International news for oil and gas professionals
For editors at Oil & Gas Journal deadlines are many and frequent simply due to OGJ's weekly publishing schedule in addition to its daily online news coverage.
The US Environmental Protection Agency faces challenges to facts it has offered to support a crackdown on air pollution from oil and gas wells.
So far, oil and gas companies have been strangely absent from Democratic Party explanations for why the congressional super committee failed.
The "Arab Spring" that ousted four authoritarian leaders—including Ali Abdullah Saleh who in late November gave up the presidency of Yemen after 33 years in power—might evolve into a grimmer period with the possibility of a nuclear winter headed into 2012.
Oil and Gas Journal's annual look at reported worldwide oil reserves shows an increase to 1.52 trillion bbl from 1.47 trillion in last year's survey (OGJ, Dec. 6, 2010, p. 46).
World crude oil distillation capacity has contracted slightly in 2011 after growing slowly in 2010 (OGJ, Dec. 6, 2010, p. 50), according to the latest OGJ Refinery Survey.
Billions of dollars worth of infrastructure projects are being built or are planned in North Dakota's Bakken formation to transport oil and associated gas to market.
International sanctions and an unfavorable investment climate continue to limit Iran's development of its considerable oil and gas resources, the US Energy Information Administration said in a country analysis on Nov. 21.
US Congress should promptly restore federal funding for the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) and the State Review of Oil & Natural Gas Environmental Regulations (Stronger), the US Energy Secretary Advisory Board's Shale Gas Subcommittee urged on Nov. 21.
The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) completed its review of 1,413 deepwater oil and gas lease extension requests in the Gulf of Mexico and extended 1,381, or 97.7%, of them for 1 year. Leases had to be in water deeper than 500 ft, with no production as of May 15 and expiration scheduled on or before Dec. 31, 2015.
The UK government said it will consider "carefully" a report commissioned by explorer Cuadrilla Resources that acknowledges recent earthquakes in the country were caused by hydraulic fracturing.
The Petroleum Services Association of Canada forecasts a total of 15,100 wells to be drilled across Canada in 2012, an increase of 10% over the expected final tally of 13,700 for 2011.
Biofuels, touted as one of the great competitors to the oil and gas industry, are coming under international criticism for adversely affecting world food supplies.
Analysis of drilling and test data from 14 wells drilled since the 1950s has indicated the presence of a world class shale gas play in the Basque Country of northern Spain.
Results from more than 1,700 water wells sampled and tested prior to proposed gas drilling in Susquehanna County, Pa., show methane to be ubiquitous in shallow groundwater, with a clear correlation of methane concentrations with surface topography.
The contribution of the Haynesville shale to Louisiana's gas production has been phenomenal: After 3 years, almost 60% of the state's gas output is now sourced from the Haynesville.
A review of lawsuits involving fracturing and general themes and theories of current cases can reveal trends that are emerging from this body of litigation, and one can make some predictions about what is on the horizon.
A project on a West Texas lease shows the effectiveness of seismic stimulation to arrest oil production rate decline of a nonwater-drive carbonate reservoir.
Although the first test of a shale-gas reservoir in India failed, plans for other tests continue.
Testing of an amine-regeneration technology at two natural gas processing plants owned and operated by Saudi Aramco revealed an improvement in amine performance and quality.
Saudi Aramco's Khurais central processing plant has improved propane recovery from its gas train following performance analysis that relied on Lean Six Sigma tools.
Installing a recycle valve in parallel with the antisurge valve of a turbine-driven multistage (low pressure/high pressure) centrifugal compressor, in combination with control system modifications, increases the compressor's turndown ratio.
Research into the collapse and buckling of deepsea pipelines and the UOE method of line pipe production are moving the industry closer to being able to build and operate intercontinental natural gas lines.
