International news for oil and gas professionals
One of the small but satisfying administrative tasks I've had as pipeline editor at Oil & Gas Journal is providing the US Department of Commerce with data for its annual 'Statistical Abstract of the United States.
An insidious fallacy of contemporary policy-making holds that regulation creates jobs. The argument: Regulation necessitates investment, and investment breeds jobs.
The US Department of the Interior proposed a 5-year Outer Continental Shelf program that concentrates on the central and western Gulf of Mexico after the 2010 Macondo well incident showed the oil and gas industry could not effectively handle a major incident and spill, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a US House committee on Nov. 16.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, Oiltanking Partners LP, and GT Logistics LLC (GTL) all announced new liquids terminal projects on the Texas Gulf Coast, with GTL explicitly citing possible crude oil exports in describing its facility.
Peak oil will be a demand rather than supply phenomenon, says a UK engineering, management, and automotive consultancy.
Retirement of coal-fired plants in near-term prospect due to toughening US environmental standards would increase the share of total electric power generation fueled by natural gas by 6 percentage points, according to Fitch Ratings.
Regulatory and supply uncertainties continue to plague Europe's natural gas industry, as made clear by presentations and discussion Nov. 15 at the opening of the annual European Autumn Gas Conference in Paris.
"Any time a decision is made to proceed with oil and gas development, there is an environmental group, funded by taxpayer money, that is trying to stop that development," Sgamma told OGJ on Nov. 18.
European production of unconventional gas, especially shale, may someday contribute a large portion of the region's overall natural gas supply, but that time is a long way off and will be slow in coming, according to several speakers at this week's European Autumn Gas Conference in Paris.
Turkey, alarmed by attacks on its diplomatic missions in Damascus and other cities in neighboring Syria, has cancelled plans for oil exploration in the Middle Eastern country.
The oil and gas industry has long been accustomed to criticism, but these days renewable energy is being pilloried around the globe—especially in the UK.
National obsessions blocking work vital to US energy supply apply just as logically to struggles against crime on the US-Mexico border. It's just a matter of spreading fear.
