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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1000 on: May 25, 2016, 11:08:58 PM »
Norway: Forget About $100 Crude Coming Back -- but keep on drilling!
Quote
The collapse in crude prices has put Norway, western Europe’s biggest oil and gas producer, at a crossroads, with investments in its offshore industry falling the most since 2000 and the government for the first time dipping into its $850 billion sovereign wealth fund to plug budget holes.

Even as 40,000 jobs disappeared in two years, the Nordic country resisted deploying drastic measures, like tax breaks for the oil industry introduced in the U.K. The Norwegian petroleum-tax system, which includes a top tax of 78 percent but offers generous deductions for exploration and development spending, is “the best” there is and remains attractive because of its very stability, Lien said.

Virgin Territory

Norway has instead kept offering new acreage to explorers, such as new licenses in a virgin area of the Arctic Barents Sea along the maritime border with Russia as recently as last week. It was the first time Norway opened entirely new blocks to the industry in more than 20 years. After crude production dropped by half since a 2000 peak and as exploration results hit an almost 10-year low last year, the Nordic country is betting on the Barents Sea to help it maintain output in the coming decades.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-24/world-better-forget-about-100-crude-coming-back-norway-says
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1001 on: May 26, 2016, 04:06:13 PM »
Oil sands found to be a leading source of air pollution in North America
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A cloud of noxious particles brewing in the air above the Alberta oil sands is one of the most prolific sources of air pollution in North America, often exceeding the total emissions from Canada’s largest city, federal scientists have discovered.

The finding marks the first time researchers have quantified the role of oil sands operations in generating secondary organic aerosols, a poorly understood class of pollutants that have been linked to a range of adverse health effects.

The result adds to the known impact of the oil sands, including as a source of carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. It also comes on the same day that the Bank of Canada delivered a sobering message about the country’s economy, saying the devastating Alberta wildfires that hit Fort McMurray – leading to production cuts in the oil industry and the destruction of thousands of buildings – will cause a drop in Canada’s gross domestic product in the second quarter.

Given the economic circumstances and the political sensitivities currently surrounding the oil sands, the air pollutant study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, offered the strongest test yet of the Trudeau government’s promise to allow scientists in federal labs to speak freely with journalists about their results.
...
While researchers have long thought that the oil sands must be a source of such particles, the new results show that their impact on air quality is significant and of potential concern to communities that are downwind.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/oil-sands-found-to-be-a-leading-source-of-air-pollution-in-north-america/article30151841/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1002 on: May 26, 2016, 08:19:13 PM »
ExxonMobil CEO: ending oil production 'not acceptable for humanity'
Quote
Rex Tillerson, the boss of oil giant ExxonMobil, said cutting oil production was “not acceptable for humanity” as he fought off shareholders’ and activists’ attempts to force the company to fully acknowledge the impact of climate change on the environment and Exxon’s future profits.

During a long and fractious annual meeting in Dallas on Wednesday, Tillerson, who serves as Exxon’s chairman and chief executive, beat back several proposals to force the company to take more action on climate change.

However, dissident shareholders won a vote that could make it easier for them to propose board candidates concerned about climate change and remove incumbent directors.

...
Exxon had tried to block the resolution from being heard at its meeting, but the US Securities and Exchange Commission regulator ruled that it must include the resolution among Wednesday’s votes.

“Given the significant resources Exxon spent fighting this proposal, such a strong vote is a real rebuke to company management,” said Andrew Logan, director of oil and gas for Ceres, a coalition of sustainable investment groups. “Investors have sent a clear message that meaningful 2 degree stress testing is the new normal, and companies like Exxon and Chevron can no longer act as if nothing has changed.”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/25/exxonmobil-ceo-oil-climate-change-oil-production
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1003 on: May 27, 2016, 01:18:44 AM »
For Tanker Owners, Shrinking Oil Glut Is Least of Their Worries
Quote
Tanker owners hauling the world’s crude were among the few big winners from an oil-price crash that started in mid-2014. Now for the flip side.

The slump was caused by most enduring oil glut in a generation, flooding shipping companies with more cargoes than they could handle and driving down fuel costs that are the industry’s biggest expense. Rates got so high that owners embarked on the biggest fleet expansion spree in half a decade. Now, just as that wave of new orders swells the fleet, the glut of crude that lifted rates in the first place is starting to dissipate.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-25/for-tanker-owners-shrinking-oil-glut-is-least-of-their-worries
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1004 on: May 28, 2016, 01:46:59 AM »
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Revokes Sovereign Lands Construction Permit for Bakken Pipeline
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The Iowa Department of Natural Resources on Thursday ordered that Dakota Access LLC stop all construction work for its Bakken pipeline in the Big Sioux River Wildlife Management Area after the United States Fish and Wildlife Service the previous day revoked its approval of a construction permit because of the discovery of a significant archaeological site.
http://iowainformer.com/politics/2016/05/dakota-access-bakken-pipeline-fish-wildlife-service-gipp-indigenous/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1005 on: May 29, 2016, 05:54:54 PM »
Powerful editorial in the 'stockbroker's bible', The Financial Times, tells the fossil fuel business - You're done.

"Instead of railing against climate policies, or paying them lip-service while quietly defying them with investment decisions, the oil companies will serve their investors and society better if they accept the limits they face, and embrace a future of long-term decline."
https://www.facebook.com/iHeartClimateScientists/posts/1196083163759442
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1006 on: May 29, 2016, 08:24:52 PM »
Editorial: Hiding bad news from Texans
Quote
An El Paso Times story last month revealed the existence of numerous aerial photos of flood-related oil spills on a state-run website. The response from the state of Texas was predictable, yet still disappointing:

State officials ordered the photos removed from a website operated by the University of Texas at Austin.

The photos, which weren’t generally known to the public until the Times’ story, showed potential environmental damage caused by flooding in oil drilling areas, including fracking sites.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/05/25/editorial-hiding-bad-news-texans/84937054/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1007 on: May 30, 2016, 01:44:39 AM »
Kinder Morgan formally withdraws federal application for Northeast Energy Direct pipeline
Quote
Kinder Morgan today formally withdrew its federal application for Northeast Energy Direct, the 420-mile pipeline which would carry Marcellus Shale gas from Pennsylvania into New England, meaning that the controversial project, as proposed, will not be built.

The news comes six months after the Texas energy giant filed its massive certificate application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and one month after Kinder Morgan suddenly announced it would "suspend further work and expenditures" on the project, citing inadequate firm capacity contracts for the proposed 2.2 billion cubic-foot line.

"Given these market conditions, continuing to develop the project is not an acceptable use of shareholder funds," a Kinder Morgan spokesman said at the time.
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/05/kinder_morgan_withdraws_federa.html
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1008 on: May 31, 2016, 12:19:09 AM »
Surface stream contamination from disposal wells.

Unconventional Oil & Gas Wastewaters Affect WV Surface-Water Stream
Quote
These are the first published studies to demonstrate water-quality impacts to a surface stream due to activities at an unconventional oil and gas wastewater deep well injection disposal site.
https://www.usgs.gov/news/evidence-unconventional-oil-and-gas-wastewater-found-surface-waters-near-underground-injection
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Buddy

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1009 on: June 02, 2016, 04:19:59 PM »
STILL looking for XOM to head back to the low $60's (currently it is at about $88).  Expectation for price of oil to DROP from here as wells coming back up in North Dakota and other places in the US.

But later this fall.....I expect oil to move back UP as Saudi Arabia looks to get ready to IPO part of "Saudi Aramco".  In order to get a good price for the piece of Saudi Aramco they are IPOing....they will likely cut back on production in order to raise the price of oil.

Next few years is going to be fascinating in the energy markets:

1)  Saudi Aramco trying to get some money for their assets (oil in the ground) that is going to decline in value in future years.

2)  World continues to move QUICKLY towards renewable energy and electric cars continue their push.

3)  Global warming CONTINUES TO PUSH HIGHER.......

FOX (RT) News....."The Trump Channel.....where truth and journalism are dead."

Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1010 on: June 04, 2016, 11:25:24 PM »
Wave of Fossil Fuel Project Cancellations Follows Keystone XL Rejection
Quote
Editor's note: This map and story were updated on June 4, 2016, to show newly canceled projects. These are: the Renewable Energy Group's Grays Harbor project and U.S. Development Group's Grays Harbor Rail Terminal. The previously delayed Northeast Energy Direct pipeline was also canceled, as was the Gateway Pacific Terminal. The Mariner East 2 pipeline and Dakota Access pipeline were recently delayed. This map will be frequently updated.

Six months after the Obama administration rejected the Keystone XL pipeline, at least 24 other proposed energy projects—mines, pipelines, plants, related rail projects and export terminals—have been canceled, rejected or delayed, according to research compiled and mapped by InsideClimate News.

Sustained grassroots resistance and public opposition have played a role in at least some of these decisions; other influential factors include unfavorable economic conditions such as low oil prices, as well as governments' environmental concerns and project siting issues.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/06052016/fossil-fuel-projects-cancellations-keystone-xl-pipeline-oil-coal-natural-gas-climate-change-activists
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1011 on: June 04, 2016, 11:37:10 PM »
Groups to Lamar Smith on House Committee's Exxon Information Request: We're Not Complying
Quote
This story was last updated on 10:55 am ET on June 3, 2016, to reflect the responses from attorneys general.

Several state attorneys general, advocacy groups and philanthropic foundations have refused to comply with a broad request from a group of House Republicans for documents that might be related to state investigations of ExxonMobil Corp. over climate change.

In their letters to Rep. Lamar Smith, the Republican chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, most of the organizations said the lawmakers were overstepping the panel's jurisdiction in order to conduct a partisan fishing expedition while threatening the groups' First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and association.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/02062016/lamar-smith-exxon-information-request-house-science-panel-environmental-groups-climate-change
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1012 on: June 06, 2016, 09:28:27 PM »
For Oil Industry, Clean Air Fight Was Dress Rehearsal for Climate Denial
Through the Smoke and Fumes Committee, industry blurred the science surrounding air pollution and worked to forestall unwanted regulation.
Quote
How the oil industry handled smog is a template for how it handled a bunch of issues, the most significant being climate change. There's a DNA here that's palpable," said Carroll Muffett, an attorney who is the president of the watchdog group, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). "Through it all, you see the creation of an echo chamber of doubt that takes the small unknowns and uncertainties and magnifies it until all we have is unknowns, when in fact the actual science isn't that way at all."
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/05062016/oil-industry-clean-air-fight-smog-los-angeles-dress-rehearsal-climate-change-denial-exxon
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1013 on: June 06, 2016, 09:37:25 PM »
Oil-train derailment and fire has damaged Oregon city water system
Quote
"Our priority here is bringing people home. Nothing else matters," she added. Repairs to a water treatment system, which runs under the tracks, would need to be completed before people could return to their homes, the railroad said.

About a hundred people — a quarter of the town's population — have been evacuated from their homes since Friday in an area about a quarter mile around the train.
http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-oil-train-derailment-fire-damaged-oregon-city-water-system-2016-6
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1014 on: June 07, 2016, 12:07:43 PM »
Oregon explosion reminds us that oil trains are “weapons of mass destruction”
Quote
Dozens of locals — including city officials, tribal representatives, faith leaders, and members of environmental groups — gathered in nearby Hood River, Ore., over the weekend to protest the oil trains moving through their communities.
http://grist.org/climate-energy/oregon-explosion-reminds-us-that-oil-trains-are-weapons-of-mass-destruction/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1015 on: June 10, 2016, 01:55:25 AM »
Quote
Bill McKibben:  Wow! Lots of CA reps send letter to @AGKamalaHarris telling her to stand strong in the face of Exxon intimidation 
https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/741024472208166912

https://lieu.house.gov/sites/lieu.house.gov/files/Lieu%20Lofgren%20CA%20AG%20Harris.pdf
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Laurent

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1016 on: June 10, 2016, 09:41:32 PM »
Bet You Didn’t Hear Shell Spilled a Bunch of Oil in the Gulf
http://www.wired.com/2016/06/bet-didnt-hear-shell-spilled-bunch-oil-gulf/
Quote
On May 12, one of Shell’s subsea flow lines sprung a leak, and 88,200 gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. A Shell helicopter spotted the spill—at that point, roughly the size of Manhattan—floating about 90 miles south of Timbalier Island, Louisiana. By May 16, just three days after cleanup began, Shell and the US Coast Guard declared the case closed. With no oil left on the surface to recover, and no known impacts to wildlife, there wasn’t much more they could do. Are they great at dealing with oil spills these days or what?

Well, of course they aren’t.

Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1017 on: June 16, 2016, 06:46:13 PM »
Keeping it in the ground:  the SEC is forcing billions of barrels of oil and gas "proven reserves" off the books.

Why Billions in Proven Shale Oil Reserves Suddenly Became Unproven
Quote
Ultra Petroleum Corp. was a shale success story. A former penny stock that made the big leagues, it was worth almost $15 billion at its 2012 peak.

Then came the bust. Almost half of Ultra’s reserves were erased from its books this year. The company filed for bankruptcy on April 29 owing $3.9 billion.

Ultra’s rise and fall isn’t unique. Proven reserves -- gas and oil resources that are among the best measures of a company’s ability to reward its shareholders and repay its debts -- are disappearing across the shale patch. This year, 59 U.S. oil and gas companies deleted the equivalent of 9.2 billion barrels, more than 20 percent of their inventories, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It’s by far the largest amount since 2009, when the Securities and Exchange Commission tweaked a rule to make it easier for producers to claim wells that wouldn’t be drilled for years.

Wider Effort

The SEC routinely questions companies about their reserves. Now, agency investigators are also on the hunt for inflated reserves estimates, according to a person familiar with the matter.

“Reserves make up a large share of the value of these companies, so it really matters,” said David Woodcock, a partner at Jones Day in Dallas who served as the SEC regional director in Fort Worth, Texas, from 2011 to 2015. “They’re looking even more closely at how companies are booking reserves, how they’re evaluating the quality of those reserves and what their intentions really are. They’re not accepting pat answers.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-15/shale-drillers-paper-wells-draw-sec-scrutiny-before-vanishing
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1018 on: June 19, 2016, 03:09:54 AM »
Oil Industry Satellite for Measuring Climate Pollution Set to Launch
Group backed by Canada's government and major oil producers hopes GHGSat more accurately reads methane and carbon emissions in Alberta and beyond.
Quote
A $10 million dollar satellite will be launched next week to do something that has proved so elusive from the ground: comprehensively measuring the carbon dioxide and methane emissions billowing from Alberta's sprawling tar sands operations, and eventually fossil fuel operations anywhere.

The satellite, built by the Montreal-based GHGSat, is funded by a group including major oil sands producers and the Canadian government and will blast off into space from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India on June 21. The hope is that, once in place 318 miles above Earth, the satellite will produce measurements with a resolution 400 times finer than current satellites produce.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/17062016/oil-industry-tar-sands-satellite-climate-change-carbon-methane-emissions-pollution-ghgsat
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1019 on: June 19, 2016, 01:08:13 PM »
Scientists Urge Obama to Halt Oil Leasing in the Arctic
Quote
In a letter being delivered to the White House on Thursday, nearly 400 scientists from more than a dozen countries are urging President Obama to stop future oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean because of the significant environmental and climate risks associated with further fossil fuels exploration there.

“No new oil and gas leasing or exploration should be allowed in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in the foreseeable future,” the scientists said.
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/scientists-urge-obama-halt-oil-leasing-arctic-20457
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1020 on: June 19, 2016, 02:38:18 PM »
Nobody Wants to Wear the Oil Crown That Makes OPEC Richer
Quote
The world’s biggest oil importer. The title nobody wants.

For decades the U.S. held undisputed rights to the crown. Last year, China squeaked ahead for the first time amid growing demand and as rising U.S. shale production displaced overseas deliveries. The Middle Kingdom looked poised to become the center of the crude importing world.

Then $30 oil happened. U.S. drillers shut the most rigs in modern history, production began to fall and imports have rebounded. Chinese oil firms also shuttered output and kept demand growing. Now the two are neck and neck.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-17/china-s-march-to-biggest-oil-importer-hits-u-s-shale-roadblock
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1021 on: June 19, 2016, 07:29:49 PM »
House panel claims oversight of state climate probes into Exxon
Quote
A Republican-led congressional committee sought on Friday to assert oversight over inquiries that about 20 states are making into Exxon Mobil and climate change, reiterating demands to know more about state attorneys general's consultations with environmental groups.

In a letter, some 17 members of Congress and ranking members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee said they have broad jurisdiction that allows them to review investigations carried out by states. The committee was pushing back against state officials who have said they are not subject to federal oversight.
...

"People should be troubled by any attempt by members of Congress to silence or undercut basic investigatory authority by a state attorney general's office," said Cyndi Roy Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. "Our office will not be intimidated by oil industry-backed members of the U.S. House of Representatives."
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-exxon-mobil-climatechange-idUSKCN0Z400F
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1022 on: June 20, 2016, 08:02:49 PM »
U.S.:
A Quick Trip to the Oil Patch Shows Energy-Related Losses Rising
The Dallas Fed's southwest economy report sees noncurrent loans picking up at the region's banks.
Quote
"While noncurrent C&I loans have increased since the beginning of 2014, the pace quickened in the second half of 2015," the Dallas Fed said in its report, noting that the category now accounts for almost a third of district banks' total noncurrent loans — up from just 19 percent as recently as 2014.

That more energy borrowers are falling behind on their payments has prompted the Office of the Comptroller of Currency to issue new guidance in March governing how banks should lend to oil and gas companies. Of particular note, given the above, is the new mandate for banks to judge secured energy loans based on a borrower's total financing profile and ability to repay their debt, as opposed to the value of the underlying collateral. "Eliminating the value of the collateral backing the loans tightens the loan grading methodology, making it more likely that a loan will be downgraded and a bank will be forced to provision against future losses," the Dallas Fed said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-20/a-quick-trip-to-the-oil-patch-shows-energy-related-losses-rising
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1023 on: June 22, 2016, 12:54:24 PM »
The 13 GOP representatives defending against the Exxon investigations have ALL received money from ExxonMobil.

What Media Should Know About The House Science Committee Members Defending Exxon
http://mediamatters.org/research/2016/06/21/what-media-should-know-about-house-science-committee-members-defending-exxon/210539
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1024 on: June 22, 2016, 06:50:57 PM »
Satellite was launched successfully today.

Oil Industry Satellite for Measuring Climate Pollution Set to Launch
Quote
The satellite, built by the Montreal-based GHGSat, is funded by a group including major oil sands producers and the Canadian government and will blast off into space from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India on June 21. The hope is that, once in place 318 miles above Earth, the satellite will produce measurements with a resolution 400 times finer than current satellites produce.

While everyone agrees on the need for better measurements, nobody knows if the satellite can produce them.

Most of the scientists contacted by InsideClimate News questioned whether the company would succeed because satellite technology hasn't evolved enough to map emissions from specific sources, and its modeling would be too difficult to substantiate.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/17062016/oil-industry-tar-sands-satellite-climate-change-carbon-methane-emissions-pollution-ghgsat



Quote
In one go, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday launched 20 satellites. They include two student satellites from Indian universities and 17 of four foreign countries.
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/isros-20in1-mission-top-10-facts/article8758848.ece
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ghoti

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1025 on: June 23, 2016, 03:36:17 AM »
Actually I think there have been some recent examples of point sources being detected from orbit. SO2 sources found by satellite was in the news recently and also NASA showed the methane leak from Aliso Canyon.

I also think the trick is looking specifically where you already know there is a source which you want to measure. Thing about this satellite that makes me suspicious is it is  funded and promoted by the polluter. So you have to wonder how the data will be distorted.

Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1026 on: June 26, 2016, 03:27:24 AM »
German government agrees to ban fracking after years of dispute
Quote
German politicians have approved a law that bans fracking, ending years of dispute over the controversial technology to release oil and gas locked deep underground.

The law does not outlaw conventional drilling for oil and gas, leaving it to state governments to decide on individual cases.

But fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, which blasts a mixture of water, sand and chemicals underground to release shale oil and gas, will be banned.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/24/germany-bans-fracking-after-years-of-dispute
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1027 on: June 26, 2016, 08:57:29 PM »
The Rotten State of U.S. Oil Reserves
Quote
... In May 2015 the roof on a 1970s-era storage tank at Bryan Mound collapsed. It still hasn’t been repaired, because Congress hasn’t approved the funding. Corrosion ate through a water pipe at one of the Texas sites in April. Every day, salty, humid air gnaws at the network of pipelines and pumps that crisscrosses the wetlands. Thunderstorms put extra stress on the system. Changes in the earth’s pressure alter the capacity of the caves housing the reserves. “It’s a very complex infrastructure, and when you get to a point where it’s starting to age, then you just start to see problems,” says Robert Corbin, the U.S. Department of Energy’s deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Petroleum Reserves.
...
The reserve, created in the aftermath of the Arab oil embargo of the early 1970s, holds 695.1 million barrels of crude, the equivalent of three months’ worth of imports. The stockpile’s distribution system was designed with a 25-year life span, but it hasn’t been upgraded since the 1990s.
The big sale at 2018 in the graph below is "124 million barrels that the Republican-led Congress scheduled to start selling in fiscal 2018 to help close the federal deficit and pay for highway maintenance."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-23/the-rotten-state-of-u-s-oil-reserves
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1028 on: June 28, 2016, 01:18:31 PM »
In California, Study Finds Drilling and Fracking into Freshwater Formations
Quote
In California's farming heartland, as many as one of every five oil and gas projects occurs in underground sources of fresh water, according to a new study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/27062016/california-farming-heartland-oil-gas-drilling-fracking-freshwater-sources
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1029 on: July 01, 2016, 01:45:00 AM »
Canada's Northern Gateway pipeline approval overturned
Federal Court of Appeal finds Canada failed to consult with First Nations on pipeline project
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The Federal Court of Appeal has overturned approval of Enbridge's controversial Northern Gateway project after finding Ottawa failed to properly consult the First Nations affected by the pipeline.

"We find that Canada offered only a brief, hurried and inadequate opportunity … to exchange and discuss information and to dialogue," the ruling says.

"It would have taken Canada little time and little organizational effort to engage in meaningful dialogue on these and other subjects of prime importance to Aboriginal Peoples. But this did not happen."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/northern-gateway-pipeline-federal-court-of-appeal-1.3659561
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Sigmetnow

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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1031 on: July 02, 2016, 07:49:18 PM »
Wholesale electricity prices in the U.S. are no longer in lock-step with natural gas.  Gas is up, electricity is down.

Quote
Spot prices for the benchmark Western hub at PJM Interconnection LLC, the nation’s biggest grid, averaged $27.15 a megawatt hour in the first six months of the year, 34 percent below the year-earlier level.

“The underlying demand for power, the economic-related demand, is continuing to be very weak, maybe declining in a lot of regions,” Kit Konolige, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said Thursday by phone. “That makes a significant difference.”

As economic uncertainty limits power demand, other factors are also capping consumption. A new wave of efficient gas plants is replacing aging generators, while competition from renewable energy and nuclear reactors with fixed fuel costs helps keeps prices low. “They push down the price of power relative to the price of natural gas,” Konolige said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-30/biggest-u-s-gas-rally-in-16-years-leaves-electricity-behind
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1032 on: July 04, 2016, 07:17:39 PM »
Oil Rally Threatened as Gasoline Supply Surge Swamps U.S. Demand
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American drivers’ seemingly insatiable thirst for gasoline is running into a flood of supply.

Refineries across the nation are operating full-out and imports are pouring into the East Coast, boosting gasoline supplies to a record. At the same time, consumption has turned out to be less robust than thought. That’s weighed on prices, threatening to stem oil’s rebound from a 12-year low.

"Earlier this year there was a lot of hope that gasoline would lead crude higher," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York hedge fund focused on energy. "That’s not turned out to be the case and gasoline will soon be a weight on the market."
...
American motorists are projected to hit the road in record numbers during the July 4 holiday weekend, according to AAA. This hasn’t been enough to support prices, said Thomas Finlon, director of Energy Analytics Group LLC in Wellington, Florida.

"We came into the gasoline season well supplied and production has consistently exceeded demand," Finlon said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-03/oil-rally-threatened-as-gasoline-supply-surge-swamps-u-s-demand
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1033 on: July 05, 2016, 04:11:43 PM »
Fracking has moved US proven oil reserves above those both Saudi Arabia and Russia.  What are the chances that much of these proven reserves will stay in the ground?

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/05/

Edit: Per the following linked article, Saudi Arabia clearly has much more oil than their proven reserves indicate:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-oil-kemp-idUSKCN0ZL1X6
« Last Edit: July 05, 2016, 08:36:02 PM by AbruptSLR »
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1034 on: July 05, 2016, 05:01:09 PM »
Energy-Dependent States Reeling From Two-Year Commodity Crunch
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Energy-dependent U.S. states stepped over the threshold of fiscal 2017 only to face revenue shortfalls precipitated by the two-year-old oil and gas industry rout.

Some aren’t sure how they will pay for schools, health care, infrastructure and universities. Lawmakers in Alaska, Oklahoma, Louisiana and North Dakota already pared budgets by billions, raising taxes and cutting programs to the bone to fill deficits. These states, as well as Wyoming, are in the throes of recession even as the U.S. enters the seventh year of an economic expansion.
...
In Alaska, after a six-month standoff over how to fill a $4 billion deficit, Governor Bill Walker on June 29 vetoed $1.29 billion in budget bills and slashed next year’s spending for education and other programs. He put highway funding on hold and deferred $430 million in oil credits due to companies. He also cut in half an annual payout the state’s residents receive to $1,000. The governor called the legislature into a second special session July 11 to consider new ways to raise revenue rather than funding the shortfall with reserves.

Flanked by whiteboards that showed the dividend fund hitting zero in four years absent restructuring, and a fuel gauge representing reserves that have dropped to $2.5 billion today from $12.8 billion in 2014, Walker called on legislators facing re-election to take the politics out of budgeting.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-05/energy-dependent-states-reeling-from-two-year-commodity-crunch
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1035 on: July 05, 2016, 07:46:00 PM »
Grade-Grubbing Oil Producers Are Threatening to Boost U.S. Output Yet Again
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The recovery in crude to close to $50 per barrel has encouraged shale producers to double down on their most profitable fields — a process known in oil country as high grading.

This new trend threatens to force analysts to revisit calls for declining U.S. production, warned Morgan Stanley Commodity Strategist Adam Longson, and thereby constitutes a downside risk for prompt prices.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-05/grade-grubbing-oil-producers-are-threatening-to-boost-u-s-output-yet-again
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1036 on: July 12, 2016, 12:54:04 AM »
Colorado Fracking Study Blames Faulty Wells for Water Contamination
Faulty construction, rather than the fracking process, is found to have caused the methane leaks in one Colorado area.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11072016/water-contamination-near-colorado-fracking-tied-well-failures
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1037 on: July 17, 2016, 02:11:27 AM »
The Fake Factory That Pumped Out Real Money -- for Philip Rivkin, Green Diesel’s founder and chief executive.
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The biodiesel factory, a three-story steel skeleton crammed with pipes and valves, squatted on a concrete slab between a railroad track and a field of storage tanks towering over the Houston Ship Channel. Jeffrey Kimes, an engineer for the Environmental Protection Agency, arrived there at 9 a.m. on a muggy Wednesday in August 2011.

He’d come to visit Green Diesel, a company that appeared to be an important contributor to the EPA’s fledgling renewable fuels program, part of an effort to clean the air and lessen U.S. dependence on foreign fuel. In less than three years, Green Diesel had reported producing 50 million gallons of biodiesel. Yet Kimes didn’t know the company. He asked other producers, and they weren’t familiar with Green Diesel either. He thought he ought to see this business for himself.

Kimes, who works out of Denver, was greeted at the Green Diesel facility by a man who said he was the plant manager. He was the only employee there, which was odd. “For a big plant like that, you’re going to need a handful of people at least to run it, maintain it, and monitor the process,” says Kimes, a 21-year EPA veteran. The two toured the grounds, climbing metal stairways and examining the equipment. The place was weirdly still and quiet. Some pipes weren’t connected to anything. Two-story-high biodiesel mixing canisters sat rusting, the fittings on their tops covered in garbage bags secured with duct tape. Kimes started asking questions. “They showed me a log, and from that you could see they hadn’t been producing fuel for a long period of time,” he says. ...
http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-fake-biofuel-factory/
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sidd

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1038 on: July 17, 2016, 06:18:22 AM »
RIN fraud has been going on forawhile. The EPA is getting better at catching it though. I watched that guy in Maryland, and there were a couple others pulling the scam on the east coast.

Nothing close to LIBOR or forex or mortgage loan security fraud. No one goes to jail for those ...

sidd

Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1039 on: July 17, 2016, 09:42:12 PM »
Oil rich Colombia stays healthy, averting disaster from Venezuela, Brazil
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Colombia ranks behind Venezuela and Brazil as one of South America's largest oil exporters, the U.S. Energy Information Administration notes, producing about 1 million barrels per day. The worldwide cratering of global crude oil prices has undermined Colombia's public finances, and foreign direct investment took a nearly 26 percent nosedive in 2015 from the previous year, according to state investment agency Procolombia.

Yet partial privatization of the state oil company and solid fundamentals have helped the country withstand the collapse of oil prices better than its battered neighbors, and investors have slowly begun to creep back this year. It's part of a decade-long growth story the World Bank recently called "remarkable," pointing to Colombia's doubling in per-capita incomes and a tenfold rise in foreign investment over that time frame.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/15/oil-rich-colombia-stays-healthy-averting-disaster-from-venezuela-brazil.html
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1040 on: July 20, 2016, 08:08:12 PM »
Another California County Just Approved A Fracking Ban
Quote
Inaction on a state level has energized the California anti-fracking movement that is now pursuing county-wide bans. Their next battle ground is Monterey County, where voters will vote on a ban in November.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/07/20/3800133/alameda-fracking-ban/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1041 on: July 23, 2016, 12:46:47 AM »
Boston, New York Pay Up to Stay Cool in East Coast Heat Wave
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The higher electricity prices in the Northeast are in large part due to the region’s reliance on gas from outside the area to produce electricity.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-22/boston-new-york-paying-up-to-stay-cool-in-east-coast-heat-wave
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1042 on: July 26, 2016, 01:48:40 PM »
Oil price sinks as the supply glut continues.  Investors reduce their bets that the price will rise.  But oil executives insist a recovery will happen Real Soon Now.  ::)

Oil Falls Towards $44, Lowest Since May, on Glut Worries
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Oil on Tuesday hit its lowest since May, falling towards $44 a barrel, pressured by concerns that a long-awaited rebalancing of the market would be delayed due to excess supply.
...
Also dampening sentiment, many traders are reducing their bets on rising prices.

Hedge funds and other money managers cut their net long position - bets on rising prices - in Brent and U.S. crude futures and options by 31 million barrels to 453 million in the week ending on July 19.
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/energy/oil-falls-towards-44-lowest-may-glut-worries-n616826
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1043 on: July 26, 2016, 08:54:11 PM »
"Good luck selling pipelines now"
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Alberta’s hopes of persuading other provinces to accept oil pipelines took a hit last week when Husky Energy spilled a mixture of heavy oil and diluent out of its pipeline near Maidstone, Sask., into the North Saskatchewan River. The news got worse through the weekend as the oil spread down the North Saskatchewan, threatening the drinking water of North Battleford and Prince Albert.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/good-luck-selling-pipelines-now-388223252.html
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ghoti

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1044 on: July 27, 2016, 01:28:24 AM »
Important details of the spill are usually missing from the media reports. One is that the only method for containing the spill on the river continues to be floating booms. The fact that heavy oil and bitumen are too dense to float well seems to be ignored. The result is that the booms have repeatedly failed to contain the spill. Now two cities on the river have had to shutdown their water intakes. there is still no public estimate for when (perhaps if?) the cleanup will be complete.

longwalks1

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1045 on: July 27, 2016, 08:43:23 AM »
Similar issues about dil-bit sinking in the Kalamazoo River spill.  Covered fairly well in the past in DesmogBlog

http://www.desmogblog.com/dilbit-disaster-insideclimate-news-incredible-depth-report-enbridge-s-kalamazoo-oil-spill

http://www.pulitzer.org/files/2013/national-reporting/1-1pdf.pdf

Final cost of Kalamazoo (partial) clean up over one billion USD$


JimD

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1046 on: July 28, 2016, 02:53:27 PM »
Big additional carnage coming in the oil business.  The land of the Greatest Fools.

Another Berman post. 

We are looking at years of low volitile oil prices.  Bad for investors (like who cares of course) but it will also encourage continued consumption.

Quote
............
So how are these operators doing financially?

Terribly, despite preposterous stories of technology gains, costs approaching zero, and single-well EURs of 1 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Figure 7 shows the main rig operators in the Permian, Bakken and Eagle Ford plays. These companies spent an average of 4 times as much as they earned in the first quarter of 2016. And it’s been going on for years. Imagine doing that yourself.

Among Permian operators, Parsley spent more than 10 times cash flow and Energen, more than 6. Pioneer and Chevron spent 5 times more than they earned. Anadarko had negative cash from operations meaning that it didn’t even earn enough to pay for well operations.


EOG leads the drilling in the Eagle Ford play and only spends twice what it earns–among the best of a bad lot. Marathon, on the other hand, outspends earnings by more than 6-to-1 and ConocoPhillips is not much better at more than 4-to-1. Like Anadarko, Chesapeake has negative cash from operations and, therefore, does not appear in Figure 4.

In the Bakken play, Hess cannot even pay for well operations from its cash flow yet operates 5 rigs. Continental Resources leads Bakken drilling and has a respectable capex-to-cash flow ratio only spending $1.30 for every dollar it earns. Whiting outspends cash flow by almost 6-to-1 and Oasis has negative cash from operations.

The debt picture is equally grim.

It would take top tight oil rig operators an average of 10 years to pay off debt if all cash earned from oil and gas sales were exclusively for that purpose based on first quarter 2016 financial data–in other words, no drilling, no salaries, no nothing except debt payments (Figure 8). That’s way above standard tolerance for this critical measure of bank risk which is now about 4:1 but before 2012, it was closer to 2:1.


In the Permian basin, most operators have a debt-to-cash flow ratio of about 6:1 or 7:1. Chevron and Pioneer are much higher at 9.3:1 and 8.2:1, respectively. It would take Apache 8 years to pay off its debt and 7.4 years for Concho. Cimarex is somewhat lower at 4.4 years and not surprisingly XTO (ExxonMobil) is at 2.2 years.

In the Eagle Ford play, EOG has more debt than it could pay off in 6 years and Marathon has a stunning debt-to-cash flow ratio of almost 25! Conoco is not far behind at almost 18-to-one.

In the Bakken play, Continental would need 6 years to pay off its debt but Whiting leads all major tight oil players with a debt-to-cash flow ratio of 29-to-1!


Meanwhile, these companies tell investors tall tales of fantastic rates of return even at low oil prices that clearly do not pass even a superficial fact check using Google Finance or Yahoo Finance. Why would any rational investor give money to most of these companies?

.........


hahahaha!!!!!

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/07/oil-industry-about-to-be-burned-again-by-fall-in-oil-prices.html
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1047 on: July 28, 2016, 09:47:21 PM »
Excessive gasoline production in the first half of 2016 has led to a gas glut.
"The U.S. Is Swimming in Gas...   ...And So Is Europe."

Here's Why It's All Downhill for Oil Refiners
Quote
As earnings season gets into full swing, a casual glance at the fundamentals shows there is little for refiners to be excited about. Excessive production in the first half on the back of wider margins has resulted in a glut of refined product that is now coming back to bite. Whatever numbers are issued, it is likely to be all downhill from here. "East coast gasoline stockpiles have grown substantially in the past six months due to the oversupply in the market and imports from Europe," said Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst Gurpal Dosanjh. "This oversupply will likely weigh on Atlantic Basin refining margins for the remainder of 2016, leading to run-cuts after summer."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-28/here-s-why-it-s-all-downhill-for-oil-refiners
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1048 on: July 30, 2016, 01:34:12 AM »
Foreign Buyers of U.S. Propane Don’t Want What They Paid For
Quote
Buying propane cargoes from the U.S. Gulf Coast is becoming so painful for foreign buyers locked into long-term agreements that they’re paying to stop shipments.

It’s now cheaper for Asian buyers to pay a multimillion-dollar fee to cancel Gulf Coast contracts and then purchase a spot cargo from the Middle East, according to Kendall Puig, senior analyst at S&P Global Platts Bentek, and that’s what’s happening.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-28/foreign-buyers-of-u-s-propane-don-t-want-what-they-paid-for



$60 Is the New $50 for U.S. Oil Drillers Contemplating Rebound
Quote
> Hess, Anadarko cite $60 mark in second-quarter earnings calls
> Oil companies cautious following last year’s false starts

For U.S. oil drillers, $60 is the new $50.

Earlier this year, oil and natural gas companies facing the worst slump in a generation said they’d need crude to reach $50 a barrel before resuming drilling. This week, despite higher prices and lower costs, the industry has raised the bar, signaling it will take $60 or better before meaningful production can resume.

“The industry doesn’t want to ramp things up until they are fairly confident prices will hold up,” said Brian Youngberg, an energy analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis, in a telephone interview. “I think the industry has learned that it needs to get away from this boom-bust scenario.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-28/-60-is-the-new-50-for-u-s-oil-drillers-contemplating-rebound
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Oil and Gas Issues
« Reply #1049 on: July 30, 2016, 01:36:20 AM »
An Oil Pipeline Nearly As Long As Keystone XL Has Been Fully Approved
Quote
Despite several months of heavy opposition, an oil pipeline slated to cut through four Midwestern states has all the regulatory permits it needs for full build-out.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave the final blessing to the Dakota Access pipeline on Tuesday. Developers now have the last set of permits they need to build through the small portion of federal land the line crosses, which includes major waterways like the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers.

The so-called Bakken pipeline goes through mostly state and private land in North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, and Iowa. It received the last state permit in March. Construction has been ongoing in some areas, although some landowners have pending court cases as they object to the eminent domain powers the company got.

Tribes too opposed the project, claiming the pipeline would harm wildlife and Sioux sacred land in northwest Iowa. The Army Corps of Engineers delayed their permits in part to review how sacred land could be avoided, and concluded the line would run underneath. The final set of permits approved relate to crossing waterways.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/07/28/3802907/bakken-pipeline-gets-full-approval/
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