Table of Contents

International news for oil and gas professionals

Newspaper articles and television reports make hydraulic fracturing appear to be a new technology that pollutes drinking water, causes flames to leap from kitchen faucets, and constitutes the next great threat to freedom and democracy.

Oil and natural gas executives along with various economists laud the resource and the economic potential of the Marcellus shale play, and a recent Pennsylvania State University study concluded Marcellus production could supply 25% of US natural gas needs by 2020.

Rising US natural gas production from shale formations has weakened Russia's hold on its European customers, and this trend will accelerate in coming decades, concluded researchers from Rice University's Baker Institute.

The US House approved a bill setting a Nov. 1 deadline for the Obama administration to decide on TransCanada Corp.'s application for a cross-border permit for its proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline project.

US state utility regulators called on more states and groups of states to develop financial and other policies encourage the capture of carbon dioxide from electric power plants for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) as the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) concluded its 2011 summer meeting in Los Angeles on July 20.

Yellowstone County Commissioner Bill Kennedy may not have been the most alert person at a US Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee hearing on July 20, since he had just flown some 2,000 miles to testify.

Aug. 3 will be an eventful day for Iran's oil and gas industry, with the country's parliament scheduled to debate on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's latest nominee for the position of oil minister.

BP PLC unit BP Trinidad & Tobago (BPTT) reported it was awarded two deepwater exploration and production blocks by the Trinidad and Tobago government.

The market for West Texas Intermediate crude has been flirting with $100/bbl since February and the futures market is at $109 for June and July deliveries.

A new American Society for Testing & Materials standard test method for measurement of the reflectance of vitrinite dispersed in sedimentary rocks has been developed by an international committee of technical experts from government agencies, academia, industry, and consultancies.

BP PLC is considering an investment of $15 billion over a 10-year period for full-field development of two low-permeability gas fields in Oman Block 61 in the Ghaba salt basin, said a senior executive of the firm.

The ultimate potential for marketable unconventional shale gas in the Horn River basin of Northeast British Columbia is 78 tcf, said a report by Canada's National Energy Board and the BC Ministry of Energy and Mines.

Several operators have amassed large land positions in Louisiana and are preparing to target oil in the Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine shale (TMS), stratigraphic equivalent of the South Texas Eagle Ford shale.

An economic analysis for the development of Ahdab field in Iraq under a technical service contract shows that the economic return to the contractor is modest in comparison with other types of contracts used in the oil industry.

A 3-year exploration drilling campaign run by a well management company for five operating companies saw continuous improvement in operations off Norway.

The 9.0 magnitude Great East Japan Earthquake followed by tsunamis on Mar. 11, 2011, in Tohoku affected not only Japan's energy industries, including damage to basic infrastructure of nuclear power plants, but also long-term policy.

Research at Iran's Khark crude terminal shows the water-injection proving test to be the best evaluation method for determining the accuracy of crude and condensate sampling systems and suggests its inclusion in site-acceptance testing