You can’t un-ring that bell, but Total CEO Christophe de Margerie laments the fact “hydraulic fracturing” became the widely accepted terminology for the controversial well completion technology. De Margerie’s dissatisfaction with the term appears to stem from a belief that it sounds overly complex and scares the general public. The French oil major’s chief made… Keep reading →
The Wattenberg field is not a new shale play you are just hearing about, it’s produced 2.8 Tcf of gas since its discovery in 1970 and much of that output was made possible by hydraulic fracturing. This Forbes piece argues fracking is not new or untested, as many opponents claim, and the practice has been… Keep reading →
Up to 150,000 b/d of Bakken crude oil currently passes through Albany via rail and/or barge on its way to East Coast refineries and other destinations. Read Breaking Energy coverage of rail transport capacity expansion at the Phillips 66 Bayway Refinery in New Jersey here. Some are concerned about the crude oil transport increases Albany… Keep reading →
GE CEO Jeff Immelt said the company is researching technology that could use carbon dioxide instead of water for hydraulic fracturing operations. GE is reportedly putting an additional $10 billion through 2020 into its “ecoimagination” budget, which focuses on energy solutions including high efficiency natural gas turbines, “CNG In a Box,” wind turbine manufacture and… Keep reading →
A 30-megawatt offshore wind pilot project will use 5 floating turbines to generate electric power routed back to the mainland in Coos Bay, Oregon. “We’re not as anxious to commercialize it, but it’s still worth getting the projects into the water and testing them,” said Belinda Batten, director of the Northwest National Marine Renewable… Keep reading →
President Barack Obama came into Tuesday’s State of the Union address with some pretty compelling environmental credentials. On his watch, the U.S. has led the world in cutting carbon emissions, the use of renewables has dramatically expanded, and the Obama White House has consistently pushed to raise taxes and increase regulation on the oil and… Keep reading →
A group of fracking protesters in England were arrested Monday when they reportedly glued and chained themselves to gasoline pumps at a retail station they thought was owned by French oil major Total. The group was protesting against the oil company’s regional gas develop operations, but embarrassingly Total no longer owns the station. The service… Keep reading →
With all the fast moving trends flowing through the global energy business today – from shifting natural gas market dynamics, US oil & gas production increases, climate change issues and workforce demographics – it’s always interesting to hear which markets energy company executives are focusing on. Ernst & Young Global Oil & Gas Leader, Dale… Keep reading →
Oil and gas companies have discovered most of the world’s “easy oil,” but face extreme pressure from shareholders and Wall Street to consistently increase production and replace reserves, which takes them further offshore and closer to the poles. And as petroleum resources are increasingly developed in outpost locations with unconventional methods, the key to making… Keep reading →
A proposed natural gas pipeline to supply the B.L. England power plant in Cape May County that would have run through the environmentally-sensitive Pinelands region was rejected last week. The power plant is switching from coal to natural gas and it’s unclear whether an alternative supply source has been identified. [New York Times] Kenya is… Keep reading →
