Front-month crude contracts jumped June 30 to “fake” intraday highs of $73.38/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange—the highest this year—and $73.50/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange through unauthorized trades by an employee at a subsidiary of PVM Oil Associates Ltd., London. PVM subsequently announced a loss of almost $10 million.
Producers in Alberta’s oil sands region rightly worry about one of the worst ideas in the rich stew of energy-policy poison now at high boil in the US.
New controls on emissions of greenhouse gases will raise the costs of petroleum supplied from oil sands by amounts that depend on the extent of regulation and on progress in abatement technologies.
Energy and climate change are important topics. And because energy production and use are sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the two are linked.
The latest forecast by the International Energy Agency states that global oil demand will rise 0.6%/year during 2008-14, pushing demand to average 89 million b/d in 2014 from 85.8 million b/d last year.
Alaska Gov. Sarah H. Palin listed her efforts to begin constructing a massive natural gas pipeline as one of her main accomplishments when she announced her resignation on July 3.
Natural gas’s position as a cleaner form of energy and possible bridge to renewable and alternative sources isn’t insulating it from closer environmental scrutiny.
Some refineries and their contractors are receiving a high number of violations as a result of the National Emphasis Program (NEP), US Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials said June 29.
US Department of Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis plans a construction safety initiative in Texas to prevent workplace injuries and fatalities, she told a meeting of the American Society of Safety Engineers.
Nigeria’s militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), reiterating its long-standing demands that international oil companies leave the oil-producing Niger Delta, has threatened to attack the planned Trans-Saharan gas pipeline project.
If you believe Chinese oil and gas officials, ethnic clashes in the province of Xinjiang—where 150 people are reported to have been killed—have not affected any operations at oil fields or pipelines.
International oil companies (IOCs) have largely rejected terms offered by Iraq in the country’s first bidding process for more than 30 years, with one bid awarded for an oil field out of six offered and no awards given for two gas fields.
Showa Shell Sekiyu KK’s wholly owned subsidiary Showa Shell Solar KK and Saudi Aramco have agreed to explore “the possibility” of engaging in a small-scale electric power generation business using solar power.
Russia’s OAO Gazprom and South Korea’s Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas) have signed a memorandum of understanding to study the possibilities of supplying Russian natural gas to South Korea by extending the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok (SKV) gas pipeline.
BPC Ltd., Perth, and Norway’s StatoilHydro ASA formed a joint venture to explore for oil and gas off the Bahamas if the government approves license applications.
Consulting engineers arrived at a best estimate of 67.3 tcf of gas in place in the overpressured Carboniferous Frederick Brook shale in the Sussex and Elgin subbasins in southern New Brunswick, said Corridor Resources Inc., Halifax.
Australian Worldwide Exploration Ltd., Sydney, is looking at drilling three or four exploration play types in its summer exploration in New Zealand’s Taranaki basin.
Various forecasters have lowered their expectation for increases in bitumen production from Alberta oil sands, but most still see a sizable rise during the next decade, with bitumen production of at least 2 million b/d in 2018 compared with 1.3 million b/d in 2008.
Experience in 2008 with various marketed process simulators modeling Suncor’s Simonette gas plant showed that predicted results differed widely from actual operating conditions.
