A prominent feature of the oil market these days is instability. Because global spare capacity to produce crude oil is perilously low in relation to consumption, worry about the potential for disruption to supply has risen, boosting instability’s influence over the price of crude.
Just days from the Environmental Protection Agency’s June 1 deadline for production of ultralow-sulfur diesel (ULSD) for highway vehicles, refiners and pipeline companies appear prepared for the changeover-but other downstream participants may not be ready.
The conflict between specialized motor fuel blends’ air-quality benefits under normal supply conditions and the logistical problems they create when supplies are restricted came quickly into the open as the House Energy and Commerce Committee began hearings May 10 on gasoline prices, supplies, and formulations.
US motor fuel suppliers apparently are meeting challenges raised by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT) and new pollution-reduction requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency, several witnesses told a congressional committee on May 11.
US House Democrats intend to bring back their proposal to create a strategic refining reserve as an alternative to a Republican bill aimed at simplifying refinery construction permit application processes.
Falling US oil and gas production could be turned around if a controversial section of a recently passed bill is implemented, members of a technology panel said May 3 at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.
Fig leaves are all the rage these days, especially in Latin America. But the one being tried on by Ecuador over its seizure of Occidental Petroleum Corp.
Representatives of several segments of the energy industry approached alternative energy from various perspectives during an Offshore Technology Conference panel discussion May 4.
A severe slump in the global E&P industry in 1998-99 saw oil prices bottoming at $10/bbl, the lowest in 27 years, US drilling levels hitting their lowest point in 66 years, and global spending on E&P dropping 30% to $110 billion.
Repair of a casing leak on a well in the Magid field in eastern Libya required engineers to examine multiple scenarios for what may have caused the failure.
All decisions to make significant changes to the effective threshold for an existing pipeline leak-detection system (PLDS) should consider the larger context.
Bolivian President Evo Morales said oil companies, including Brazil’s state-owned Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) and Spain’s Repsol YPF SA, won’t be compensated after nationalization of their oil and gas reserves.
When the prices of oil and natural gas rise substantially, as they have recently, the attention of consumers and fuel producers naturally turns to alternative fuels.
Two reports of reduced demand undercut energy prices on May 12, dropping the June crude contract within pennies of $72/bbl after two consecutive sessions of gains on the New York market and reducing June natural gas to $6.
