Tech Talk – the oil and natural gas in Eastern Siberia

In the last post on Russian oil production I discussed the amounts of oil that have been produced from Western Siberia, the region that currently produces the most, and which in its prime contained the second largest producing oilfield in the world at Samotlor. But those fields are now in decline, and while modern technology […]

Peak oil: Global tipping point already passed

Sourced from the Australian ABC’s PM program as a free download, from: http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3417345.htm

Shell Reveals New Growth Agenda for 2012

Royal Dutch Shell provided an update Thursday on progress against its strategic plan to generate profitable growth. The firm said that in today’s volatile economic environment, the company’s strategic aim remains to drive forward with its investment program as well as to deliver sustainable growth and provide competitive returns to shareholders. Shell’s key highlights were: […]

Russian Crude Oil Output Climbs to Post-Soviet Record in January

Russian oil production rose 0.4 percent in January from the previous month, setting a post- Soviet record. Output from the world’s largest oil producer climbed to 10.36 million barrels a day last month from 10.32 million barrels a day in December, according to preliminary data from the Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK unit. That was a 1.4 […]

BP forecasts unconventional supply growth

The growth of unconventional energy supplies—including oil and gas from US shales, Canadian oil sands, and Brazilian deepwater production—will make the Western Hemisphere close to completely energy self-sufficient by 2030, BP PLC said in its latest annual outlook. This means that growth in the rest of the world, particularly Asia, will increasingly depend on the […]

Global Oil Production Update: A Strange Future Has Arrived

Since 2005, European oil consumption has fallen by 1.5 million barrels a day. And, in the same period, US oil consumption has fallen by 2 million barrels a day. If oil was priced at $60 a barrel, rather than $100 a barrel, then a fair portion of that lost demand might return. Instead, since 2005, […]

Peak Oil: The Crisis No One Is Talking About

The conversion of energy, from forms that aren’t useable to forms that are, is the basis of the survival of any living thing. Any creature, when given an abundance of energy to consume, will either find balance between their numbers and the source of energy, or will multiply until that resource is gone and have […]

Saudi Arabia says it can cover any oil shortages

* Oil minister says can respond to shortages due to investment * Growing domestic demand won’t crimp ability to export * To rely more heavily on gas for rising domestic demand Saudi Arabia can meet any future world oil shortages thanks to massive investment, and its rising gas output will mean crude exports will not […]

Texas ain’t the oil king that it used to be

Texas used to be a king of the energy industry, but Texas circa-2012 isn’t the same oil giant that it was in the 1970s – in fact few states are, according to a new report. Economist James Hamilton wrote in his new National Bureau of Economic Research paper that the boom in domestic oil production […]

Oil sands brace for higher costs

For oil sands companies, the pinch is on. Or at least, it’s starting. After several years of recovering from the beating they took at the hands of plunging crude prices and collapsed credit, the swarm of energy producers spending billions of dollars on the oil sands are at the cusp of a familiar problem: soaring […]

Everything You Know About Peak Oil Is Wrong

We’re not running out of resources. Quite the contrary. And in our abundance lies a paradox At some point in the coming months, the confrontation between the West and Iran over the Islamic republic’s nuclear program may reach a breaking point. Even assuming the two sides manage to avoid full-fledged military conflict, the crisis could […]

OPEC to Boost Exports

OPEC will increase shipments through the middle of February as winter demand in the northern hemisphere reaches its peak, according to tanker-tracker Oil Movements. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will ship 23.51 million barrels a day in the four weeks to Feb. 11, 1.3 percent more than the 23.2 million transported in the period […]

How a gas boom became a glut

Passengers on Pennsylvania’s natural-gas roller coaster are advised to check their restraining devices. It’s poised to change course again, producing nausea for some and shrieks of joy for others. A combination of powerful forces – Mother Nature and supply and demand – is going to have at least a short-term impact on natural-gas drilling in […]

Oil Supply as a Strategic Risk

Concerns about the climate have not inspired a lot of action lately on global energy policy. Now two professors are arguing that supply concerns and rising oil prices ought to be enough to get governments moving, even if the climate does not. In an opinion piece released on Wednesday by the journal Nature, James Murray […]

Is The Booming Natural Gas Industry Overproducing?

The practice of hydraulic fracturing — pumping fluid into underground rock to push up natural gas — has its detractors, especially among environmentalists. But it’s becoming clear that whatever its drawbacks, “fracking,” as it’s called, is producing a lot of gas — maybe too much gas. Fracking was once a small part of the natural […]

EIA projects strong crude oil, natural gas production through 2035

Over the next 10 years, continued development of tight oil and ongoing development of offshore resources in the Gulf of Mexico will push US crude oil production to 6.7 million b/d in 2020, and even with a projected decline after 2020, crude oil production will remain above 6.1 million b/d through 2035, the US Energy […]

South Sudan to shut oil production over thefts

A South Sudan official says the country is shutting down its oil production because Sudan is stealing its oil. South Sudan Minister of Information Barnaba Marial Benjamin said Monday that oil companies operating in the country were instructed to begin shutting down operations in the country’s oil fields as of Sunday. Benjamin said oil production […]

Net-energy (EROEI), Peak Oil denial & Oil Shale hype

Here’s a brief explanation of why net-energy aka EROEI (energy returned on energy invested) debunks wild claims of “energy independence” from U.S. oil shale deposits like the Bakken Formation, and especially dry kerogen shale that can’t release its oil via fracking. Dry shale gets included in bogus claims about America’s reserves exceeding Saudi Arabia’s, but […]

US Officials Forecast Higher Oil Prices, Greater Domestic Production

Increased production of oil, natural gas and renewable energy will improvements in energy efficiency will reduce U.S. dependency on imported energy resources, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported today. Continued development of tight oil in the onshore U.S. and exploration and production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico will push domestic crude oil production […]

Petrodollars: Canada’s move on Kyoto doesn’t mean clear sailing for oil sands

Canada’s official exit from the Kyoto treaty–an act undertaken by one of the pact’s biggest public supporters–could be seen as a significant win for the oil sands industry. But that sector is facing a host of other issues, including rising costs. Platts correspondent Gary Park, in this week’s Oilgram News column “Petrodollars,” reviews the landscape. […]

Libya oil output back to pre-war levels

Italian group Eni’s oil output in Libya is almost back to its pre-conflict levels at 260,000 barrels per day, Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni said on Saturday. “Output has now gone back to its pre-war levels. It was 270,000 bpd (before the war), now it’s 260,000 bpd,” Scaroni told journalists in Tripoli. Scaroni also said Eni […]

Don’t Frack Me Up

To many walking the planet, fracking has a seriously bad reputation. Thanks to hyperbole and misinformation, fracking opponents have convinced a lot of people that the operators who drill and then hydraulically fracture underground rock layers thumb their noses at and even hate the environment. Anti-fracking claims may be twists on reality – for example, […]

Where Will Exxon Mobil Be In 2040?

Exxon Mobil (XOM) is one of the world’s biggest oil producers. The company operates 37 refineries in 21 countries and it keeps investing for more. Everyone in the investment world knows about Exxon and the company is one of the all time favorites as far as fund managers go. On the other hand, one can’t […]

The Significance of the Al-Naimi Price Comment

Recently, Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi made some interesting comments to CNN about Saudi spare capacity: I believe we can easily get up to 11.4, 11.8 (million barrels a day) almost immediately, in a few days, because all we need is to turn valves,” Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told CNN’s John Defterios. “Now to […]

OPEC Members Raise Exports in November Led by Saudi Arabia, Iran

OPEC members led by Saudi Arabia increased exports of oil in November from a month earlier as demand for the group’s crude increased, data submitted by governments to the Joint Organization Data Initiative showed. Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, raised exports by 721,000 barrels a day to 7.8 […]

Melting Ice Makes Arctic Access a Hot Commodity

China, Brazil and India want seats on the Arctic Council as global warming creates new opportunities for shipping and resource extraction in the vast Arctic region. There are concerns this is the beginning of a 21st century “scramble for the Arctic”, but rather than staking territorial claims, non- Arctic countries want to exert economic and […]

Saudi Arabia and Iran Spar over Oil Embargo

Saudi Arabia will make up for any shortfall in world oil supply caused by sanctions against Iran, the country’s oil minister has said, despite warnings from Iran that such a move would provoke unspecified “consequences”. The U.S. has already approved a sanctions bill which penalises companies for dealing with Iran’s central bank. The bank processes […]

China begins Fracking

China’s biggest offshore energy producer, started drilling at its first shale-gas project in the country, joining rivals including China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (600028)in the search for unconventional natural gas. Exploration started Dec. 29 in the eastern Anhui province, China National Offshore Oil Corp., Cnooc’s parent, said in a statement on its website yesterday. The […]

Saudi, Chinese oil giants ink joint refinery deal

Saudi state oil giant Aramco inked a deal Saturday with China’s Sinopec to build an oil refineryin the Red Sea city of Yanbu that will process 400,000 barrels per day, state news agency SPA said. The project, named Yasref, aims to be operational in 2014, SPA reported. Saudi Aramco will hold a 62.5 percent stake […]

OPEC could replace Iran oil supplies to Europe

OPEC members would be able to make up for a drop in Iranian oil supplies if the EU was to agree to an embargo on the country’s imports, said Chakib Khelil, the group’s former president. Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has oil in onshore storage and in tankers, […]

« Previous Page — Next Page »

LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Why the IEA is Wrong About Peak Oil Demand
• Did we inadvertently speed global warming?  
• Venezuela’s Oil Monopoly Eases
• Why Germany is Choosing Natural Gas Over Nuclear Power
• U.S. coal-fired electricity generation decreased in 2022 and 2023

• America Cracks Down on Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Facilities
• Meet America’s Newest Oil Trader Extraordinaire: Joe Biden
• Is It Time To Refill America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
• Oil prices set to end year 10% lower as demand concerns snap winning streak
• What’s Driving America’s New Oil and Gas Boom?
• China’s peak oil demand bombshell eviscerates Danielle Smith’s energy strategy