Support the Arctic Sea Ice Forum and Blog

Author Topic: Oil and Gas Issues  (Read 1056390 times)

gerontocrat

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 20384
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 5289
  • Likes Given: 69
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5000 on: January 18, 2024, 06:09:21 PM »
From the IEA.... OECD Monthly Oil & Gas Statistics to Oct 2023, some more

It mostly looks like BAU to me

Quote
Total OECD indigenous production of crude oil, NGL and refinery feedstocks increased 3.9% in October 2023 compared to October 2022, led by an increase in the OECD Americas (4.6%, y-o-y1), mostly driven by an increase in the United States (7.2%, y-o-y). OECD Asia Oceania also experienced a downward trend in production (-7.2%, y-o-y) driven by Australia (-14.8%, y-o-y). In OECD Europe production was slightly higher compared to last year (+0.1%, y-o-y), with a sharp downturn in the United Kingdom (-11.3%, y-o-y) balanced by upticks in Norway, Italy, and Türkiye. Overall, total OECD production increased by 5.4% on a year-to-date2 basis.

Total OECD refinery gross output of total products decreased by 2.5% in October 2023 compared to the same month in 2022. Gas/diesel oil (-4.6%, y-o-y) was the main driver of this negative trend for total OECD, overtaking an uptick in total kerosene (+7.2% y-o-y). On the regional breakout, only the OECD Asia Oceania experienced a slight growth (+0.8%, y-o-y) of refinery gross output for total products, while the OECD Americas and OECD Europe had a decrease of 4.3% and 1.3% year-on-year respectively. Overall, total OECD refinery gross output of total products decreased by 0.8% year-to-date.

Quote
Total OECD indigenous production of natural gas remained relatively stable in October 2023 compared to October 2022 (-0.3% year-on-year1), with lower production in OECD Europe (-10.8% y-o-y) and OECD Asia Oceania (-7.4%
y-o-y) being balanced by higher production in the OECD Americas (+2.4% y-o-y). In OECD Europe, natural gas production in Norway recovered from a 4-year low in September 2023, but fell short of the October 2022 production level (-5.9% y-o-y), despite the gas field Tommeliten A starting operation six months ahead of schedule. In the OECD Americas, the United States continued the 2023 trend of high production, registering a 2.1% year-on-year increase in October 2023, the second all-time highest production, close to the highest value of August 2023. 

Gross consumption of natural gas in the total OECD increased by 1.6% y-o-y, driven by higher consumption in the OECD Americas (+3.6% y-o-y). In the OECD Americas, the United States drove the trend, with 3.3% higher consumption in October 2023 compared to October 2022. In OECD Europe, consumption remained stable compared to October 2022 (-0.3%), as it entered a second winter of targeted lower gas consumption. In OECD Asia Oceania, preliminary data indicated a lower consumption in the region, down by 4.8% y-o-y. 
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

SeanAU

  • Young ice
  • Posts: 2871
    • View Profile
    • Meta-Crisis
  • Liked: 118
  • Likes Given: 26
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5001 on: January 18, 2024, 06:35:30 PM »
Does anyone have any idea how much it costs on avg to drill a shale oil well these days and how much profit they make in the first two-three years out of it at recent current prices?


What about the same data for new Wind/Solar farms?
It's wealth, constantly seeking more wealth, to better seek still more wealth. Building wealth off of destruction. That's what's consuming the world. And is driving humans crazy at the same time.

gerontocrat

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 20384
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 5289
  • Likes Given: 69
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5002 on: January 18, 2024, 10:24:37 PM »
Does anyone have any idea how much it costs on avg to drill a shale oil well these days and how much profit they make in the first two-three years out of it at recent current prices?

What about the same data for new Wind/Solar farms?
It is well established that coventional oil & gas wells may have a lifespan of 30 to 50 years. It is also well established horizontal fracked shale oil & gas wells have initial high production followed by rapid decline which is highly variable depending on the geology & many other factors in the dirt which the well is driven.

Wind+solar farms on the other hand once built tend to have a predictable fairly constant annual energy production over their 20-25 year operational life.

Looking at the first 2-3 years of fracked and shale wells and of wind+solar farms therefore produces skewed results, the fracked wells giving an earlier repayment of capital cost than wind+solar projects.

One assumes investors are aware of these basics.

ps: It seems that refracturing of existing wells can give them a considerable new life which may make a major change to the costs and revenues of the fracking industry and, more importantly, boost the extractable reserves of existing and new shale oil and gas fields.
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/US-Shale-Challenges-OPEC-With-Record-Production-In-2023.html

pps: I also know that in the North Sea horizontal drilling is being used successfully to extend the life of conventional oil and gas wells, which is also boosting the extractable reserves of those fields.

_____________________________________________________________
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2022.845651/full
Quote
Study on the Production Decline Characteristics of Shale Oil: Case Study of Jimusar Field
www.frontiersin.orgShuanghan Luo1,2* www.frontiersin.orgHao Su1
1School of Economics and Management, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, China
2Xinjiang Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Karamay, China

The productivity of horizontal shale oil wells is low. To achieve cost-effective development, hydraulic fracturing techniques are often used. After hydraulic fracturing, wells have a high initial production rate. After a period of production, the production rate will decline rapidly and then remain low for an extended period of time. The study of the decline characteristics of horizontal wells is of great importance. We have collected development data from 94 horizontal wells in the Jimusar field. Some classical decline curve methods, such as the “power law–loss ratio” rate decline model, the stretch exponential equation, and the Duong decline curve, can be used to fit the production history. For example, Wells JHW018, JI172_H, and JI36_H were analyzed for production variations at different stages after the onset of production decline. On the basis of the performance of the parameters in typical wells, it was found that only Valko extended decline curves could be used to obtain satisfactory prediction results. A controlled fracture decline rate is proposed to describe the extent of the initial decline. The findings of this study can help for better predict of shale reservoir production after volume fracturing.

Introduction
With the rapid development of society and economy, the development rate of conventional natural gas can no longer meet the requirements of society for energy supply, and oil and gas developers are gradually shifting the focus of development to unconventional oil and gas resources. Shale oil and gas, as an important part of unconventional oil and gas resources, has huge development potential. According to the US Energy Information Administration, global recoverable reserves of shale gas are approximately equal to those of conventional natural gas, at 187 × 1012 m3 and are widely distributed in Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Africa.

Shale oil and gas is distinguished from conventional oil and gas by its very long extraction times and production cycles, in some cases 30–50 years or even longer, but the productivity of horizontal shale oil and gas wells is lower.

To achieve cost-effective development, hydraulic fracturing techniques are often used. After hydraulic fracturing, the well has a very high initial production rate. After a period of production, the production rate will decline rapidly and then remain low for an extended period of time. Therefore, the study of the production decline characteristics of horizontal wells is of great importance to the development and production of oil and gas fields.

The prediction of shale reservoir decline is influenced by many factors such as geological complexity, the presence of natural fractures, ground stress state, completion and fracture characteristics, and multiphase flow characteristics (Kabir et al., 2011). The complex geological factors of fractures and the nadir permeability of the geological model make it difficult to use numerical simulation methods to predict producing wells. In addition, given the cost and time required for numerical simulations, operators typically use semi-analytical and empirical models. These methods require less data and allow for faster prediction results.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2024, 10:45:00 PM by gerontocrat »
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

interstitial

  • Young ice
  • Posts: 2867
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 567
  • Likes Given: 96
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5003 on: January 19, 2024, 12:20:04 AM »
The use of long horizontal (several kms) drilling adopted recently has changed the economics of fracking again.

Sigmetnow

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 25763
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 1153
  • Likes Given: 430
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5004 on: January 20, 2024, 12:24:31 AM »
US court accepts $20.8 billion in claims against Venezuela in Citgo Petroleum auction
Fri, January 19, 2024 at 5:45 PM EST
Quote
Jan 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. court on Friday approved claims by 17 Venezuela creditors, including ConocoPhillips, Rusoro Mining and Koch Industries, to get proceeds from a coming auction of shares in the parent of Venezuela-owned oil refiner Citgo Petroleum, to satisfy claims for expropriations and debt defaults.

The list, which reduced the scope of the claims to $20.8 billion from the $24 billion sought by creditors, comes after a court officer excluded arbitration awards and court rulings that had failed to satisfy the court's requirements.

Creditors have flocked to a U.S. court in Delaware to press claims that are almost double Citgo's $11 billion to $13 billion value. The Houston-based refiner operates an 807,000-barrel-per-day refining network, 38 terminals, six pipelines and supplies 4,200 independent retailers.

First bids for the shares are due on Monday with a second bidding round to come later this year. A final decision on the winner is still months away with awards requiring approval by the U.S. Treasury, which has protected Houston-based Citgo from Venezuela creditors since 2019.

A board supervising the refiner has been in payment negotiations with U.S. oil producer ConocoPhillips, Canadian miner Crystallex Corp and organized bondholders - for over a year, but no claims have been settled.

Citgo declined to comment on the court decision.

Friday's decision gives priority in payments to Canadian miner Crystallex, which brought the case, Tidewater, Conoco, O-I Glass, and Huntington Ingalls, the filing shows. Citgo has been valued in the past at between $11 billion and $13 billion.

The auction, which could lead to one of the largest court sales in U.S. history, was launched in October by U.S. Judge Leonard Stark after he received a green light from the U.S. Treasury Department, which has so far protected Citgo from creditors. …
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-court-accepts-20-224531204.html
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

gerontocrat

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 20384
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 5289
  • Likes Given: 69
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5005 on: January 25, 2024, 09:51:10 PM »
Canadian Tar Sands-
We knew extracting oil from tar sands was an exceptionally dirty business, but this dirty?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/25/canadian-tar-sands-pollution-is-up-to-6300-higher-than-reported-study-finds
Quote
Canadian tar sands pollution is up to 6,300% higher than reported, study finds
Call for companies to ‘clean up their mess’ as Athabasca oil sands emissions vastly exceed industry-reported levels

Matthew Taylor
Thu 25 Jan 2024 20.09 GMT


Toxic emissions from the Canadian tar sands – already one of the dirtiest fossil fuels – have been dramatically underestimated, according to a study.

Research published in the journal Science found that air pollution from the vast Athabasca oil sands in Canada exceed industry-reported emissions across the studied facilities by a staggering 1,900% to over 6,300%.

Academics said this means that damaging reactive pollutants from the oil sands are equivalent to those from all other human-made sources across Canada with severe health implications.

Keith Stewart, a senior energy strategist for Greenpeace Canada, said: “In quantifying the astonishing and largely unreported levels of health-damaging air pollution coming out of oil sands operations, these scientists have validated what downwind Indigenous communities have been saying for decades. This is making people sick, so our governments can and should require these companies to use some of their record-breaking profits to clean up the mess they’ve made.”

Canadian tar sands, also called oil sands, are a massive site of oil extraction in the state of Alberta. They cover an area larger than England, are one of the biggest industrial projects on the planet, and have seen record production levels this year.

The type of oil in the tar sands is called “bitumen”. It is extremely heavy and difficult to extract. Getting it from deep in the ground to the surface can use up massive amounts of water – enough to rival what a small city may use on a daily basis. Even more water and energy is needed to refine it for commercial use and the amount of climate-polluting greenhouse gases emitted per barrel of tar sands oil can be 30% higher than conventional oil.

The study, published on Thursday, reveals the scale of air pollution caused by the process. Using aircraft to measure pollutants, it found that there are many organic compounds being released during the process that are missed by traditional ways of measuring air pollutants – with devastating health consequences.

For decades Indigenous communities in the region have complained about the health impact of toxic air caused by the oil sands operations.

Jesse Cardinal, from the indigenous led group Keepers of the Water, said the report confirmed what many communities had been experiencing for years.

“We are told this is all within the limits and OK but this report backs up what the communities living in these areas experience – it is so bad they cannot open their windows because it hurts their lungs to breathe – especially at night.”

The researchers examined emissions from surface mining operations as well as extraction from deeper deposits of bitumen.

They noted the importance of post-extraction waste management practices, such as “tailings processing” where toxic sludge is left to dry.

John Liggio, one of the research authors, said: “The study featured new measurements of total reactive organic chemicals onboard a research aircraft that reveal underestimated emissions by a factor of 1900% to over 6300% ... These emission underestimates were not just observed at the more well-known surface mining operations, but also from in situ extraction facilities that represent over 50% of production with projected increases.”

The Canadian Environment and Climate Change ministry has been contacted for comment.
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

kassy

  • Moderator
  • First-year ice
  • Posts: 8235
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 2042
  • Likes Given: 1986
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5006 on: January 26, 2024, 06:16:56 PM »
Probably not but it does not matter what we believe.

There should be policy standards that are clearly lacking here and in lots of other places.
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

Sigmetnow

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 25763
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 1153
  • Likes Given: 430
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5007 on: January 26, 2024, 09:44:44 PM »
Biden administration to pause proposed natural gas export projects until federal review is complete
Quote
The Biden administration will pause federal approval for several pending liquified natural gas export projects as it undertakes a broad review of the massive increase in US exports to foreign nations, administration officials announced Friday – roiling the US gas industry and handing a temporary victory to climate groups.

US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi said the recent boom in US liquified natural gas exports, especially to Europe following Russia’s war in Ukraine, prompted the need for a thorough analysis of the entire industry in the US – which hasn’t been done since 2018.

“The pause will not affect already authorized exports, nor will it impact our ability to supply our allies in Europe, Asia, or other recipients of already authorized exports,” Granholm told reporters.

The US is the world’s largest exporter of natural gas; new liquified natural gas projects that are currently under construction here would triple the nation’s current export capacity, Granholm said. Granholm and Zaidi said the review would, among other things, examine whether US producers are sending too much natural gas overseas instead of using it at home to help power the electric grid.

In a statement, President Joe Biden tied the pause to the climate crisis, which is drastically raising global temperatures and fueling extreme weather. …


Natural gas is big business for the US fossil fuel industry, which has recently been exporting much of the product to other countries, particularly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Europe’s subsequent move away from Russian gas. US companies have stepped in to fill that gap, compressing or freezing gas at export terminals and shipping it across the ocean in enormous tankers.

The review will also look at the climate implications of fracking and shipping billions of cubic feet of natural gas overseas, Zaidi said. The planet-warming superpollutant methane is the main ingredient of natural gas, and the Biden administration has taken several actions to try to crack down on methane leaks as part of its climate agenda.


“We take this action in a context where the United States has been an unwavering partner to our allies in Europe who, by the way, are our partner in calling for a transition away from fossil fuels,” Zaidi told reporters. …
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/26/politics/natural-gas-export-projects-pause-biden-administration/index.html
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

interstitial

  • Young ice
  • Posts: 2867
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 567
  • Likes Given: 96
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5008 on: January 27, 2024, 08:13:21 AM »
The fossil fuel lobbyists will not acknowledge this but there is little need for the additional projects put on review by president Biden.


“Even with current demand, the European LNG import infrastructure has been used at only 60% in 2023, suggesting that there is likely no infrastructure bottleneck impeding more US LNG from reaching EU markets, and that an LNG facility build-out in the US would be even less needed.”


"Eight other LNG projects that the Biden administration has already approved won’t be impacted by the pause."
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/26/politics/natural-gas-export-projects-pause-biden-administration/index.html


In November 2023 EIA said there ten projects that would more than double export capacity. Looking at the graph they showed 11.4 BCF/D of capacity in 2023 and projected expanding to 24.3 BCF/D in 2027. Given the chart and long project lead and construction times the six projects scheduled to come fully online by late 2025 must be among the 8 that already have approval and are likely almost done as production was scheduled to start to ramp up now or by the end of 2024. Those projects will be completed leading to a total of at least 20 BCF/D. I am not sure which of the other 4 projects are already approved and or under construction. Total US gas production is around 110 BCF/D but varies from week to week.
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=60944








gerontocrat

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 20384
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 5289
  • Likes Given: 69
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5009 on: January 29, 2024, 07:27:26 PM »
USA Data to October 2023 from the US EIA
Graphs are monthly production & consumption - 12 month trailing average

Natural Gas growth continues.

Peroleum products stay stable
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

SeanAU

  • Young ice
  • Posts: 2871
    • View Profile
    • Meta-Crisis
  • Liked: 118
  • Likes Given: 26
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5010 on: January 31, 2024, 06:48:05 AM »
Energy Innovations in the Arctic  (translated)

Deleted - apologies - I have since been made aware that was from 2021.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2024, 04:54:58 AM by SeanAU »
It's wealth, constantly seeking more wealth, to better seek still more wealth. Building wealth off of destruction. That's what's consuming the world. And is driving humans crazy at the same time.

vox_mundi

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 10166
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 3510
  • Likes Given: 745
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5011 on: February 03, 2024, 11:06:47 PM »
5.1 Magnitude Earthquake Near Oklahoma City Felt In 5 States, USGS Says
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/02/03/earthquake-hits-oklahoma-city-area-aftershocks/72463434007/

The Oklahoma City area felt a magnitude 5.1 earthquake late Friday followed by a series of aftershocks.

Around 11:24 p.m. local time, the earthquake struck near Prague, about 63 miles east of Oklahoma City, according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey. It had a depth just under 2 miles. A series of smaller earthquakes, as large as 3.5 magnitude, were felt in the area.

https://wichita.ogs.ou.edu/staff/earthquake/events.html

The 5.1-earthquake happened on the same fault as a 2011 earthquake in Prague that was a magnitude 5.7

The U.S. Geological Survey indicated the earthquake was felt across much of Oklahoma, including in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and across state lines in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and parts of Texas. The USGS said earthquakes east of the Rockies, while less frequent than in the West, are typically felt over larger areas.

In mid-January, the Oklahoma City area experienced a 4.1 earthquake, with a depth of 4.1 miles, amid a series of quakes along a fault line near the Northeast Edmond Gas and Oil Field.

The state has seen an uptick in earthquakes in recent years, many of which have derived from human activity, including oil and natural gas production.


-----------------------------------------------------------

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Oklahoma_earthquake

The 2011 Oklahoma earthquake was a 5.7 magnitude intraplate earthquake which occurred near Prague, Oklahoma on November 5 at 10:53 p.m. CDT (03:53 UTC November 6) in the U.S. state of Oklahoma.[3] The epicenter of the earthquake was in the vicinity of several active wastewater injection wells.[4][5] According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), it was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Oklahoma until the 2016 Oklahoma earthquake.

In March 28, 2016 the USGS released the USGS National Seismic Hazard Map which concluded that the primary cause of the earthquake in Oklahoma in 2011 was pressure on faults from cumulative effects of injecting oil drilling wastewater under high pressure into the underground.

 "Earthquake rates have recently increased markedly in multiple areas of the Central and Eastern United States (CEUS), especially since 2010, and scientific studies have linked the majority of this increased activity to wastewater injection in deep disposal wells."
« Last Edit: February 03, 2024, 11:16:37 PM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

gerontocrat

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 20384
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 5289
  • Likes Given: 69
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5012 on: February 16, 2024, 12:10:58 AM »
IEA Data - Oil & GAS production in OECD Countries in November 2023

Quote
Oil
Total OECD indigenous production of crude oil, NGL and refinery feedstocks increased by 6.0% in November 2023 compared to November 2022, led by an increase in the OECD Americas (+7.1%, y-o-y1), mostly driven by an increase in the United States (+8.0%, y-o-y). OECD Asia Oceania experienced a downward trend in production (-9.4%, y-o-y) driven by Australia (-11.4%, y-o-y). In OECD Europe, production was slightly lower compared to last year (-0.3%, y-o-y), with a sharp downturn in the United Kingdom (-14.4%, y-o-y) balanced by upticks in Norway, Italy, and Türkiye (+4.1%, +23.3%, +18.6%, y-o-y, respectively). Overall, total OECD production increased by 5.6% on a year-to-date2 basis.

Total OECD refinery gross output of total products decreased by 3.0% in November 2023 compared to the same month in 2022. Gas/diesel oil (-5.1%, y-o-y) and other products (-7.6%, y-o-y) were the main drivers of this negative trend for total OECD  . On the regional breakout, OECD Asia Oceania, the OECD Americas and OECD Europe experienced decreases of refinery gross output for total products of 2.2%, 2.9%, and 3.4% year-on-year respectively. Overall, total OECD refinery gross output of total products decreased by 1.0% year-to-date.


Quote
Gas
Total OECD indigenous production of natural gas increased by 1.5% year-on-year1  in November 2023. Increased output in the OECD Americas (+3.5% y-o-y) compensated for lower production levels in OECD Europe (-5.7% y-o-y) and in OECD Asia-Oceania (-4.0% y-o-y). In OECD Europe, significant declines in production were registered in the Netherlands (-43.7% y-o-y) and in the United Kingdom (-14.5% y-o-y), with Australia (-4.6% y-o-y) contributing to the production drop in OECD Asia-Oceania.

Total OECD gross consumption of natural gas increased by 4.4% y-o-y in November 2023, with positive variations recorded in all OECD regions. The steepest jump in consumption occurred in OECD Europe (+9.8% y-o-y), driven by the Republic of Türkiye (+66.2% y-o-y) and Germany (+16.6% y-o-y). In OECD Asia-Oceania (+5.5% y-o-y), the consumption growth was mainly led by Korea (+20.1% y-o-y) and Japan (+3.0% y-o-y). In the OECD Americas (+1.9% y-o-y), higher consumption in the USA (+2.1% y-o-y) and in Mexico (+15.2% y-o-y) largely made up for declines in Chile (-29.5% y-o-y) and in Canada (-1.2% y-o-y). Overall, total OECD consumption of natural gas decreased by 1.6% on a year-to-date basis3.
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

vox_mundi

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 10166
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 3510
  • Likes Given: 745
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5013 on: February 18, 2024, 03:26:28 PM »
Earthquake in Texas

4.7-Magnitude Earthquake Reported Near Falls City, Strongest of Several This Month
https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2024/02/17/47-magnitude-earthquake-reported-near-falls-city-strongest-of-several-this-month/

KARNES COUNTY, Texas – A 4.7-magnitude earthquake was reported near Falls City on Saturday morning — the strongest and latest of several earthquakes this month, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

USGS said the earthquake happened just after 12:30 a.m. about three kilometers southeast of the city, which is located in Karnes County. Its depth was 6.8 kilometers or 4.2 miles. The earthquake was felt as far as 40-60 miles away, around San Antonio.

This is just the latest of a series of earthquakes near Falls City this month. Previously, a 3.2 magnitude earthquake and a 3.5 magnitude earthquake were reported on Feb. 7th and 8th, respectively.

Three smaller earthquakes also shook the ground in Karnes County on Monday. According to the USGS, the strongest of the three quakes checked in with a magnitude of 3.9.

“It seems like every other day there’s something shaking,” said Falls City resident Gordon Jones.

Saturday morning’s example of an earthquake shaking portions of Karnes County, and area earthquakes are becoming more common.

On Jun. 15, 2019, the USGS reported a 3.6-magnitude tremor near Poth and Falls City.

Last summer, two small earthquakes shook 11 miles east of Jourdanton in neighboring Atascosa County.

Last September, four earthquakes hit Karnes County over a week.

coincidentally ...

https://advantekwms.com/eagle-ford/

https://www.shalexp.com/texas/karnes-county/karnes/112919
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

morganism

  • Nilas ice
  • Posts: 1691
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 215
  • Likes Given: 124
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5014 on: February 18, 2024, 08:52:01 PM »
I am seriously wondering if they are going to create a new inland sea there. Can imagine the whole Permian Basin and the Olagalla Reservoir sinking 50 meters would be one way to recharge the aquifer...

It also makes it really difficult to put in cross country high speed rail thru there. If it is always shaking, no point in building infrastructure on top (or underneath) it.

SeanAU

  • Young ice
  • Posts: 2871
    • View Profile
    • Meta-Crisis
  • Liked: 118
  • Likes Given: 26
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5015 on: February 19, 2024, 12:30:44 AM »
Earthquake in Texas


coincidentally ...

https://advantekwms.com/eagle-ford/

https://www.shalexp.com/texas/karnes-county/karnes/112919

Anecdotal 'Coincidences' are telling and can point to more accurate research / studies are needed asap. I know earthquakes reports surrounding new fracking locations appear consistent and constant. such reports have arisen in australian fracking fields as well.

However, the proper way to determine in real change in frequency or strength must be done by comparing pre-fracking earthquake rates in a  proper study/studies across different locations, and others checking the data and method. All the past earthquake data exists already.

I'm not aware of any such studies myself, but there may well be some by now. idk. It also took a while before good studies on fracking fields to determine the increase of background fugitive methane emissions increases in the region.
It's wealth, constantly seeking more wealth, to better seek still more wealth. Building wealth off of destruction. That's what's consuming the world. And is driving humans crazy at the same time.

John Batteen

  • Frazil ice
  • Posts: 225
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 60
  • Likes Given: 3

SeanAU

  • Young ice
  • Posts: 2871
    • View Profile
    • Meta-Crisis
  • Liked: 118
  • Likes Given: 26
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5017 on: February 20, 2024, 11:42:03 AM »
It's wealth, constantly seeking more wealth, to better seek still more wealth. Building wealth off of destruction. That's what's consuming the world. And is driving humans crazy at the same time.

gerontocrat

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 20384
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 5289
  • Likes Given: 69
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5018 on: February 20, 2024, 03:43:13 PM »
here are abstracts from 2 science papers on fracking & earthquakes, + a graph attached.
The 2nd paper points to where and why fracking induced earthquakes have the greater potential to be a real hazard.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12665-020-09008-0
Quote
Hydraulic fracturing operation for oil and gas production and associated earthquake activities across the USA
Abstract
Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations, associated with horizontal drilling for oil/gas production, are known to induce earthquakes from fluid injection in disposal wells. In recent years, numerous studies have shown a close relationship between induced seismic activities and the high-pressure injection of wastewater, especially in Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

Detailed analysis of 17 major fracking locations across the USA has been carried out to study the impact of horizontal wells and the corresponding injected wastewater on earthquake activities. Earthquake data for the period 1998–2018 obtained from the USGS earthquake catalog shows an increase in frequency of earthquakes within a radius of 150 km at fracking locations, prominently in south-central USA.

The stimulation of earthquakes depends on the amount of injected water in both horizontal and disposal injected wells, and the geology, hydrological, and geophysical settings nearby the drilling site. The observed seismicity increases with the number of horizontal wells in Texas (correlation R2 = 0.726) and Oklahoma (correlation R2 = 0.636) at the fracking locations.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11600-019-00249-7
Quote
Seismicity induced by hydraulic fracturing and wastewater disposal in the Appalachian Basin, USA: a review
Abstract
Eastern Ohio is an area of North America where a significant increase in seismicity rate was noted in the early 2010s. This increase has been associated with intensification of unconventional gas extraction performed in the Appalachian Basin and has been directly linked to two processes: hydraulic fracturing and disposal of the associated wastewater. In this paper, we review the recent seismicity in the Appalachian Basin including various episodes of induced seismicity that were temporally and spatially linked to operational activity, and we have performed some comparable analyses on the most recent sequences. The activities have not been as pervasive as other areas of North America, such that the cases are typically isolated and provide opportunities to study the seismogenic process in detail.

The observed seismicity is concentrated in a narrow corridor that extends north–south in eastern Ohio and into central West Virginia, perhaps due to differences in operational targets and geologic variations. Ohio appears to have a higher prevalence of seismicity induced by wastewater disposal than surrounding states, but this is based on limited number of cases. Ohio also has an order of magnitude higher prevalence of seismicity induced by hydraulic fracturing than surrounding states, and prior work has suggested this is due to the targeting of the deeper Utica–Point Pleasant formation in Ohio that is closer to basement rocks than the Marcellus formation in West Virginia or Pennsylvania. In areas where hydraulic fracturing has induced seismicity, the percentage of stimulated wells that produce detectable seismicity is approximately 10–33%. Detailed studies of induced seismicity via double-difference relocation and focal mechanism analysis have revealed a series of linear fault segments, none of which correspond to previously mapped faults. Yet, the remarkable coherence in their orientation suggests these were preexisting, optimally oriented, and critically stressed. These fault orientations reveal a consistent regional stress field that only varies over a narrow azimuthal range from ~ 50° to 74°.

The strongest observed seismic events in Ohio appear to occur in the Precambrian basement and indicate that these rocks have the maturity needed to produce M > 2 earthquakes and hence the greater potential hazard.
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

kassy

  • Moderator
  • First-year ice
  • Posts: 8235
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 2042
  • Likes Given: 1986
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5019 on: February 20, 2024, 07:18:27 PM »
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-lm&q=earthquake+fracking+link

So that's a no then. Fracking doesn't cause earth quakes as per the USGS. Good to know. :)

From the link:
Quote
Most induced earthquakes are not directly caused by hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The recent increase in earthquakes in the central United States is primarily caused by disposal of waste fluids that are a byproduct of oil production.

It´s all tied up. No fracking, no waste water.
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

John Batteen

  • Frazil ice
  • Posts: 225
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 60
  • Likes Given: 3
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5020 on: February 20, 2024, 10:56:43 PM »
The US Government makes tons of money by selling oil leases.  I wouldn't trust the USGS very much.  Scroll down further.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/earthquakes-triggered-by-fracking

https://www.ecowatch.com/fracking-earthquakes-seismic-tremors.html

https://www.preventionweb.net/news/studies-link-earthquakes-fracking-central-and-eastern-united-states

https://phys.org/news/2019-09-link-fracking-earthquakes.html

https://www.science.org/content/article/oil-and-gas-operations-could-trigger-large-earthquakes

https://www.wfmj.com/story/48764078/new-study-on-eastern-ohio-gas-and-oil-wells-links-fracking-to-earthquakes



Honestly my main point here wasn't that fracking causes earthquakes.  It was that there was no reason to make a post saying you didn't know if there was a link or not, when you could answer that question for yourself in thirty seconds.

SeanAU

  • Young ice
  • Posts: 2871
    • View Profile
    • Meta-Crisis
  • Liked: 118
  • Likes Given: 26
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5021 on: February 21, 2024, 11:51:47 AM »

Honestly my main point here wasn't that fracking causes earthquakes.  It was that there was no reason to make a post saying you didn't know if there was a link or not, when you could answer that question for yourself in thirty seconds.

Indeed I could have. I chose not to.

What was my main point to Vox then? :)
It's wealth, constantly seeking more wealth, to better seek still more wealth. Building wealth off of destruction. That's what's consuming the world. And is driving humans crazy at the same time.

interstitial

  • Young ice
  • Posts: 2867
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 567
  • Likes Given: 96
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5022 on: February 23, 2024, 09:42:45 PM »
US Natural gas prices are as low as $1.59 per mmbtu today. This is due to a mild February and little cold weather in the forecast. Another contributor is that some gas is produced with primarily oil wells and efforts to recover that gas have increased. Mild export demand does not help. This is low enough that few new wells will be started eventually leading to a decline in production. The good new is this should lead to at least some reduction in coal generation as switching to gas occurs. It is not clear how much more of that will happen though because many of the remaining coal plants are at least partially shielded from market forces and try to keep their capacity utilization rates up so their per mw costs look better than they otherwise would. That is to say coal generation is nearly as low as the seasonal floor that occurs in spring. Of course a new lower floor could form.

morganism

  • Nilas ice
  • Posts: 1691
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 215
  • Likes Given: 124
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5023 on: February 24, 2024, 06:53:05 AM »
Fracking companies say that fracking itself IS creating earthquakes, it is exactly what fracking is.

There are no studies on fracking in the USA, because republican congressman banned any money going to studies on fracking effects, outcomes or damage. Just like guns and gun violence.

Follow the money indeed....

gerontocrat

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 20384
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 5289
  • Likes Given: 69
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5024 on: March 12, 2024, 09:40:49 PM »
Has this not been posted on the ASIF yet?

The boss of Exxonmobil says it's all our fault.
Bill McKibben was not happy about it.

https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/the-most-epic-and-literal-gaslighting
Quote
The most epic (and literal) gaslighting of all time
Exxon--is it possible?--hits a new low

I’m listening to John Coltrane through my headphones as I type, in an effort to stay calm enough that I don’t just start sputtering. You might want to do likewise as you read.

Because last week the CEO of Exxon gave an interview that amounts to an attempt to pawn off the climate crisis on everyone else, and also to map out the road he sees ahead—a road that involves wasting huge amounts of money subsidizing the fossil fuel industry. Darren Woods was talking to Fortune magazine reporter Michal Lev-Ram and editor Alan Murray, who began by explaining that Exxon was a group of charming “Texas tough boys” before teeing up one of the classic softball questions of all time. Some people, he said, were thinking that perhaps Exxon wasn’t entirely “serious about addressing climate change. Tell me why they’re wrong.”

Well, Woods explains, Exxon is a molecule company, by which he means it’s interested in transforming molecules—’and they happen to be hydrogen and carbon molecules’—to ‘address the needs of our society.’ What he’s saying, quite explicitly, is that Exxon is not an electron company, i.e. a company interested in building out wind or solar power. And when Fortune asks him why not, he lets slip the basic truth of our moment: “we don’t see the ability to generate above-average returns for our shareholders.”

For everyone who’s ever asked themselves, why isn’t Exxon (and Chevron and the rest) leading the charge to renewable energy, there’s the answer: you can make money doing it, but not as much as they’ve made traditionally. That’s because the sun and the wind deliver the energy for free, and all you need is some equipment to turn it into electrons. But Exxon controls the molecules—that’s what oil and gas reserves are. And that control means they can make outsize profits—as long as they can persuade the world to keep burning stuff.

And it’s the story of that persuasion where Woods’ words go from galling to really really gross. Because he explains to his nodding interlocutors that the world “waited too long” to start developing renewables. Or, in his particular brand of corporate speak: “we’ve waited too long to open the aperture on the solution sets terms of what we need as a society.”

Just to recite the relevant history, as quickly as possible. Forty years ago, Exxon’s scientists learned all there was to know about climate change—they forecasted the temperature in 2020 with remarkable accuracy. And the company’s executives believed them—among other things they began building their drilling rigs higher to compensate for the rise in sea level they knew was coming, and plotting out which corners of the Arctic they would drill once it melted. What they didn’t do was tell the rest of us: instead, they helped erect a huge architecture of deceit and denial and disinformation that kept us locked for three decades in a sterile battle about whether or not global warming was ‘real,’ a fight both sides knew the answer to from the outset. But one side was willing to lie.

Here’s Woods’ predecessor Lee Raymond speaking to a crucial Chinese petroleum congress right before the Kyoto treaty negotiations. After insisting that climate science was dubious at best, and saying he thought the earth was cooling, he added: “It is highly unlikely that the temperature in the middle of the next century will be significantly affected whether policies are enacted now or 20 years from now.”

What Woods is saying now is, he was wrong. It mattered a lot. It cost us huge swaths of our planet. We “waited too long.” But never mind, the important thing is that we made “above-average returns.”

To keep those returns coming, Exxon—working mostly through Senator Joe Manchin (D-Pollution)—larded the Inflation Reduction Act, which was supposed to be about electrons, with as many gifts as possible for molecules. That’s what the taxpayer money for carbon capture and other such schemes is all about: a way to keep burning stuff, at a moment when it would be cheaper to just let the sun burn. Remember: Exxon has trillions of dollars in oil and gas reserves. We no longer need it, but they need it—and they can game our political system to keep us using it.

(The fact that something can be too cheap is hard to grasp, but it’s the central insight of a fascinating new book, The Price is Wrong, due out next week from the political economist Brett Christophers. I’ll write more about it in the future but the basic point is that “we cannot expect markets and the private sector to solve the climate crisis while the profits that are their lifeblood remain unappetizing.” The alternative, of course, is to have government handle this basic survival task—but of course government too often remains in the hands of ‘the private sector.’)

Woods’ remarks aren’t the only example of this kind of shamelessness. The coal industry recently released an anti-renewable energy video, for instance, as part of its “Coal Hard Truth” campaign with the catchy title “Not So Fast.” “A global transition to renewable forms of energy is well underway, but are we moving too fast to a future filled with unknown compromises? What are the consequences of rushing to renewables?” The consequences of rushing to renewables are, we chop a degree or two off the eventual temperature of the earth, save millions of people a year who die from breathing the smoke from burning fossil fuels—and cost the coal industry money. Hence the video asking us to “hit pause.”

But it really has been, above all, the Exxon story start to finish. They were the biggest company on earth when we learned about climate change, and they have been the biggest single obstacle to change. The hard-hitting journalists at Fortune, before they got to asking him how he relaxes, queried Woods about “the core, you know, values or aspects of the [Exxon] culture that you feel like are really consistent?”

The thing that “brought me to this company is integrity,” Woods said. “Not just being honest and ethical, but being intellectually honest and saying the hard things.”

Thank God for John Coltrane. Our job is to stay calm enough to keep taking on these gentlemen with all we’ve got, till their political power is broken and we have a fighting chance.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2024, 12:22:48 AM by gerontocrat »
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

morganism

  • Nilas ice
  • Posts: 1691
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 215
  • Likes Given: 124
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5025 on: March 13, 2024, 10:53:26 PM »
Inside Saudi Arabia’s plan to dominate mining

(...)
Saudi Arabia sees vast riches beyond oil within its reach. The kingdom’s broad-ranging ambition, a top mining official told Semafor, is to extract the more than $2.5 trillion in metals in its soil, invest in minerals extraction around the world, and capture as much of the minerals value chain as possible.

“Saudi Arabia is being transformed. Through this transformation we want to be an economic powerhouse,” Khalid al-Mudaifer, the vice minister for mining, said. “To be an industrial [power], we need minerals. To build projects, we need minerals. Therefore, mining of Saudi Arabia [is] the first step, bringing minerals from outside is the second step, third step is to build Saudi Arabia as a hub.”

As part of its “Vision 2030” effort to refashion and diversify its economy, the kingdom is adding mining as a “pillar” of its industrial foundation — joining the mainstays of oil, gas, and petrochemicals — and creating a new economic backstop against the eventual decline of fossil fuels. It aims to use its targeted role as a commercial, refining, and research hub to attract companies in other minerals-dependent sectors, from electric-vehicle makers to battery manufacturers, while bolstering its domestic infrastructure along the way. It is, however, unlikely to join a largely Western club of buyers and sellers that Washington envisions as heading off the formation of an OPEC-like grouping for minerals.

“Saudi Arabia needs more minerals, and different types of minerals,” Mudaifer said. “We developed our mining strategy to make mining an economic driver … And we developed our mining strategy to also provide for developments for remote areas.”
Title iconKnow More

Mudaifer is a minerals specialist — he has been vice minister for mining since 2018, and for the seven years prior he ran Saudi Arabia’s state mining company Ma’aden, armed with degrees from the country’s King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.

In a wide-ranging, nearly hour-long interview, he outlined Saudi Arabia’s aims, its plans, and its challenges.

Objectives

When it came to Saudi Arabia’s ambitions in the sector, Mudaifer did not beat around the bush: “Our strategy is for minerals or mining to maximize their value to the kingdom.” He said Riyadh was focused on capturing “the high end” of the EV manufacturing process, including battery making as well as the expensive and complex metals required to build modern cars. “It’s the entire value chain, whenever possible.”

Scale

Mudaifer also provided more details on Saudi Arabia’s January announcement that the country may hold up to $2.5 trillion in untapped mineral resources, largely phosphate and rare earths. This figure, he said, covers “economically exploitable resources with current technology and current infrastructure”— in effect saying that this figure may be revised upwards as extraction technology, shipping infrastructure, and market prices improve. (It is already an upward revision from a prior forecast of $1.3 trillion.)

Beyond such improvements, Mudaifer argued the kingdom had for decades been under-explored when it came to minerals. “When oil was good enough, we stopped most [mining exploration] activity,” he said. “We are exploring so we will know more.” A regional geoscience survey is about 40% complete. Taking into account all those factors, he continued, Saudi Arabia likely had trillions of dollars more of minerals reserves in its territory.

International targets

Despite Saudi Arabia’s huge aspirations and potentially huge scale, Mudaifer acknowledged that “whatever we mine in Saudi Arabia will not be enough for Saudi Arabia,” because while the kingdom holds large concentrations of certain resources, other ones critical for manufacturing such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium are found elsewhere. That prompted the kingdom to establish its Manara Minerals fund, a state-backed venture that aims to increase Riyadh’s access to minerals worldwide and potentially help funnel them to processing facilities in Saudi Arabia. One of its earliest investments so far has been to take a 10% stake in a copper and nickel-focused spinoff of the Brazilian mining giant Vale.

Those minerals could then be refined into more lucrative products within Saudi Arabia, developing the kingdom into a hub: “We have the leadership, the vision, the geographic location, the infrastructure, and the energy.”

Mudaifer also largely shrugged off suggestions from Western diplomats I spoke to that Saudi Arabia’s global mining ambitions would inevitably put it into competition with China, which has similar goals. (Such a contest would likely be viewed favorably by Washington, which regards Riyadh as a key ally, and Beijing as a global rival.) Though China had been the dominant investor in mining and minerals abroad in prior years, Mudaifer dismissed the premise that the kingdom would have to compete with China, saying: “If [the energy transition] is to be successful, the whole world needs to invest.”

An OPEC for minerals?

The vice minister sidestepped questions over whether Saudi Arabia would consider joining the Minerals Security Partnership, a bloc grouping both metals buyers and sellers promoted by Washington and London in an effort to head off the more adversarial oil market in which Riyadh is the de facto leader of the OPEC club of fossil-fuel exporters.

Minerals were “a totally different commodity” to oil and gas, he acknowledged — because of their extraction and refining processes, the former being harder to consolidate in one country or region than the latter — making broader partnerships more beneficial than with fossil fuels. Saudi Arabia was “in alignment with the objective of the MSP,” Mudaifer said, but he put off any firm decision on joining the organization, so far made up of 14 countries and the European Union, with major minerals extractors Australia and Canada among the members.
Title iconPrashant’s view

Perhaps no country on Earth, bar China, is as ambitious when it comes to the minerals sector. Riyadh wants to be a powerhouse — a word Mudaifer used multiple times in our conversation — and its plan to elevate the role of mining and minerals is a key part of its strategy to ensure it is not left out of the energy transition, even as it continues to pump huge quantities of oil.

There are caveats, of course. For one, its targets are enormous, and it’s not always clear how attainable those targets are. Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said in the past — notably in a 2018 interview with Bloomberg — that, in general, he wanted to “aim high,” adding: “If we achieve 100 percent, great. If we achieve more, even greater. If we achieve 50 percent, great! Better than achieving nothing.”

Riyadh’s effort is already well underway, and to listen to Mudaifer and other Saudi officials speak is to hear the well-worn language of Western business consultants: The kingdom has approved its mining strategy, and now has “KPIs,” “quarterly reviews,” and “traffic lights.” Opposite Mudaifer’s office is a sign for a room identified as the “Vision Realization Office.”

Yet the ambition nevertheless speaks to the scale of the task, and the ensuing opportunity: The energy transition away from fossil fuels to a cleaner economy will be highly reliant on digging up vast quantities of minerals to build EV batteries, wind turbines, solar panels, and the plethora of other technologies necessary to eliminate carbon emissions. In some respects, oil and gas powers — both companies and countries — are well suited to doing so, having already built up some understanding and comfort with extractive industries.
(more)

https://www.semafor.com/article/03/13/2024/inside-saudi-arabias-plan-to-take-over-the-mining-industry

gerontocrat

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 20384
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 5289
  • Likes Given: 69
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5026 on: March 16, 2024, 08:07:53 PM »
IEA Oil & Gas December 2023 for the OECD: Summaries

Quote
The latest IEA's Monthly Oil Statistics report including December 2023 data shows that for Total OECD:
 
- Total OECD production of crude oil, NGL and refinery feedstocks increased by 8.7% in December 2023 compared to December 2022.

- Refinery gross output of total products increased by 3.5% on a year-on-year basis.
Net deliveries of total products decreased by 3.6% in December 2023 compared to December 2022.

- Oil stock levels on national territory decreased by 781 kt in December 2023 compared to the closing stock levels in November 2023 and closed at 462.1 million metric tons.

Quote
The latest IEA's Monthly Gas Statistics report including December 2023 data shows that for Total OECD:                                                                                             

- Production of natural gas increased by 3.9% compared to December 2022.     

- Imports (entries)1 of natural gas were 6.4% lower on a year-on-year basis, and total OECD exports (exits)1 decreased by 2.5% in the same period.

- Gross consumption of natural gas decreased by 6.1% in December 2023 on a year-on year basis.
             1Transit volumes are included. Trade amounts include intra-regional trade          
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

gerontocrat

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 20384
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 5289
  • Likes Given: 69
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5027 on: March 16, 2024, 08:24:53 PM »
IEA Oil & Gas December 2023 for the OECD: Some more

Basically - the only way is UP (especially in the US)

OIL
Quote
Total OECD indigenous production of crude oil, NGL, and refinery feedstocks increased by 8.7% in December 2023 compared to December 2022, led by an increase in the OECD Americas (+9.8%, y-o-y1), mostly driven by an increase in the United States (+11.4%, y-o-y). OECD Asia Oceania experienced a slight downward trend in production (-6.6%, y-o-y) driven by Australia (-8.5%, y-o-y). In OECD Europe, production was slightly higher compared to last year (+3.0%, y-o-y), with an increase in Norway (+6.2%, y-o-y) balanced by a downturn in the United Kingdom (-7.6%, y-o-y). Overall, total OECD production increased by 5.8% on a year-to-date2 basis.

Total OECD refinery gross output of total products increased by 3.5% in December 2023 compared to the same month in 2022. Total gasoline (+5.5%, y-o-y) was the main driver of this trend for total OECD. On the regional breakout, OECD Asia Oceania and the OECD Americas experienced increases (0.8% and 7.4% year-on-year, respectively) while OECD Europe experienced a small decrease of refinery gross output for total products of 0.9% year-on-year. Overall, total OECD refinery gross output of total products decreased by 0.6% year-to-date.

GAS
Quote
- Total OECD indigenous production of natural gas increased by 3.9% y-o-y1 in December 2023 compared to December 2022. OECD Europe experienced a decrease of 4.6% y-o-y, while the OECD Americas and OECD Asia Oceania saw increases of 5.9% y-o-y and 0.2% y-o-y respectively. On a year-to-date basis2, the overall OECD indigenous production showed a 1.7% increase, despite the observed decline in OECD Europe (-9.7% y-t-d). This positive trend was mainly driven by the USA (+4.2% y-t-d).

- Gross consumption of natural gas in the total OECD decreased by 6.1% y-o-y in December 2023, with all OECD regions exhibiting a similar trend. On a year-to-date basis, OECD Europe witnessed the greatest decrease (-7.1% y-t-d), followed by OECD Asia Oceania (-4.5% y-t-d), while the OECD Americas experienced modest growth (+0.6% y-t-d). Notably, in OECD Asia Oceania, Japan experienced the highest decline in consumption (-8.5% y-t-d).
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

interstitial

  • Young ice
  • Posts: 2867
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 567
  • Likes Given: 96
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5028 on: March 18, 2024, 04:37:44 AM »
US (NG) gas has been below $2.00 for a while now (currently $1.73). Given this low gas price most strictly gas companies are pulling back on finishing wells. While oil prices are higher so oil drilling is expanding and the associated gas volumes are increasing. Low gas prices are putting more pressure on coal. A warm March is putting pressure on both gas and coal prices.

Sigmetnow

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 25763
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 1153
  • Likes Given: 430
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5029 on: March 19, 2024, 11:21:26 PM »
Shell to unload 1,000 retail locations in pivot to EV charging
Pras Subramanian Mar 19, 2024
Quote
As part of its energy transition strategy, energy giant Shell (SHEL) plans to shed some of its retail gasoline stations to focus more on EV charging sites.

The company plans to “divest around 500 Shell-owned sites (including joint ventures) a year in 2024 and 2025."

The closures will shrink the company's retail footprint by 2.1%. In 2023, the company operated 47,000 locations. …

Shell said it will be focusing its efforts more in China and Europe, where the EV market is more developed and demand is high for public EV charging stations. Shell says it aims to increase the number of charge points it has from the 54,000 it operates today to 200,000 by 2030.

"If you have the right street corners with the right amount of traffic and the right footprint, if you can turn over some of those existing stations that already have a convenience store, that already have a car wash," Niese said to the . "That's a really good cocktail for business success."…
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/shell-to-unload-1000-retail-locations-in-pivot-to-ev-charging-141517030.html
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

gerontocrat

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 20384
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 5289
  • Likes Given: 69
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5030 on: March 20, 2024, 07:01:28 PM »
The Fossil Fuel Empire strikes back, the rhetoric going up two notches, including explicit criticism of the IEA

I am left with questions...
- are these people (and their extremely powerful investors) feeling more confident they are being successful in promoting green backlash, or are they feeling more fearful that even current slow progress on renewable energy is an existential threat to fossil fuels?

- Dr Fatih Birol has morphed the IEA from the apologist and cheerleader for the fossil fuel industry into an IEA that actively campaigns for the demise of fossil fuels ASAP.

Will Big Oil & Gas launch a campaign to rid themselves of this troublesome priest?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/20/fossil-fuels-oil-and-gas-clean-energy
Quote
World’s top fossil-fuel bosses deride efforts to move away from oil and gas
Executives at Texas summit claim clean-energy transition is failing and say world should ‘abandon the fantasy’ of fossil-fuel phaseout

Amin Nasser, Saudi Aramco president and chief executive, speaks in Houston, Texas on 18 March 2024. Photograph: Mark Felix/AFP/Getty Images

The bosses of the world’s leading oil and gas companies have poured scorn on efforts to move away from fossil fuels, complaining that a “visibly failing” transition to clean energy was being pushed forward at an “unrealistic pace”.

The oil executives, gathered at the industry’s annual Cera Week conference in Houston, Texas, have taken turns this week to denounce calls for a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels, despite widespread acknowledgment within the industry, as well as scientists and governments, of the need to radically reduce planet-heating emissions to avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis.

“We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas, and instead invest in them adequately,” said Amin Nasser, chief executive of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, to applause in the room.

Nasser dismissed projections by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that global demand for oil and gas will peak by 2030, claiming that rising energy costs mean that people will require “the importance of oil and gas security” rather than shift to renewables.

“In fact, in the real world, the current transition strategy is visibly failing on most fronts,” Nasser added, criticizing solar, wind and electric vehicles for what he said was a minimal impact in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

“And, despite our starring role in global prosperity, our industry is painted as transition’s arch-enemy,” Nasser complained.

This skepticism was echoed by other leading executives at the conference, which gathers industry leaders and politicians in Texas’s oily heartland. Meg O’Neill, chief executive of Woodside Energy, said that the transition to clean energy cannot “happen at an unrealistic pace”, predicting that cleaner fuels could take up to 40 years to develop.

“It has become emotional,” O’Neill said of the climate debate. “And when things are emotional, it becomes more difficult to have a pragmatic conversation.”

“If we rush or if things go the wrong way, we’ll have a crisis that we will never forget,” warned Jean Paul Prates, chief executive of Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned oil corporation, about the shift to clean energy.

The comments were swiftly denounced by climate campaigners.

Those in the industry “work night and day to torpedo a transition to renewable energy and then have the audacity to critique the slowness of the transition itself,” said Jeff Ordower, North America director of 350.org. “Cera Week should highlight a global vision toward a clean and equitable future, and instead, we get talking points from the 1970s.”


“We should be skeptical of any solutions touted by the industry because it’s clear they don’t have a real interest in halting the climate crisis,” Ordower added.

The conference, which has the “multi-dimensional, multi-speed and multi-fuel energy transition” as its theme, is being held to a backdrop of several major oil and gas companies reversing their plans to cut production and watering down targets to eliminate greenhouse gases, even as they bask in near-record profits.

Darren Woods, the chief executive of Exxon, who recently said the public is unwilling to pay for a world with less carbon pollution, has used Cera Week to instead talk up the prospects of carbon capture and hydrogen technologies, which the industry sees as acceptable avenues for government subsidy that do not threaten the central business model of drilling for oil and gas.

Scientists are clear, however, that the world needs to get to net zero emissions by the mid-point of this century to avoid disastrous heatwaves, droughts, floods and other climate-driven impacts and so far no technology is able to ameliorate the primary task of not burning more oil, gas and coal.

According to the IEA, which has called the fossil-fuel industry “a marginal force at best” in investing in the transition to clean energy, oil and gas use would have to decline by more than 75% by 2050 if the world is to keep to the internationally agreed goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C beyond pre-industrial times.

This would require the curtailing of an unprecedented boom in gas infrastructure along the US’s Gulf of Mexico coast, which Joe Biden’s administration recently sought to dampen by announcing a pause in new exports of liquified natural gas from these facilities. At Cera Week, however, Jennifer Granholm, Biden’s energy secretary, said that the pause will be “long in the rear-view mirror” in a year’s time.

In Houston, climate activists, including those who staged a mock funeral march outside the conference on Tuesday to represent communities blighted by oil and gas development, said the industry executives had shown their true intentions at the gathering.

“If you look at their actions, it’s clear that not only are they not committed to reducing emissions, they’ve actually come to Cera Week to continue promoting fossil fuel production and extraction and delaying the transition to a just, clean energy future,” said Josh Eisenfeld, campaign manager of corporate accountability at Earthworks.

Aly Tharp, a campaigner at GreenFaith, said activists had been purposely barred from registering to attend the event, leaving them to voice their objections outside the venue.

“I have a moral obligation to disrupt the systematic poisoning of our planet being caused by fossil fuels,” she said. “These harms need to be seen and understood and not left out of the conversation.”
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

kassy

  • Moderator
  • First-year ice
  • Posts: 8235
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 2042
  • Likes Given: 1986
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5031 on: March 20, 2024, 07:10:04 PM »
Well it is an existential threat to their businesses. The timeline also means there is no more kick the can time so yeah they will fight it.
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

interstitial

  • Young ice
  • Posts: 2867
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 567
  • Likes Given: 96
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5032 on: March 25, 2024, 03:56:45 AM »


https://www.tradingview.com › news › reuters.com,2024:newsml_L2N3FZ0BF:0-china-boosts-crude-oil-stockpiling-but-higher-prices-may-see-import-pullback-russell
China boosts crude oil stockpiling, but higher prices may see import ...

In volume terms, China imported about 340,000 bpd more in the first two months of 2024 over the same period last year. However, if 570,000 bpd were added to storage, this undermines the view that China's fuel demand was strong.
China imported 5.1% more oil than last year but used less. Apparently China is expanding their strategic reserve. China national petroleum predicts demand of less than a third of OPEC IEAhttps://insight.factset.com/major-chinese-oil-demand-forecasts-could-be-too-bullish

interstitial

  • Young ice
  • Posts: 2867
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 567
  • Likes Given: 96
Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #5033 on: March 25, 2024, 04:14:31 AM »
Just a reminder


dated Sep 6 2023

China's EV boom has prompted oil giant Sinopec to adjust its oil demand forecasts, saying peak domestic gasoline demand has already passed and it’s going to be downhill from here.
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Chinas-Sinopec-Says-Peak-Gasoline-Demand-Already-Passed.html


That is only gasoline demand and not overall oil.