PFC Energy: Saudis have 2.5m barrels spare oil capacity

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is able to boost production to its officially-announced peak of 12.5 million barrels a day, according to PFC Energy. Proposed European Union sanctions to block imports from Iran have raised the prospect that other suppliers may need to make up any shortfall. Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, who has […]

UK oil and gas decline to halt as investment booms

British oil and gas tax revenues could rise by billions of pounds this year as high oil prices boost earnings and tempt operators into opening new fields after a decade of sharp declines, industry data and Reuters research showed on Thursday. The past two years of investment have set the stage for a landmark shift […]

India – Land of Energy Opportunity

Quick, what country is the economic engine that will power world growth? If you answered “China,” you’re far from alone. But there’s another country that deserves as much attention and better yet, is much friendlier to investment: India, home to 1.2 billion people. To electrify all those houses, power the industries that keep all those […]

Super Fracking Goes Deeper to Pump Up Natural Gas Production

As regulators and environmentalists study whether hydraulic fracturing can damage the environment, industry scientists are studying ways to create longer, deeper cracks in the earth to release more oil and natural gas. Energy companies are focused on boosting production and lowering costs associated with so-called fracking, a technique that uses high-pressure injections of water, sand […]

Saudi oil output nearing capacity limit

* Saudi Arabia now pumping just under 10 mln bpd * On paper should be able to reach 12.5 mln bpd * Riyadh traditionally sets aside 1.5 mln bpd By Amena Bakr and Reem Shamseddine DUBAI/RIYADH, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is nearing its comfortable operational production limits and may struggle […]

The Oil Potential of Iraqi Kurdistan

Whilst much of Iraq may be viewed as in a metastable social and political state, the semi autonomous northern region of Kurdistan has enjoyed relative peace for a number of years. This has enabled the regional government to develop oil exploitation laws and to lease much of the land to foreign exploration and production companies. […]

A well that shaped the modern “awl bidness”: Spindletop at 111

In case anyone hadn’t noticed, January 10 is the 111st anniversary not only of the Texas “awl bidness” (that’s Texan for oil business, to all you non-Lone Stars) but also of Big Oil. On that day in 1901, Spindletop, a salt dome oil field sited south of what is now the city of Beaumont, Texas […]

Reducing Flaring of Natural Gas

About half a million barrels of oil are produced from the Bakken formation every day. That number is only expected to keep going up. Still, both oil producers and environmentalists say they`d like to see one precious resource better used: natural gas. Much of it is simply being burned off at well sites. Oil leaders […]

Does fracking for natural gas cause earthquakes?

DOES HYDRAULIC fracturing to obtain natural gas cause earthquakes? Yes. Every time humans apply or remove pressure from rock formations or dig a big hole in the ground, there’s at least a small risk of a seismic result. That does not mean that people should stop digging holes or extracting valuable resources — especially those […]

Oil will decline shortly after 2015, says former oil expert of International Energy Agency

Olivier Rech developed petroleum scenarios for the International Energy Agency over a three year period, up until 2009. This French economist now advises large investment funds on behalf of La Française AM, a Parisian assets management firm. His forecasts for future petroleum production are now much more pessimistic than those published by the IEA. He […]

OPEC oil output hits 3-year high

OPEC oil output rose in December to the highest since October 2008, mainly due to a further recovery in Libya’s production, a Reuters survey found on Wednesday. Supply from all 12 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries averaged 30.74 million barrels per day last month, up from a revised 30.62 million bpd […]

Russia 2011 oil output at new post-Soviet record high

Oil output in Russia, the world’s top crude producer, reached a new post-Soviet high of 10.27 million barrels per day (bpd) last year, up from 10.15 million bpd in 2010, the Energy Ministry said on Monday. Natural gas production increased to 670.544 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2011 from 650.311 bcm in 2010. Gas output […]

Some Thoughts on Current and Perceived Oil and Natural Gas Supply

For most of this past year these posts have reviewed, and then discussed data on the state of different reservoirs of oil and gas that ultimately provide the power that we need and use every day. However, as we come to the end of 2011, it seems as though there is a gloss, or spin, […]

Venezuela to Open up Massive Natural Gas Field with European Investment

On 23 December Spain’s biggest oil firm Repsol YPF, S.A. and Italy’s Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi S.p.A., better known by the acronym ENI, signed a $1.5 billion deal with state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, (PDVSA) to develop a huge new gas reserve in Venezuela. Repsol YPF, S.A. Chairman Antonio Brufau, ENI S.p.A. Chairman Paolo […]

Deep Gulf drilling thrives 18 mos. after BP spill

Two hundred miles off the coast of Texas, ribbons of pipe are reaching for oil and natural gas deeper below the ocean’s surface than ever before. These pipes, which run nearly two miles deep, are connected to a floating platform that is so remote Shell named it Perdido, which means “lost” in Spanish. What attracted […]

Oil will decline shortly after 2015, says former oil expert of International Energy Agency

Olivier Rech developed petroleum scenarios for the International Energy Agency over a three year period, up until 2009. Since then, he has been advising large investment funds on behalf of La Française AM, a Parisian assets management firm. His forecasts for future petroleum production are now much more pessimistic than those published by the IEA. […]

In North Dakota: A Great Divide Over Oil Riches

Just like everybody else around here, Fred Evans spent his life coaxing a good enough living out of the earth. He grew wheat, ran cattle and, during a couple of short-lived bursts of activity, worked on the drill rigs searching for oil across the northern prairie. But unlike his neighbors, Mr. Evans was convinced that […]

Can Oil Restore Libya’s Fortunes?

Libya’s new rulers struggle to rebuild an oil industry battered by the civil war that ended Muammar Gaddafi’s 32-year rule, but the threat of further violence could sabotage these efforts and with them any prospect of an early national recovery. Libya, finally unshackled from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s brutal regime, is struggling to restore its battered […]

Oil sands pipeline seems likely to endure

The Obama administration confirmed last week that if forced by Congress to quickly decide the fate of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from western Canada to the Gulf Coast, it would probably kill the project. But does that mean the $7 billion pipeline project is dead forever? Will it curb the inexorable global demand […]

Shale gas puts some energy independence within reach for U.S.

Ever since Richard Nixon’s 1973 promise to attain energy independence, successive U.S. presidents all have pledged the same goal — even as foreign supplies composed a larger and larger share of the U.S. energy mix. Now, almost 40 years later, a measure of independence is within reach. But as this booming town in northeastern Pennsylvania […]

Rosneft challenges ExxonMobil as a number one in oil output

Rosneft has become the world biggest oil production company as it beat rival ExxonMobil with the results of its output in the first nine months of 2011. Rosneft reported it has extracted 88.6 mln tonnes of oil meanwhile ExxonMobil extracted 87.0 mln tonnes. Its share in the Russian oil extraction industry expanded from 23.7% in […]

Russia’s Rosneft – World’s largest oil producer

Russia’s state-run Rosneft oil company has become the world’s largest producer after surpassing American ExxonMobil. The difference in their volumes of production is about one million tons, a small amount compared to their total production. Not only the Russian company is planning to preserve its position, it also intends to improve its key indicators. Rosneft […]

Iraq Oil Output Has Reached a 20-Year High

Iraqi crude oil production jumped to the highest level in at least 20 years, or more than 3 million barrels a day, said Hussain al-Shahristani, deputy prime minister for energy affairs. Iraq’s government, which takes complete control of the country this month after the withdrawal of U.S. military forces, will acquire unmanned drone aircraft to […]

R-Squared Energy TV: Episode 6 – EROEI Explained

In this week’s episode of R-Squared Energy TV I present the first of several mini-presentations on energy topics of interest. The presentations will be short, 5 to 8 minute presentations with 3 to 5 slides each. This week’s presentation is on Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI). I believe there are a lot of misunderstandings […]

Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Is Unnecessary

A new report submitted to the Enbridge Northern Gateway federal review panel suggests the proposed Enbridge Gateway pipeline is unnecessary and puts the long-term energy security of Canadians at risk. Commissioned by ForestEthics for the review, and authored by geoscientist, David Hughes, a former scientist and research manager with the Geological Survey of Canada, the […]

Output from N.Sea field to remain diminished

Production at major North Sea field Gullfaks will be lower than normal again in 2012, Norway’s Statoil said on Monday, repeating previous guidance and adding it had reopened some wells that had been closed due to safety concerns. Output at the field has been curtailed throughout 2011 and for several months in 2010 after the […]

Russian company signs up to develop Iran oil field

Iran signed a deal reportedly worth up to $1 billion with Russia’s Tatneft on Sunday to develop an oil field, a rare example of new foreign investment into the oil and gas sector of a country under ever tighter economic sanctions. Oil Ministry website SHANA said the development at the Zagheh oil field, on the […]

Shale oil project raises environmental hackles in Israel

BEIT GUVRIN, Israel: Among the serene vineyards and pine trees of Israel’s wine-growing heartland, a towering drill is boring 600 meters underground, dredging up black rocks that smell like petrol. This is oil shale, rocks saturated with kerogen, a material that turns into oil and gas under intense heat. Huge deposits of this kerogen-rich rock […]

the IEA is bullish on future US oil output

Almost ten. That’s the estimate of total US liquids production by 2016 that the International Energy Agency foresees, in millions of b/d, out of the US by 2016. The IEA, in its latest monthly report, was downright ebullient in its forecast of what the US, and to a lesser degree, other non-OPEC countries were going […]

OPEC says, ‘Don’t Count on Us’ for More Oil Supply

The results of OPEC’s latest meeting to set oil production quotas were announced this morning. Instead of production targets for individual countries, a group production ceiling of 30 million barrels a day was set. This amount is a bit less than OPEC produced in November 2011 (actual 30.367 mbd), according to its reckoning, and less […]

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