A year ago, it was common for energy executives, regulators and critics to marvel at the sense of whiplash they felt from the extraordinary revival of North American natural gas production. Technology shifts long in the making but broadly below the radar of markets underpinned an expansion of the fuel’s market share amid low pricing… 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 →
When it comes to the question of whether pipeline or rail is safer for moving crude, the answer depends somewhat on the source, but pipelines are broadly understood to come out ahead, not only on safety, but also on cost and efficiency. However, newfound oil abundance in areas not traditionally associated with oil and gas… Keep reading →
Former Chesapeake Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon just can’t stay away from buying up big tracts of shale-prospective land, a strategy that played a big part in saddling the company with a heavy debt load…apparently one of his new companies is purchasing land in the Utica Shale in Ohio. “McClendon’s playing the same business plan game… Keep reading →
Investment bank Simmons & Co is forecasting a tightening of the spread between the price of US crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate and global benchmark Brent over the course of the next year, lifted by a robust pace of infrastructure development that can for efficiently move domestically produced oil to market. And with production challenges… Keep reading →
Could more energy market manipulation fines be in JP Morgan’s future? “The Justice Department is launching an investigation into whether JPMorgan Chase manipulated energy markets just weeks after the bank settled similar allegations with federal regulators”. [The Hill] An Oregon Department of Justice investigation of an energy contract awarded to a close associate of the… Keep reading →
“The world has failed us,” Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa recently said regarding a missed opportunity to preserve pristine Amazon rainforest from oil development. The government offered to forgo drilling in the oil-rich region if the international community donated $3.6 billion to a preservation trust fund. The initiative reportedly raised only $13 million. The proposal dates… Keep reading →
Hardly a bastion of security at the best of times, sectarian violence in post-war Iraq has trended upward over the past few months, with the number of dead – mostly from car bombs and reprisals – reportedly at a five-year high. However, despite deteriorating security, the country’s largest oil fields located in the southern region… Keep reading →
Proposed amendments to Mexico’s constitution that would open up the country’s energy sector to foreign investment stand a good chance of passing, thanks to a pressing need for revenues and a well-staged political campaign. But the follow-up legislation that sets the tone for foreign investment will be critical to the success of efforts to revitalize… Keep reading →
A fire at the Motiva refinery – the largest in the US – took more than half its capacity offline for at least two weeks. “The fires come on top of a nagging vibration problem with a key pipe in the plant’s biggest crude distillation unit, or CDU, that is expected to keep it running… Keep reading →
