Few would disagree the decision about whether to build the Keystone Pipeline extension should rely on science-based research, so what does the science tell us? Well, as is often the case with politics, the results appear to vary depending on one’s agenda and the statistics being highlighted. The Congressional Energy and Environmental Subcommittees held a… Keep reading →
In its latest installment of “This Week at Interior,” the US Interior Department discusses the recent findings released by the US Geological Survey indicating there may be additional oil & gas reserves located in formations below the Bakken Shale. Watch this short video about that discovery and more.
Elliott Management Corp. confirmed it is seeking five seats on Hess Corp.’s (HES) board in order to push the company to separate its assets in the oil-rich Bakken Shale region from less prolific international assets.
US dependence on imported crude oil is expected to drop to 41% this year, but it could drop even faster, and even to zero, says Adam Sieminski, Administrator of the Energy Information Administration.
EIA’s forecast is a substantial reduction even from 2011, when imports met 45% of US demand, and way below the record year of 2005 when the US imported 60%. Analysts agree that discoveries of new US resources, improvements in US auto fuel economy, and lower overall demand due to the recession have combined to reduce the need for imports. Keep reading →
North America’s emerging oil shale abundance can fundamentally alter the US’s energy landscape, but experts say the road ahead may have a lot of detours.
The issues start with how much new supply can get to market. Keep reading →
An oil drilling rig in the North Dakota portion of the Bakken formation.
Shale gas took America by surprise, and tight oil is about to do the same. Keep reading →
As the energy paradigm shifts from centralized utility scale power plants to more distributed solar panels, wind turbines and fracking sites, small communities around the country are experiencing the boom and the pain of power production.
The natural gas boom that continued this year, unlocked by the relatively new technology of hydraulic fracturing, (“fracking”) has brought millions of dollars into rural communities across the country. According to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett the state’s gas bonanza has created more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs, contributed millions of dollars in state and local tax revenues, and made some landowners rich with lease and royalty payments. Keep reading →
New discoveries of potential “tight oil” deposits are being made around the US, and no one is sure just how much oil the nation has waiting in geological formations that can now be tapped through new technology.
But the discoveries have already created one boom area, bringing a sparsely populated region of North Dakota gushes of jobs, people and problems no one foresaw. Keep reading →
2011 was the year of natural gas.
Production continued to boom while prices continued to stagnate. As the industry began to comprehend this year just how transformative natural gas will be, the public has also become more aware than ever of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), the relatively new technology that has unlocked the vast American underground shale plays. Keep reading →
Just how quickly domestic US oil and gas plays can begin moving products to market remains a vital question following the Arab Spring, when political changes across the Middle East and North Africa put one third of the world’s oil and natural gas liquids at risk, prompting stockpile releases coordinated by the International Energy Agency.
Planning for new infrastructure spending and other capacity is extremely challenging given the volatile pricing that dependency on a limited number of foreign oil and natural gas sources entails, Frank Verrastro of the Center for Strategic and International Studies says in this video, an edited version of his presentation to the US Association for Energy Economics summit in Washington, DC earlier this year. Keep reading →
