International news for oil and gas professionals
Before entering political fights over energy, representatives of the oil and gas industry should check their engineering weapons at the door. This should be a rule.
Much about the future of energy policy everywhere relates to balancing the promise of unconventional oil and gas resources against environmental problems associated with their development and use.
US President Barack Obama issued an executive order establishing an interagency working group to coordinate federal policies to support safe and responsible US unconventional natural gas resource development.
US President Barack Obama called for more aggressive measures to prevent oil-market manipulation, pledging stronger action by his administration and calling on Congress to fund enforcement and increase penalties for violators.
The US Environmental Protection Agency outlined a phased approach as it issued long-awaited final rules Apr. 17 to reduce air pollution from oil and natural gas operations, including federal air standards for wells that involve hydraulic fracturing.
The successful recovery of oil and natural gas from previously inaccessible tight shales with hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling does not mean further research and development is unnecessary, experts told a US House Committee on Apr. 17.
Occasionally, it's good to remember that decades of research and development normally precede technological breakthroughs.
Canada's federal government has offered details of its plan to streamline regulation of natural resource development, a move welcomed by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers when announced with the proposed budget last month (OGJ Online, Mar. 30, 2012).
Hydraulic fracturing in the UK has received guarded approval in a government review of a study about seismic events last year around a Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. shale-gas well near Poulton-le-Fylde (OGJ Online, Nov. 3, 2011).
Total Ltd. UK said workers cleaned waxy deposits off the Elgin platform wellhead in anticipation of a kill operation to stop a gas leak on well G4.
Argentina's government decision to take control of energy company YPF SA, controlled by Repsol YPF SA, prompted Repsol on Apr. 17 to issue a statement from Madrid saying it will take all legal measures to preserve the value of its assets and interests of its shareholders.
Preliminary data for this year's first quarter indicate that increased oil supply and sluggish demand imply a global build in oil inventories exceeding 1 million b/d, according to the International Energy Agency in its latest monthly Oil Market Report.
Iran raised the stakes of an important meeting about its nuclear plans by insulting Arabs and picking a new fight over islands in the Strait of Hormuz.
