Oil figured prominently in the important June 7 speech during which Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered a somber economic outlook while finessing a central question about fiscal policy. His comments left a wake sure to rock the oil and gas industry.
Neither consumers nor governments are unhappy about high oil prices—as long as they are not too high, said Fereidun Fesharaki, chairman of FACTS Global Energy group.
In preparing a presentation to the sales force of a large multinational company regarding the state of the global pipeline industry, the hosts requested that in addition to facts and figures describing the size and status of a number of large projects, some mention be made of the political obstacles each project faced.
The US House Oversight and Investigations Committee strongly criticized the US Department of the Interior's response to the Macondo deepwater well blowout and accident more than a year ago in a report issued before the committee's June 2 hearing on recovery efforts in the time since.
The US Environmental Protection Agency needs to consider that overly burdensome regulations reduce investments by US businesses and cost jobs, an American Petroleum Institute spokesman said June 1, adding the EPA has not gone far enough to ease such regulations.
Measured withdrawal from downstream operations by large integrated oil companies has slashed refinery acquisition values from high levels prevalent a few years ago.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries normally likes numbers to run the show, but this week numbers took a decided back seat to politics as the group failed to reach a consensus over any output increase.
With a semisubmersible rig en route in a few more weeks to drill one of the first deepwater exploratory wells in Cuban waters sometime this fall, questions are being raised there and in the US whether trade embargo restrictions will deny Cuba and companies working there access to US spill control technology if an accident similar to the Macondo blowout occurs off Cuba.
Canadian oil production will increase to 4.7 million b/d in 2025 from 2.8 million b/d in 2010, according to the latest forecast from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP).
The US House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a bill aimed at removing bureaucratic obstacles from US energy development by expediting the Environmental Protection Agency's permitting process.
Just a day after ordering a TransCanada Corp. subsidiary to make necessary repairs and address safety issues arising from leaks last month along the Keystone oil pipeline, the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration gave TransCanada Oil Pipeline Operations Inc. permission on June 4 to restart the system.
The Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors (CAODC) in its latest drilling forecast for western Canada expects a 24% increase in rig activity during the last three quarters of 2011 compared with its Oct. 22, 2010, forecast.
