to develop a condensate recovery project at Stanley field in western Papua New Guinea subject to receiving debt financing on satisfactory terms.
Statoil and ExxonMobil have reported gas shows at a deepwater wildcat in the Mafia Deep subbasin offshore Tanzania which, if successful, will further cement the emerging vast gas prospectivity and liquefied natural gas prospects along the East African margin.
Improvements to the pipelines crossing the Arabian Peninsula would allow more of the oil produced in the Persian Gulf to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, according to a paper from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Trafigura Beheer BV was in hot water last week after buying a cargo of Nile Blend crude aboard the MT Ratna Shradha, which was poised to offload at Japan's Kiire terminal, owned by JX Nippon Oil & Energy.
Political conflict over hydraulic fracturing turns on a semantic point crucial but perhaps not evident to the oil and gas industry.
