More Oil & Gas News

Oil prices continued falling Apr. 4 after the US Department of Labor reported for the third consecutive week an increase in new applications for unemployment benefits. The front-month natural gas contract increased 1.2% in the New York market, however, despite a rather neutral update on US gas inventories.

An Alaska interagency working group called for a review yearend of more than 20 federal agencies, departments, and executive offices at work in the Arctic as it issued a report to US President Barack Obama on Apr. 4. It did not recommend any new regulations or policies.

The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement issued a new Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) rule for offshore oil and gas activity that aims to improve SEMS requirements under the original workplace safety rule that became effective on Nov. 15, 2010.

US energy-related carbon dioxide emissions reached 5.3 billion tonnes in 2012—the nation’s lowest level since 1994, the US Energy Information Administration reported.

Titan River Energy, a newly formed oil and gas company based in Fort Worth, announced a $100 million capital commitment from two private equity firms that Titan River will use to initially focus on drilling and developing oil-prone shale plays in Texas.

Energy prices plunged Apr. 3 with both West Texas Intermediate and North Sea Brent registering their biggest losses in dollar terms this year on a bigger-than-expected increase in crude inventories and weaker-than-expected economic indicators.

BP PLC plans to sell its US wind energy business as part of a continuing effort to focus on oil and gas operations.

Shell Australia is looking for a buyer for its only refinery in southeastern Australia, the Geelong refinery, as part of Shell’s global strategy to concentrate investments on large-scale sites, such as the company’s Pulau Bukom refinery in Singapore.

Crude futures overcame a price slump in early trading Apr. 2 in the New York market and managed modest gains by the close of the session. The natural gas contract, however, fell 1.4% on concerns cold weather will dissipate next week.

An alliance of US and Canadian chemical companies oppose increased natural gas exports and are lobbying against export permitting. Fitch Ratings believes operating margins for these companies might see compression from current robust levels if significant gas exports materialize.

The US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued a corrective action order on Apr. 2 preventing ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. (EMP) from restarting operations on a leaking Arkansas crude oil pipeline until satisfactory repairs have been made and immediate safety concerns have been addressed.

A federal judge in Houston has upheld the US Chemical Safety Board’s legal authority to investigate the April 2010 deepwater Macondo well blowout and subsequent explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible in the Gulf of Mexico, which resulted in a massive oil spill.

On Apr. 1, the first trading day of the second quarter, front-month crude declined 0.2% in the New York futures market after the Institute for Supply Management reported a dip in its manufacturing index for March. Natural gas also was down 0.2% on forecasts for milder weather.

Inpex Corp. has taken a 25% farmout from Statoil in an exploration license covering areas 2 and 5 in the Rovuma basin offshore Mozambique.