Table of ContentsRegular FeaturesLettersExcluding scienceYour Newsletter section contained an ironic statement by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.):
Journally SpeakingOil opportunity in OklahomaThe chance to recover billions of barrels of oil that remain in Oklahoma fields represents geological, engineering, and statistical challenges to oilmen willing to take risks.
Editor's PerspectiveStudies challenge job creation via overhaul of energyA centerpiece of the Obama administration’s proposal to overhaul US energy markets—the promise of an employment surge from “green jobs”—has come under attack.
Market JournalOil prices climbed in March, AprilAfter trading at lower levels for 4 months, benchmark oil prices climbed above $50/bbl in late March and early April, exceeding $52/bbl in light trading Apr. 9 ahead of commodity markets closing for the Good Friday holiday in New York and London.
General InterestEditorial: More ethanol distortionIn the competition of ideas that is so vital to democracy, studies by supposed experts, preferably disinterested, figure prominently.
Russia redesigns fiscal policy to boost oil E&PThis article is the second of two parts addressing the challenges facing Russia’s oil and gas industry.
OPEC summit reveals strategies for sustaining industryThe Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will try to keep prices at its current low level this year “to sustain the economy,” said OPEC Sec. Gen. Abdalla Salem El-Badri at the 10th International Oil Summit in Paris in early April.
CFTC: Cause of 2008’s oil-price surge remains elusiveNine months after crude oil prices reached record levels, experts agreed at the US Energy Information Administration’s 2009 annual conference on Apr. 7 that speculators shouldn’t be blamed.
Watching Government: Tax proposals still lurkThe oil and gas tax increases that were part of the Obama administration’s fiscal 2010 budget request did not make it into either the US Senate or House’s broad reconciliation proposals in early April.
DOI’s OCS comment process limited, House Republicans chargeRanking minority members of two US House committees expressed concern Apr. 7 that the US Department of Interior is limiting public comments as it considers a comprehensive 5-year US Outer Continental Shelf leasing plan.
DOE notes water as key issue in deep shale gas primerProtecting and conserving water resources will be the key challenge in developing domestic deep shale gas, the US Department of Energy said as it released a primer for regulators, policymakers, and the general public on Apr. 14.
China, Venezuela agree to speed up increased oil shipmentsVenezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, have agreed to bring forward the starting date of long-planned increased Venezuelan oil exports to the East Asian nation.
Watching The World: Japan wising up to RussiaThe oil and gas industry has read much recently about the difficulties of dealing with Russia.
US LNG market may get 2 bcfd surgeA 60-day surge of an additional 1.5-2 bcfd of LNG is likely to hit the US market this summer, on top of its baseload LNG supply of 0.7-1 bcfd, said analysts at Pritchard Capital Partners LLC, New Orleans.
RPSEA advances six small-producer projectsThe nonprofit Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA) has selected six proposals for negotiation of advanced-technology assistance to small producers.
Pemex upbeat about Mexico’s oil production goalsMexico’s Petroleos Mexicanos, faced with reports of steep production declines, has announced plans to raise its replacement rate to 100% by 2012for proved reserves of oil and natural gas.
Exploration & DevelopmentRussia’s Samotlor to produce 90 more years, says TNK-BPWestern Siberia’s supergiant Samotlor field should continue to produce until the year 2099, said the TNK-BP Russian amalgam, which plans to invest $1 billion/year through 2011 to sustain it.
Petrobras, Repsol YPF make large oil discovery in Brazil’s Santos basinBrazil’s state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA and partner Repsol YPF SA filed a declaration of commercial viability with the country’s Agencia Nacional do Petroleo (ANP) for a light oil and gas discovery made on Block BM-S-7 in the Santos basin.
Firm plans work on four blocks in EcuadorEcuador’s state-owned Petroamazonas, a subsidiary of national oil company Petroecuador that operates oil assets previously owned by Occidental Petroleum Corp., expects to develop oil fields on four oil blocks this year.
Drilling & ProductionDownhole cable heats high viscosity, high-paraffin oilSeveral fields in Russia have installed a downhole cable that heats high viscosity and high-paraffin crude, according to Nefteservis-NN LLC.
Petrobras’s 5-year plan targets large production expansionPetroleo Brasilerio SA (Petrobras) in its 2010-13 strategic plan, released in January, included the development of presalt discoveries as well as continued development of discovered heavy oil and gas accumulations.
TransportationEXTERNAL CORROSION— Conclusion: Cased pipe segments could be less safe than uncased segmentsA comparison of scheduled or immediate responses/mile vs. number of repairs from an Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) study and the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) database suggests cased pipe segments could be less safe than uncased segments, although this result is not conclusive.
ProcessingSpecial Report: Practical advanced control helps midstream operationsAlthough digital control systems—distributed control systems, programmable logic controller, and other automation equipment—are present in practically every process safety management (PSM) facility and in many non-PSM facilities in the midstream oil and gas industry, the use of the automatic control capability in those systems continues to be lower than it could be.
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