International news for Oill and Gas professionals
Rising US gasoline prices once again are the topic of many current headlines. Gasoline pump prices already are 26¢/gal higher than a year ago and the peak summer driving season—which typically begins around Memorial Day—hasn't even started.
Defending the indefensible, US President Barack Obama stubbornly pounds a fat wedge between his policies and the realities of energy. The exertion makes him exude bad information.
Federal regulators contemplating proposals involving unconventional oil and gas production should pursue a meaningful partnership with states and the industry to prevent duplicative and confusing requirements, two Democrats from the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee suggested.
Governors from seven US coastal states urged US President Barack Obama to accelerate the pace and level of Gulf of Mexico and Alaska offshore exploration and production permitting; expand access to new offshore areas for traditional and renewable energy development; implement federal revenue-sharing for all states that host development off their shores; and expand assessments of offshore resources, particularly in areas currently not available for leasing.
The US Energy Information Administration released a special report in early March that provided more detail on production of fossil fuels from onshore and offshore federal leases as well as Indian lands in the 2003-11 fiscal period.
A major component to relieving upward pressure on gasoline prices in the US will come from increasing domestic oil production and not from raising taxes, American Petroleum Institute Pres. and Chief Executive Officer Jack Gerard told reporters Mar. 20 during a conference call from Washington, DC.
US oil demand fell by 2.3% in February to average 18.4 million b/d compared with February 2011, according to the latest monthly statistical report from the American Petroleum Institute.
New Source Performance Standards proposed by the US Environmental Protection Agency would slow drilling, resulting in less oil and natural gas production, lower royalties to the federal government, and lower tax payments to state governments, according to an American Petroleum Institute study.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich's proposed changes to his state's oil and natural gas severance tax to help finance a planned $1 billion state income tax cut by 2015 has prompted the Ohio Oil & Gas Association to issue a statement outlining industry's questions and concerns.
The UK government has offered oil and gas operators a measure of certainty about the ability to recover costs of decommissioning production platforms and related offshore facilities.
Williams Partners LP agreed to acquire Caiman Energy's wholly owned subsidiary Caiman Eastern Midstream LLC for $2.5 billion in a move that will provide Williams Partners with assets in the natural gas liquids-rich Marcellus shale.
China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and Shell China Exploration & Production Co. Ltd. signed a production-sharing contract for shale gas exploration, development, and production on the Fushun-Yongchuan block in China's Sichuan basin.
Brazilian federal prosecutors filed criminal indictments against Chevron Corp., drilling contractor Transocean Ltd., and a total of 17 executives from both companies citing "crimes against the environment" regarding a seep last year from Frade oil field offshore Brazil.
An appraisal well in the North Celtic Sea basin has turned in the first commercial oil flow rate offshore Ireland.
Current and expected floods of NGLs to the US Gulf Coast have prompted plans for yet more capacity at the nation's main NGL fractionation center in southeast Texas.
Justifiably steaming over US inaction on the Keystone XL pipeline, members of Canada's Conservative Party are counterattacking what they see as sovereignty incursions from the south.
