Table of ContentsRegular FeaturesOGJ NewsletterLettersWarming blame off baseI get so tired of reading such one-sided, biased letters as Jeff Temple’s on the question of global warming and his conclusion that it is the oil industry that is primarily responsible (OGJ, July 7, 2008, p.12).
Journally SpeakingA hard kick in the faceHurricane Ike, 600 miles in diameter, devastated Haiti and Cuba then came roaring into the Texas Gulf Coast in the wee hours of Saturday, Sept. 13, and gave the Galveston-Houston areas a sodden hard kick in the face.
EditorialThe energy factorA credit implosion threatening US prosperity magnifies the costs of errors in energy policy, of which the federal government has committed far too many in recent years.
Equip/Software/LitServices/SuppliersEditor's PerspectiveFederal rules don’t align with private sector’s courtesiesThe inspector general’s report that’s knocking over desks at the US Minerals Management Service recalls for this writer an encounter years ago with a petroleum engineer employed by the Department of Energy.
Market JournalRecord spike in crude priceOn its last day of trade Sept. 22, the October contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes shot up $16.37 to $120.92/bbl in the largest 1-day price jump ever on the New York Mercantile Exchange, prompting an investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
General InterestComment: Have oil futures traders driven up the market?The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in mid-July reclassified a futures trader as “large noncommercial” (speculator-investor) from its former designation as “large commercial.
US House passes bill to stop oil commodities speculationBy a vote of 273 to 124, the US House of Representatives approved a bill Sept. 18 designed to stop excessive oil commodities speculation.
Watching Government: OCS lease bans lapsePerhaps it was because of the proposed multibillion-dollar Wall Street bailout that the expiration of US Outer Continental Shelf leasing moratoriums on Sept. 30 went largely unnoticed (see p. 39).
Petrobras, IOCs share subsalt, presalt exploration viewsAll eyes were on Brazil’s “presalt” play at the Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference Sept. 15-19 in Barra de Tijuca, an eastern suburb of Rio de Janeiro.
NPC: 2007 ‘Hard Truths’ findings, advisements still applyRecommendations and findings in a groundbreaking 2007 report still apply more than a year after they were issued, members of the National Petroleum Council said at their 2008 annual meeting on Sept. 17.
Senators plan bill with MMS employee ethics reformsTwo US Senate Democrats plan to introduce legislation detailing appropriate conduct for government employees dealing with oil and gas producers in response to misconduct in the US Minerals Management Service’s royalty-in-kind operation (OGJ Online, Sept. 12, 2008).
SPE: Industry cites unconventional resources potentialThe estimated vast unconventional resources hold much promise for substantially adding to the world’s energy needs, but developing these resources entails overcoming many restraints, attendees were told Sept. 22 during the opening session of the Society of Petroleum Engineers Annual Conference & Exhibition in Denver.
Bodman: Russia using energy as foreign policy ‘tool’US Sec. of Energy Samuel Bodman, concerned about Russia’s use of energy as a tool of foreign policy, said he would take up the issue with officials at a meeting next week in Vienna.
ROV operators to earn $9 billion over next 5 yearsOil and gas industry expenditure on work-class remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) operations is likely to total $1.6 billion in 2008, and the market is set to reach $2.4 billion by 2012, reports energy analysts Douglas-Westwood in a new market study, The World ROV Report 2008-12.
FERC approves Oregon Columbia River LNG projectThe US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Sept. 18 approved the first new LNG terminal and related send-out pipeline in the Pacific Northwest after a 31?2-year review.
Watching The World: Now Russians enter SomaliaThe oil industry may think it can breathe a sigh of relief now that authorities in Somalia have called for help in getting rid of pirates infesting its waters. But think before you breathe.
UGI: Unconventional gas wealth seen in world’s basinsSedimentary basins in the US appear to contain a volume of technically recoverable unconventional gas that is 10 times the ultimately recoverable volume of conventional gas.
Democrats remove OCS leasing bans from continuing resolutionFaced with the prospect of a presidential veto of a continuing resolution, congressional Democrats deleted language dealing with US Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing restrictions on Sept. 23.
Japanese firms boost Vietnamese oil industryJapanese firms are stepping up their involvement in Vietnam’s oil industry, entering both upstream exploration and production and downstream refining and marketing.
Exploration & DevelopmentGiant oil prospects lie in distal portion of offshore East Mediterranean basinThe onshore and offshore portions of the Eastern Mediterranean basin (Fig. 1) have proven to be a prolific hydrocarbon producing area. As of December 2006, oil reserves are 15 billion bbl and gas reserves are 100 tcf.
Drilling & ProductionOperators increase stakes in MarcellusOperators have rushed to add acreage, expand leaseholds, and submit applications to drill the Marcellus shale.
Magnus runs drilling program in South TexasMagnus Oil & Gas Corp. is halfway through a 50-well drilling program that is delineating the new Powder River Consolidated field in Goliad County, Tex.
SWP advances CO2 sequestration, ECBM, EOR demosSouthwest Regional Partnership (SWP) of the US Department of Energy (DOE) continues its Phase 2 and 3 carbon dioxide projects for validating the feasibility of sequestering CO2 in saline aquifers, coalbeds, and oil fields.
Carbon-fiber material bonded on pipe centralizes tubular stringsA composite carbon-fiber material bonded directly on the pipe surface provides an alternative for obtaining standoff for completion and drilling tools, production riser systems, pipe-in-pipe flowlines, and road and river crossings.
ProcessingSpecial Report: Saudi Aramco outlines FCC catalyst evaluation methodThis article presents how Saudi Aramco evaluates the performance of selected fluid catalytic cracking catalysts and compares this performance with vendor projections in terms of gasoline yield, research octane number, and gasoline sulfur content.
Nelson-Farrar Quarterly: Equipment costs rise moderatelyCosts for the five equipment items that make up the Nelson-Farrar miscellaneous equipment cost index were mixed during the 2006-07 period.
TransportationDefect Assessment—1: Modified equation aids integrity managementA modified Ln-Sec equation should replace the original Ln-Sec equation for all grades of pipe through X80 with full-size Charpy energies of 15 ft-lb and higher.
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