New oil reserves pose threat to OPEC dominance

While the world remained focused on Tahrir Square — another revolution of its kind has been in the making — impacting, changing and altering the global energy dynamics. The issue of global energy security seems changing nexus now, resulting in uncertain call on Saudi and OPEC oil in medium term. Large new, conventional and unconventional […]

Russian oil projects and international cooperation in the Arctic

One fifth of the territory of the Russian Federation is located in the Arctic which is hiding 100s of millions of tons of oil and gas. With 85% of its shelf in the Northern Seas Russia’s Arctic will lead the way in oil and gas exploration in the future. One of the most promising regions […]

Seas off Arctic island may hold oil bonanza: Norway

The waters off a tiny Norwegian Arctic island may hold vast amounts of oil and gas, the Nordic country’s authorities said, as they prepare to open the zone for exploration by oil firms. Recent geologic studies conducted in the seas off the volcanic Jan Mayen island, a speck of land some 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) […]

Colin Campbell explains Peak Oil

One of the the best explanations of Peak Oil by the founder of The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas.

Biggest Find in Decades Becomes $39 Billion Cautionary Tale

After 11 years and $39 billion of investment, Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and their partners have yet to sell a drop of oil from what was touted as the world’s biggest discovery in four decades. Centered on a man-made island 70 kilometers (44 miles) from Kazakhstan’s coast, the Kashagan project is […]

Oil Riches Pile on China Doorstep as Clashes Delay Drilling

Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) — To China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, another Saudi Arabia of oil may lie beneath the ocean to its south. Escalating regional tensions mean large-scale drilling may be slipping further into the future. The South China Sea may hold 213 billion barrels of oil, or 80 percent of Saudi Arabia’s reserves, […]

Oil discovery boosts Argentina’s potential

A huge oil discovery by the Spanish company Repsol has sharply boosted Argentina’s potential to cash in on energy and could eventually attract an infusion of investment to exploit the shale oil. Experts said Tuesday that the find is very promising, but it is unclear how much time and investment may be needed to capitalize […]

Hubbert’s Third Prophecy

In light of recent events such as the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street I thought it would be pertinent to review Hubbert’s Third Prophecy about the cultural crisis he expected.   He wrote about it in the attached article entitled “Exponential Growth as a Transient Phenomenon in Human History”. In case you are not familiar with Hubbert’s first […]

Chevron Announces Natural Gas Discoveries Offshore Western Australia

 Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) today announced further drilling success by its Australian subsidiary in the Carnarvon Basin offshore Western Australia, Australia’s premier hydrocarbon basin. The Acme West-1 well encountered approximately 377 ft (115m) of net gas pay, while Acme West-2 well encountered 184 ft (56m) of net gas pay. The two wells, located in the […]

EIA shale predictions need closer scrutiny, peak oil group says

ederal oil and gas forecasters have not fully considered factors affecting future US supplies in their recent estimates, members of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas USA (ASPO-USA) warned on Oct. 26. US Energy Information Administration predictions of significantly greater production from US shale resources may be overly optimistic, they said. […]

Exxon Mobil: Finds O&G Offshore Vietnam

U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil said Tuesday it found oil and gas off Vietnam’s central coast, raising hopes the South Asian nation will be able to reverse a decline in fossil fuel production and exports. Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly-traded oil company by market value, said it drilled its second exploratory well offshore Danang […]

Alberta Oil Sands, By any Name.. By Any Standard

…. Or Some Notions, Perceptions, and Misinformation (NPMs) vs. Facts About the Alberta Oil Sands Mention “Alberta oil sands” and you would probably evoke in most hearers’ or readers’ minds a negative image, maybe even a sinister one. We may attribute this phenomenon to the proliferation of highly critical media coverage of the oil sands. Such media […]

Re-Visiting The Export Land Model (Pt 1)

About twenty months ago, I discussed the topic of the Export Land Model, one defined and credited to Texas petroleum geologist Jeffrey Brown and a colleague (Dr. Samuel Foucher). Its premise begins with a simple question: “What happens to oil exports in a world with constrained oil supplies?” As I noted in that prior post: “As oil-exporting nations […]

Norway Oil Find May Be its Third Biggest Ever

An oil discovery in the North Sea could be the third-biggest find ever made off Norway, oil minnow Lundin Petroleum said after giving new estimates on Friday, breathing life into a mature oil region largely written off by the majors. The Avaldsnes/Aldous Major South find, which could already be the biggest discovery so far this […]

Deepwater GOM: Reserves versus Production – Part 1: Thunder Horse & Mars-Ursa

The world oil and gas 2P cumulative discoveries can be modelled with 3 cycles [NE: 2P discoveries represent those resources are proven as reserves plus those that probably shall become reserves; more details here]. For crude excluding extra-heavy oil, the first cycle corresponds to surface exploration (1900-1950); the second cycle to seismic exploration starting in 1930 […]

Peak Oil – Geologists VS Economists

You may have noticed that I don’t refer to Peak Oil but Peak Cheap Oil. Our economy is dependent on cheap oil for transportation.  Eaun Mearns explains that Peak Oil is more about economics than geology but that the economists don’t get it right either. For a number of years there has been an arid […]

Marcellus Shale Reserves “Only” 43 TCF …

On August 23, 2011, the United States Geologic Survey (USGS) submitted 84 trillion cubic feet (84 TCF) as their estimate for undiscovered, recoverable natural gas in the Marcellus Shale, located primarily in Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia.  Additionally, they believe 3.4 billion barrels of natural gas liquids will accompany that 84 TCF. (for reference, […]

Daniel Yergin: There Will Be Oil

Since the beginning of the 21st century, a fear has come to pervade the prospects for oil, fueling anxieties about the stability of global energy supplies. It has been stoked by rising prices and growing demand, especially as the people of China and other emerging economies have taken to the road. This specter goes by […]

Abiotic Oil a Theory Worth Exploring

It’s our nature to sort, divide, and classify. We label ourselves to identify political leanings, religious beliefs, the food we enjoy, and the sports teams we cheer. The oil industry too has its own distinct labels which include the “Peak Oil” theorists, those who believe the world is fast depleting the finite supply of fossil […]

Russia Can Double Oil Reserves By Tapping Arctic Potential

Russia can double its oil reserves if the government is determined to exploit the potential in the Arctic, a senior Lukoil Holdings executive said Wednesday. “The development of Arctic fields needs political will and support from the government,” Sergey Chaplygin, chief executive of Lukoil International Trading and Supply Co. said, but didn’t elaborate. Lukoil is […]

Chevron Announces Oil Discovery in Deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico

Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) today announced a new oil discovery at the Moccasin prospect in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The Keathley Canyon Block 736 Well No. 1 encountered more than 380 feet of net pay in the Lower Tertiary Wilcox Sands. The well is located approximately 216 miles off the Louisiana coast in […]

Panama Has an Estimated 900 Million Barrels of Oil

Panama’s National Energy Secretariat has announced that 900 million barrels of oil have been detected at two basins in eastern Panama, representing a potential contribution to the Panamanian Treasury of $15 billion dollars over the next two decades at current oil prices. Panamanian Energy Secretary Juan Manuel Urriola said that the Venezuelan firm OTS conducted […]

How Small Is That Revised Marcellus Estimate?

I see in The Hill that some critics of shale gas drilling are pointing to a revised estimate of the shale gas resources in the Marcellus formation as evidence that there’s not enough gas to justify any risk from hydraulic fracturing. Earlier this week the US Geological Survey updated its previous estimate to 84 trillion […]

Exxon Mobil’s Arctic Deal In Russia: Showcasing The Difficulties Of Finding New Oil Reserves

If you turn the clock back to the turn of the century you will see oil prices in the $20 range, every middle class family in America with two cars and per capita car growth in Asia growing rapidly. Today we have oil near $90, every middle class family in America with two cars and […]

New USGS Marcellus Shale anaylsis drastically cuts DOE estimates

This week the USGS released a new assessment of gas resources in the Marcellus Shale, Appalachian Basin. The report is a reasonable effort by the USGS to sort out some of the wheat from the chaff. The 84 Tcf technically recoverable undiscovered resource for the Marcellus is a considerable downgrade from the 262 Tcf technically […]

North Sea Finds Linked in ‘Giant’ Oil Discovery

Statoil ASA (STL), Norway’s biggest oil and gas producer, said two North Sea finds are probably part of a single field that could be the country’s largest oil discovery since the 1980s. The Aldous and Avaldsnes oil discoveries located on the Utsira High may make up a combined structure of 500 million to 1.2 billion […]

WSJ: US has the world’s largest oil shale and coal reserves

U.S has the world’s largest oil shale and coal reserves Albanian__Minerals President and CEO Sahit__Muja said “The U.S, energy inidependence is absolutely possible if we invest in innovative technology”. “Investing in clean energy oil shale, natural gas, coal would create an estimated 20 million new jobs in U.S”. The USA, the land of the opportunity […]

High-impact discovery in the North Sea

(*) “High-impact well” =  a total of more than 250 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), or 100 million boe net to Statoil. Statoil ASA (OSE: STL, NYSE: STO) and partners Petoro AS, Det norske oljeselskap ASA and Lundin Norway AS have made a high-impact oil discovery on the Aldous Major South prospect (PL 265) […]

Iraq May Increase Proven Crude Reserves by 21% With Kurdish Oil

Iraq may raise its proven oil reserves by 21 percent after adding those from the semi- autonomous Kurdish region, Hussain al-Shahristani, deputy prime minister for energy affairs, said today. Iraq’s oil reserves may increase to 173 barrels by adding 30 billion barrels of Kurdish oil, al-Shahristani said in a speech to ambassadors at the Foreign […]

Latin America holds one fifth of world’s oil

Venezuela’s reserves rise to 297 billion barrels with heavy oil in the Orinoco Belt and Brazil’s capacity is growing. Fossil fuels are an energy source condemned by environmentalists, but do not appear to be on the way out in Latin America and the Caribbean, given the rise in the region’s proven oil reserves in recent […]

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