Wind turbines that float 1,000 above ground for months at a time take advantage of higher wind speeds than ground-based units, but they cost a lot more. Nevertheless, floating windmills could be deployed in circumstances where cost is not a primary limitation, such as remote locations characterized by high power prices or military installations. [Inhabitat]… Keep reading →
ExxonMobil is famously tight-lipped and conservative, and its quarterly earnings calls rarely produce much in the way of stunning news or salacious gossip. But the company’s discussions of ongoing operations at important projects – such as massive oil sands investments, Russian gas export facilities and Alaskan infrastructure targets – touch on some of the trickiest and… Keep reading →
The United States is expected to produce more hydrocarbons – oil, natural gas, and liquids (such as condensates) – than any other country in the world this year, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The EIA published an article last Friday on US hydrocarbon production growth, comparing it to that of global oil and… Keep reading →
Japan’s Tohoku Electric Power Company has agreed to buy 0.9 million tons per annum of LNG for 20 years from the 8.9 mtpa, Chevron-operated Wheatstone LNG project in Australia. Other committed buyers for Wheatstone production include TEPCO, Kyushu Electric Power Company and Chubu Electric Power Company. First LNG is scheduled for 2016. US independent Apache completed… Keep reading →
Where do we begin? Breaking Energy featured the Russian energy business in a recent Quote of the Day and it’s not that we’re picking on the country, but the murky world of Kremlin insiders – many former KGB personnel – running oil and gas companies with shares listed on public exchanges is nothing short of… Keep reading →
Bad news for Gazprom: sources say that Russia is going to break the gas giant’s monopoly on LNG exports. “[State-controlled oil giant] Rosneft signed an agreeement with ExxonMobil to develop a LNG project in Russia’s Far East. [Independent gas producer] Novatek clinched a deal with CNPC for a joint development of the Yamal LNG project.” [Natural Gas Europe] Bad news for… Keep reading →
Only in Russia can state-controlled oil company executives buy stock in the firm with money borrowed from a bank whose capital is largely generated by the country’s state-controlled natural gas company. That would never fly in the US. Remember the controversy about former Vice President Dick Cheney’s Halliburton relationship? The Moscow Times reports: A recent 3.1… Keep reading →
It’s unsurprising that Russia wouldn’t want to allow Greenpeace into its territorial Arctic waters, where the country hopes to open up vast new oil and gas fields to exploitation. State-controlled oil giant Rosneft has partnered up with ExxonMobil to develop oil and gas resources on Russia’s Arctic shelf, and potentially export LNG from the Russian… Keep reading →
A recent Wall Street Journal article discussed major oil company reserve holdings and how investors should evaluate a company’s reserve quality, quantity and global geographic distribution. It is an interesting story about a very important topic, but a lack of clarity with regard to some of the methodology and terminology leaves many questions unanswered. However,… Keep reading →
What Did the Oil Industry Learn From the Khodorkovsky Saga?
By Jared AndersonThe final chapter in one of early post-Soviet Russia’s most high-profile oil industry shakeups appears to be coming to a close with the largely symbolic pardon of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former head of Yukos. The company was one of Russia’s largest oil companies by reserves and production during the free-wheeling privatizations of the 1990’s when Soviet… Keep reading →