Shale’s Effect on Oil Supply Is Not Expected to Last

The boom in oil from shale formations in recent years has generated a lot of discussion that the United States could eventually return to energy self-sufficiency, but according to a report released Tuesday by the International Energy Agency, production of such oil in the United States and worldwide will provide only a temporary respite from […]

U.S. to Be Top Oil Producer by 2015 on Shale, IEA Says

The U.S. will surpass Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world’s top oil producer by 2015, and be close to energy self-sufficiency in the next two decades, amid booming output from shale formations, the IEA said. Crude prices will advance to $128 a barrel by 2035 with a 16 percent increase in consumption supporting the […]

Sky News: As Gas And Oil Begin To Run Out visits The Baddage Platform

Sky News! very subtly reminding us north sea gas won’t last forever! 12 November 2013

North Dakota’s Salty Fracked Wells Drink More Water to Keep Oil Flowing

It’s well known that water has been key to the shale oil and gas rush in the United States. But in one center of the hydraulic fracturing boom—North Dakota—authorities are finding that the initial blast of water to frack the wells is only the beginning. The wells being drilled into the prairie to tap into […]

More Oil and Gas Drillers Turn To Water Recycling

When the rain stopped falling in Texas, the prairie grass yellowed, the soil cracked and oil drillers were confronted with a crisis. After years of easy access to cheap, plentiful water, the land they prized for its vast petroleum wealth was starting to dry up. At first, the drought that took hold a few years […]

The Welcome Death of Peak Oil

Improved technology and more efficiency mean North America could eventually become an oil exporter Does anyone remember Peak Oil theory? With Canadian and U.S. oil production booming enough to lift worldwide oil production, the mongers of the claim that half of the world’s ultimate crude oil reserves had been produced and production was irreversibly declining […]

Saudi Arabia throttles back from record high oil output

OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia has cut back oil output that had held at record rates of around 10 million barrels a day for three months running to help offset a plunge in output from fellow OPEC member Libya. The world’s top oil exporter turned down the taps to 9.75 million barrels per day (bpd) in […]

Water Shortages Threaten Energy Output

Water shortages are threatening energy output and increasing costs in some of the world’s most prolific sectors including shale gas in the U.S., crude oil in the Middle East and coal in China, and the situation is set to worsen, Wood Mackenzie said Thursday. The energy sector is already the world’s largest consumer of water […]

Sustainable North American oil boom would have complicated impact on OPEC

The steady increase in US oil output of recent years, especially as a result of shale oil exploitation, has not gone unnoticed by OPEC. But is it sustainable? That was a question posed rhetorically by OPEC Secretary General Abdulla ElBadri in late October on the sidelines of a Gulf Intelligence energy forum in Muscat, Oman. […]

Shale Oil Production and Decline

Hi gang, there has been a dearth of data to report on lately. But there is a lot of it coming next week. The new EIA Drilling Productivity Report that came out on October 22nd is due out again on the 12th of November. However that is the same day the latest OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report […]

Water Shortages Threaten Shale Gas Development

If water is the new oil and shale gas is the new energy savior, something has to give. That’s because the exploration for the unconventional form of natural gas uses so much water that it is encroaching on society’s other needs. Not only do utilities consume it. So does big industry and small residential households. […]

Iran Burning Gas Worth Billions Set to Lead Exporters Group

Iran will lead a club of the world’s biggest natural gas exporters as its own shipments abroad are hampered by U.S. and European Union sanctions that force the country to burn off billions of dollars worth of the fuel. Mohammad Hossein Adeli, the country’s former deputy foreign minister, was elected secretary-general of the Gas Exporting […]

Tech Talk – of Alaska, Libya and the belated bleat of awareness of a problem

I have written in earlier posts about the problems that the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System (TAPS) will face, as production declines below 500,000 bd. The conclusions from that post are pictorially summarized in a graph in the recent edition of the Oil and Gas Journal. Figure 1. Declining throughput through TAPS showing the points of concern […]

Russia breaks oil output record

Russian oil output, the largest in the world, reached 10.59 million bpd (barrels per day) in October, setting the record for the country’s post-Soviet period, Energy Ministry data showed. The landmark was reached due to Rosneft increasing production at the Vankor field in the Krasnoyarsk Region, the Vedomosti paper reports. The output at the field […]

Iraq’s pipeline bombings halt oil pumping

Country’s main oil pipeline is attacked in Nineveh province, forcing pumping energy to Turkey to be suspended. A major oil pipeline has been bombed in northern Iraq, forcing pumping to be suspended, security officials said. Three blasts went off on Saturday in Nineveh province along the pipeline, which runs to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Shale Oil Bubble

Most of us are aware by now that the introduction of widespread hydraulic fracturing into the oil and gas business has resulted in a rapid growth in U.S. production. U.S. crude output is up by nearly 2.5 million barrels a day (b/d) since mid-2007 and natural gas production is up by 25 percent. The key […]

Fracking Won’t Make The US A Net Oil Exporter

A group including a consultant, a sustainability advocate and an environmental scientist argued today at the Geological Society of America meeting in Denver that while the use of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling for “tight oil” is an important contributor to U.S. energy supply, it is not going to result in long-term sustainable production or allow the […]

Heinberg: America’s natural gas revolution isn’t all it’s ‘fracked’ up to be

Americans have been told that ‘fracking’ for natural gas and oil is the key to their energy independent future. The data don’t adequately support these claims. America must return its energy focus to transitioning away from fossil fuels. Americans are being subjected to a massive public relations assault attempting to persuade them that “fracking” for natural […]

New EIA Report, Production Per Rig

Jean Laherrere has pointed out a huge discrepancy in in the Permian data from the latest EIA Drilling Productivity Report that I posted Wednesday and what has been posted, also from EIA data, in other places. Here, below, is a graph first posted in May and re-posted many places since, from: Outlook for shale gas and tight oil […]

The US Oil Boom Is Far from Over

Some cry out for “Peak Oil,” claiming U.S. oil production is about to reach its ceiling. I recently wrote an article explaining why I disagree and focused on several things: large drilling inventories, new plays to be discovered, deeper laterals, and utilizing downspacing to increase reserves and potential drilling locations. This is just part of the argument […]

Real wildcatters go to Ethiopia to hunt for oil

Amid East Africa’s oil and gas boom, the more adventurous oilmen are starting to gravitate toward the vast Ogaden desert region of Ethiopia, where drilling activity has been sparse since rebels attacked an exploration team in 2007, killing nine Chinese and 65 Ethiopians. Oilmen believe Ethiopia lies on the same oil-bearing strata as the massive […]

Bakken, Eagle Ford, New EIA Data

The EIA has just began posting data on the six major tight oil and gas production areas, Bakken, Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Marcellas, Niobrara and Permian. All this data can be found at: EIA Drilling Productivity Report. To the right of the chart you will see several PDF links. Ignore all of them except the last […]

The age of oil will not last forever

The oil age may not be over yet, Cobb writes, but projections of shale gas and oil fueling US energy independence are vastly overblown. We are wasting precious time being lulled to sleep by the oil optimists when we should be preparing for a post-peak-oil world. Energy independence sounds good, and that’s why politicians and oil […]

JODI EIA Divergence

The JODI August data came out Sunday. There are several holes in the JODI data as there are six countries that don’t report to JODI. But these countries are minor and I insert the EIA data for these countries. There were seven but the largest of these produces, Kazakhstan, is now reporting. Also because of […]

No need to panic about ‘peak oil’

SO MUCH for “peak oil” alarmism, the dire warnings of a looming economic catastrophe when global crude oil production reaches its maximum rate and then starts to decline. Such cries of imminent doom reached a crescendo in 2008, when the oil price hit record levels on soaring demand and restricted supplies, topping out at $145/barrel. […]

The numbers don’t add up to U.S. energy independence

Energy independence sounds good, and that’s why politicians and oil company executives love to say the words. It’s so easy to say, but oh so hard to actually accomplish, which is why the United States has been a consistent importer of oil since the late 1940s. Recent overblown statements about U.S. energy independence from the […]

Shale gas sector gears up in China

Two months before the expected third round of bidding for shale gas exploration rights, a Chinese firm on Friday successfully tested extraction equipment. The equipment will operate in complex geographic conditions, according to the manufacturer, the Shenzhen-listed Yantai Jereh Oilfield Services Group Co Ltd, which is based in Yantai, Shandong province. “The machines can be […]

Mountaintop removal provides Appalachian coal to Europe

Photo: wsilver/Flickr. Mika Minio-Paluello, Anna Galkina and James Marriott are travelling in North America as part of a tour over September and October to promote The Oil Road – Journeys from the Caspian to the City of London. You can find more info about their confirmed speaking dates in Virginia, the Bay Area, Toronto, Baltimore […]

Russia Lets China in on East Siberia Oil Production

Russia’s top crude producer Rosneft has agreed to cede a share of its oil riches to China, the world’s top oil importer, signing a memorandum on Friday to jointly develop East Siberia deposits. Russia, the world’s top oil producer, has previously preferred to sign long-term supply deals with China backed by multi-billion-dollar loans. The Russian […]

Russia, N.America invest billions to feed Asian oil, gas demand

* Mideast producers to free up more oil for exports * Russia ties up long term supply contracts with China, to start gas exports * Asia invests in U.S., Canada LNG; Canada to send more oil to Asia Fast-growing oil and gas producers Russia and North America are spending billions of dollars on pipelines and […]

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