May 2016, Vol. 243, No. 5

Association News The American Petroleum Institute last month presented its 2015 Distinguished Safety and Environmental Award to Chevron Pipe Line Co. and Wolverine Pipe Line Co. This is API’s highest safety and environmental performance award for pipeline operators and was presented to the compani..

A new book should be at the top of the reading list for everyone in the industry. It’s entitled The Green and the Black, The Complete Story of the Shale Revolution, the Fight over Fracking, and the Future of Energy, by Gary Sernovitz, a managing director of an oil and gas private equity firm in New ..

Chevron Corp. announced March 20 that its first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Gorgon Project has departed Barrow Island off the northwest coast of Western Australia. The cargo was to be delivered to one of Chevron’s foundation buyers, Chubu Electric Power, for delivery into Japan...

The Canadian oilpatch is facing unprecedented challenges from uncontrollable forces outside its borders where oil prices and the vast majority of supply and demand are determined. There are a variety of variables. A light tight oil boom in the U.S. adding production in volumes not so long ago thoug..

A report released March 30 by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) suggests that Australia could become the largest LNG bas exporter within three years. The EIA said the massive Gorgon project shipped its first cargo to Japan earlier in the month and that three more projects in eastern A..

Iran’s Feb. 26 parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections saw strong gains for pragmatic forces, heralding a new openness in Iran and a much better window of opportunity for foreign businesses and the development of the country’s further oil and gas potential. While no one won a solid majority..

Special to Pipeline & Gas Journal These are certainly difficult times for the oil and gas industry, and unfortunately there is no quick end in sight for this downturn. Because this is a cyclical industry, hard decisions have to be made by management trying to protect their stressed operations. Tho..

In their latest effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, 37 AGA-member natural gas utilities launched the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Natural Gas STAR Methane Challenge Program on March 30, whereby oil and gas companies can make and track commitments to reduce emissions and showcase eff..

Stan Horton has seen it all during his 40 years in the natural gas industry: the historic unbundling of the pipelines; shortages and perceived shortages of the commodity; the downfall of once-mighty Enron Corp.; the shale revolution; and the periodic, nerve-wracking up-and-down cycles where natural ..

After years of isolation, Iran has emerged from the economic shackles of sanctions and is rapidly trying to lock in energy alliances in the Gulf, Europe and Asia. The Islamic Republic’s ailing energy industry is expected to thrive in 2016, with up to 500,000 bpd of additional crude oil entering the ..

Iran’s waterborne crude oil exports reached 53.4mn bbls, or 1.7mn bpd in March 2016, up 140,000 bpd from February 2016, as the country sends more crude to India following the removal of economic sanctions in January 2016. Iran’s export target markets have shifted in 2016 from East Asian to Indian r..

The United States and Canada work well together. The countries share the world’s largest and most comprehensive trade relationship, exchanging over $2 billion per day in goods and services; the U.S. is Canada’s largest foreign investor and Canada is the third-largest foreign investor in the U.S. The..

As energy commodity prices continued flat-lining at the start of 2016, a favored financial tool of the midstream oil and natural gas sector – the master limited partnership (MLP) – was under siege, buffeted by skeptical Wall Street analysts and wary unitholders alike. A financial staple that had he..

Global gas prices have continued to sink, with European and Asian import prices falling 30% over the last year,[1] and Henry Hub prices reaching a more than 16-year low.[2] So after multiple years of construction and some delays, it has been a less than auspicious year for many of the United States ..

Pipeline industry executives are pouring over the 500-plus page safety proposal from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), an effort that will take some time before informed comments can be made. The initial comment deadline is at the end of May. “The typical 60 days in..

Significant changes loom over the global gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) market in 2016, as emerging players backed by huge reserves start to elbow established suppliers aside. Will a sanctions-free Iran, home to the world’s second-largest gas reserves, realize its regional supply agreements? An..

Like many utilities operating in urban areas, The Laclede Group is faced with aging infrastructure. The company is tackling this challenge head on by undertaking a major upgrade to natural gas distribution systems operated by its three subsidiaries: Laclede Gas in St. Louis, Missouri Gas Energy in ..

The U.S. gas infrastructure has undergone significant changes in the last decade. The oil story has been closely covered by the media both domestically and internationally. We are all aware that domestic U.S. oil production has risen so dramatically that its dependency on imports has fallen to the e..

It seems hard to believe, but we may never build another pipeline in Canada. A nation whose wealth is closely tied to resources seems to have suddenly decided that economic stagnation is preferable to any project that might – and I stress the word might – have a negative effect on the environment. ..

Williams’ second off-gas liquids extraction plant, a key asset in the company’s Canadian midstream and petrochemical complex is up and running. The new plant boosts domestic production of feedstocks and significantly reduces emissions in the oil sands production process, while recovering valuable na..

What Energy Executives Should Be Asking Themselves Today In the first half of 2015, Chesapeake trailed only ExxonMobil as the top producer of natural gas. At the time, natural gas was down over half from the $6.15/MMBtu peak seen in the previous year, sliding daily. Highly hedged, $10 billion in d..

Increased pipeline infrastructural investments coupled with high exploration and production activities in the oil and gas sector and high consumer demand for energy will propel growth in the European oil and gas pipeline leak detection market, according to a report issued by Research and Markets. T..

Pittsburgh is repackaging itself as an energy innovation city, with new research facilities ramping up at the University of Pittsburgh. The new Energy Innovation Center will be a place where private industry, universities and foundations come together to work on research in a space that hosts job tr..

An explosion in Bayonne, NJ on March 30 injured three contractors installing a new gas main on a street named to honor Korean War veterans. Public Service Electric & Gas said the workers were testing the pipe with air, which is standard practice, when the incident occurred on Chosin Few Way in a s..

The same year a broken Sempra Energy storage well created the biggest natural gas leak in U.S. history, CEO Debra Reed earned her largest bonus yet. While Reed received no payout for the part of her 2015 bonus that’s tied to customer satisfaction and pipeline safety at two Sempra utilities, amounti..

U.S. production of hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGL) – a group of products including ethane, propane, butanes and natural gasoline – is expected to increase from 3.86 MMbpd in 2015 to 4.33 MMbpd in 2017, according to EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook. HGLs are produced at both natural gas processing plan..

Plans are moving forward to build the biggest new U.S. refinery since 1976, at a time when gasoline consumption is expected to break an all-time record in 2016. California-based Meridian Energy Group hopes to start construction on the Davis Refinery in North Dakota near the Bakken shale play, which ..

Even in the face of low prices, U.S. natural gas production hit its highest level ever. Average daily output in the U.S. set a record in February of 73.3 Bcf, up about 2% from the previous month, Platts Bentek said. The Energy Information Administration reported March 24 that producers had begun sto..

The Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE) policy paper, Natural Gas as a Bridge Fuel – Measuring the Bridge, recognized the role natural gas plays in phasing out the nation’s use of dirtier fossil fuels, but concluded specific plans are needed to chart a course away from all fossil fuel use to achieve..

Solomon Natural Gas Services (Solomon) recently released its Gas Demand for Alberta Oil Sands to 2025 report,[1] which represents the first major revision by Solomon in 10 years; driven primarily by the slide in oil and bitumen prices since late 2014. The report analyzes more than 150 producing, un..

Tallgrass Development’s wholly owned subsidiary, Rockies Express Holdings, has signed a purchase agreement with a unit of Sempra U.S. Gas and Power to acquire Sempra’s 25% membership interest in Rockies Express Pipeline LLC for $440 million, subject to adjustment under the purchase agreement. “Sinc..

The country’s second-biggest producer of steel is dismissing as many as 770 workers and shuttering two plants that make tubes used in oil drilling as energy companies cut production. U.S. Steel may cut as many as 450 union-represented jobs at its Lone Star Tubular Operations in eastern Texas and 20..

Alberta has a glut of oil and natural gas hanging over the energy markets these days, but there’s another commodity piling up in the province, waiting to burst out: frustration. According to the Calgary Herald, frustration was a prevailing theme for the province’s energy minister – and many industr..

Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG awarded Spiecapag, a subsidiary of Entrepose (VINCI Group), the EPC contract for three legs of the onshore Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project. One, in Greece between Kipoi and Kavala, is 185 km, while two, between Bilisht and Topoje in Albania, total 215 km. Also, Hill..

Transportadora Brasilera Gasoducto Bolivia-Brazil S.A. (TBG) has awarded Atmos International Ltd. a contract to provide the online pipeline simulation software for the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline that runs from Corumbá, in Mato Grosso do Sul, to Canoas, in Rio Grande do Sul. The pipeline supplies di..

Excelerate Energy’s upgraded floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) Explorer recently completed its send-out performance tests and reached a send-out capacity of 1 Bcf/d – an unprecedented milestone for an FSRU. The FSRU is under long-term charter to the Dubai Supply Authority (DUSUP) at th..

India’s state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. will enter into partnerships with overseas oilfield service providers to boost output from aging oil and gas fields, according to Rigzone. The ONGC chairman has reportedly had discussions with Schlumberger NV and Halliburton regarding capital i..

Penspen was named project management consultant to Abu Dhabi Marine Operation Company (ADMA-OPCO) for the ongoing work on Das Island in the UAE. Penspen will be involved in the upgrade or replacement of various pipeline networks, studies on an oil spill response hub to serve Das Island and offshore..

Punj Lloyd won an EPC contract valued at $404 million from the Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company and Oman Gas Company (OGC), which are owned by the government of the Sultanate of Oman and Oman Oil Company SAOC. The contract awards, reported by Gulf Oil & Gas, indicated the scope ..

Russia is responsible for 25 key crude and natural gas projects expected to commence operations by 2025, dominating the Former Soviet Union’s (FSU) oil and gas production, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData. The company’s latest report, Production and Capital Expenditure Outlook f..

TransCanada received the last two of 10 pipeline and facilities permits required from the BC Oil and Gas Commission (OGC) for the Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project. The project now has approval for construction and operation of the proposed pipeline and related facilities. The $4.8 billion pipeline ..

Cabot Oil & Gas announced the Constitution Pipeline Co. has pushed back its projected in-service from the fourth quarter of 2016 to the second half of 2017. The adjustment is to ensure compliance with the environmental conditions of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the U.S. Fish and W..

G2X Energy and partner the Proman Group have an engineering services contract with Toyo Engineering Corp. for a methanol production plant in Lake Charles, LA.   Toyo will provide basic engineering for offsite and utility facilities, and detailed engineering of the complete methanol facility. Once c..

DTE Gas will invest $1.4 billion in its Michigan natural gas pipeline infrastructure over the next five years to maintain the safety and reliability of its system. Plans call for DTE to modernize its cast-iron and steel main pipelines with more durable material. New service lines to homes and busine..

All required regulatory approvals and permits have been received for Duke Energy’s combined-cycle natural gas plant in Citrus County, FL. Fluor has started hiring workers and crews are clearing the land and building the site up 8 feet for flood protection. The plant’s first 820 MW is expected to com..

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has prepared a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Golden Pass LNG Export Project. Proposed by Golden Pass Products, LLC and Golden Pass Pipeline, LLC, the project includes construction, modification and operation of facilities in Texas..

KBR won a multi-phased contract for front-end engineering and design (FEED) for the Woodfibre LNG Project in the District of Squamish near Vancouver, B.C. KBR’s Houston office will provide FEED services for the proposed 2.1 million mtpa liquefaction plant and export facility. The work will include F..

After a successful binding open season, Medallion Pipeline is moving forward on an expansion of its West Texas crude system. The project involves 49 miles of new pipeline in Howard County to an interconnect on Medallion’s Wolfcamp connector mainline in Glasscock County to transport 45,000 bpd of cru..

Primus Green Energy plans to deliver a 160 measured tons per day (MT/d) methanol plant to a manufacturing site in the Marcellus Shale. Production from the plant is scheduled to begin in 2017 for regional distribution, with three additional trains added in coming years, which are expected to increase..

Monterra Energy is planning a refined products pipeline to improve efficiency and competition in central Mexico. The midstream company said it has an equity commitment from KKR, a global investment firm specializing in the development and acquisition of midstream infrastructure in Mexico. The proje..

Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) re-opened the Energy East application to participate process (ATP) for a three-week period, running through April 20. Energy East is a 2,795-mile pipeline designed to carry 1.1 MMbpd of crude oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan to refineries in Eastern Canada. The..

The Woodlands, TX-based NextDecade, a development and management company of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to site, construct and operate Rio Grande LNG. The proposed 27 mtpa LNG export facility near Brownsville, TX. F..

Oryx Midstream Services subsidiary Oryx Southern Delaware Oil Gathering and Transport launched an additional binding open season to secure volume commitments and acreage dedications in support of the extension of the Oryx Trans Permian (OTP) pipeline system. The crude oil gathering and transportati..

Rangeland Energy has begun development of the South Texas Energy Products System (STEPS). STEPS is an integrated hydrocarbon logistics system that will receive and store refined products, LPG and other hydrocarbons at a new terminal hub in Corpus Christi, TX for transport primarily to Mexico. In th..

UGI Sunbury, a subsidiary of UGI Energy Services, received a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to construct and operate the 35-mile-long Sunbury Pipeline in central Pennsylvania. The pipeline, comprised of 20-inch steel pipeline and..

Woodside affiliate, Woodside Energy (USA) Inc. (WUSA), has entered into a project development agreement (PDA) with Sempra LNG & Midstream, an affiliate of Sempra Energy, to assess construction of the Port Arthur LNG natural gas liquefaction facility in Port Arthur, TX. If the project moves forward,..

Special to Pipeline & Gas Journal Rotork CMA electric control valve actuators provide an efficient and reliable process control solution that enables remote shale gas installations to operate in compliance with new U.S. government environmental legislation related to venting and greenhouse gas emis..

Special to Pipeline & Gas Journal Gold Shovel Standard, a non-profit association created for the purpose of expanding the Gold Shovel Standard program, announced March 23 that PG&E, Xcel Energy, Kinder Morgan and Dominion Virginia Power have joined together as foundational members to further develo..

After increasing in 2013 and in 2014, energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fell in 2015. In 2015, U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions were 12% below the 2005 levels, mostly because of changes in the electric power sector. Energy-related CO2 emissions can be reduced by consuming le..

A report by Rystad Energy has revealed that new oil discoveries in 2015 totaled 12.1 billion barrels, which is the least amount of new oil discovered in a single year since 1952. Last year was also the fifth year in a row in which the amount of new reserves discovered was smaller than in the previo..

Saudi construction giant Binladin group has laid off tens of thousands of workers, leading to rare protests, as workers torch seven buses demanding compensation as low oil prices begin to bite in earnest. The numbers of layoffs range from 50,000 to 77,000, many of who say they were not paid for sev..

NEW YORK (AP) — FMC Technologies will attempt to merge with Technip in an all-stock deal worth about $13 billion to create a larger player in the energy services sector. The shareholders of each company would own about 50 percent of the combined company, which would be named TechnipFMC. It would ha..

The third largest gas producer in the US, Anadarko Petroleum Corp, is reportedly planning to sell assets in three states as it seeks to raise $3 billion amid setbacks stemming from depressed oil prices. The Woodlands-based energy company hopes to raise between $300 million and $600 millionfor each ..

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — The oil market is slowly recovering from its steep drop over the past two years but crude is still not trading at a “fair price” to encourage necessary investment, Qatar’s energy and industry minister said Tuesday, ahead of next week’s meeting of OPEC producers. Speaking to The A..

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Aruban government and Venezuela’s Citgo Petroleum Corp. are finalizing an agreement to reopen an oil refinery that has been shuttered since 2009. Aruban Energy Minister Mike de Mesa says the accord calls for the rehabilitation of the facility and provides the U.S.-b..

Oil prices jumped on Thursday as surprise outages came from Canada and Libya, reversing several days of losses. WTI and Brent surged by more than 4 percent in early trading on May 5. The hellish wildfires sweeping swathes of Alberta near Fort McMurray forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of p..

WASHINGTON (AP) — An oil and natural gas field in the western United States is largely responsible for a global uptick of the air pollutant ethane, according to a new study. The team led by researchers at the University of Michigan found that fossil fuel production at the Bakken Formation in North ..

Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE)  continues to modernize the natural gas system serving customers in central Maryland, replacing more than 52 miles of gas mains in the first two full years under the company’s Strategic Infrastructure Development and Enhancement (STRIDE) plan. Another 45 miles of ga..

As if the current oil markets weren’t tough enough for producers, companies are increasingly finding that regulators are making it harder to drill new sources of oil. For instance, BP was recently told by regulators that it will need to revise and resubmit its plan to explore for oil off of the Sout..

Oil Major BP is reportedly considering the sale of a minority stake in the Forties pipeline in the North Sea. The company said that it opened negotiations with potential buyers but failed to reveal details on the sale. The pipeline system is capable of carrying and processing some 1 million bar..

SEATTLE (AP) — Canada energy regulators on Thursday recommended approval of a pipeline-expansion project that would dramatically increase the number of oil tankers moving through the waters between the U.S. and Canada. The National Energy Board recommended the federal government conditionally appro..

NEW YORK (AP) — Cheniere Energy is naming Jack Fusco as CEO after the natural gas company’s previous CEO was forced out under pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn. Fusco was most recently executive chairman of Calpine Corp., which generates electricity from natural gas. He was CEO of the Hous..

Low oil prices and spending cuts are cutting into China’s oil production, a little known source of output declines that are helping to balance the market. New data shows that China’s oil production fell 5.6 percent in April compared to the same month a year earlier, falling to just 4.04 million bar..

ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) — Construction is underway in three of four states on a $3.8 billion pipeline that will carry oil from western North Dakota to Illinois. Work on the Dakota Access Pipeline has begun in North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois, spokeswoman Lisa Dillinger told the American News (ht..

FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta (AP) — Canadian officials waited for dawn Friday to see whether it will be safe for a convoy of evacuees to get out of the fire-ravaged Fort McMurray area. Gasoline tankers were being sent in to top up fuel tanks for a drive to the south. Meanwhile, a mass airlift of evacuee..

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The estimated cost of a massive gas well blowout that spewed methane uncontrollably for nearly four months and uprooted 8,000 Los Angeles families has more than doubled to $665 million, Sempra Energy announced Wednesday. San Diego-based Sempra had estimated costs of $330 million ..

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston’s efforts to use local clean air laws to regulate pollution in the home of the nation’s largest petrochemical complex were halted Friday by a Texas Supreme Court ruling in favor of energy and chemical companies that claimed the city had overreached. The coalition made up of E..

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Crews in North Dakota excavated pastureland after more than 120,000 gallons of oil and drilling wastewater overflowed from a tank, the state Health Department said Friday. The spill happened Wednesday morning near Marmarth in southwestern North Dakota at a site operated by Pla..

During the first three months of 2016, crude oil prices were relatively more volatile than in recent history. This elevated volatility occurred when overall oil prices were low, and volatility was driven by high uncertainty related to supply, demand, and inventories. Crude oil price volatility has d..

World energy consumption is projected to increase by 48% over the next three decades, led by strong increases in the developing world—especially in Asia, according to International Energy Outlook 2016(IEO2016), released today by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Rising incomes in Ch..

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s recently released International Energy Outlook 2016 (IEO2016) projects that world energy consumption will grow by 48% between 2012 and 2040. Most of this growth will come from countries that are not in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develop..

MARSHALL, Mich. (AP) — A pipeline company says it expects $62 million in fines and penalties related to a 2010 Michigan oil spill. In a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Enbridge says $55 million represents penalties under federal water law. The Alberta-based company says n..

Canadian oil and gas producer Encana is reportedly planning to sell off more major shale assets in western Canada, after the company reported earlier this month major loss for the year’s first quarter and fall of revenue. Encana, the second-largest gas producer in North America, is looking to sell ..

An Italian Eni pipeline has been attacked again, for the fourteenth time this year, putting 4,200 barrels of oil per day of Eni production offline amid a resurgence in militancy. An Eni spokesman contacted by UPI confirmed the attack late on Saturday on the Ogbaimbiri-Tebidaba pipeline in Bayelsa s..

Australian Entek Energy Limited has entered into an agreement with Houston-based Peregrine Oil & Gas to sell the company’s entire Gulf of Mexico portfolio for almost $3 million as market conditions continue to take their toll. Entek will be divesting its 38-percent interest in the GA A133 block and..

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Former Brazilian energy minister Pedro Parente has been named by acting President Michel Temer as the new CEO of state-run oil giant Petrobras. Parente was picked Thursday to replace Aldemir Bendine, an appointee of now suspended President Dilma Rousseff. The new Petrobras CEO..

For decades, hydraulic fracturing had been referred to as an unconventional completion technique, but over the past 10 years it has become the technique by which most natural gas is produced in the United States. Based on the most recent data from states, EIA estimates that natural gas production fr..

PARIS (AP) — France has started using its fuel reserves to deal with gasoline shortages caused by strikes and protests over a bill weakening worker protections. Unions are targeting the nation’s gas tanks, railroads and electricity network this week as they try to push the government to drop the la..

After years of debate, political jockeying and acrimony, a major pipeline project to bring natural gas to Southern Europe has broken ground. The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will connect the Caspian Sea to European markets, providing Europe with another large source of natural gas that will help t..

DALLAS (AP) — Halliburton and Baker Hughes, whose planned merger is the latest big deal to be shot down by antitrust regulators, now must pick up the pieces and shore up their companies during a severe slump in oil and gas drilling. The two Houston companies are key components of the U.S. energy-ex..

PARIS (AP) — The International Energy Agency said Thursday that higher than expected Iranian oil production has helped stabilize the global oil market by offsetting concerns generated by wildfires in Canada and violence in Nigeria. In its monthly report, the Paris-based IEA said global oil output r..

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Discovery of an archaeological site that may have cultural significance to Native Americans could further delay construction of a $3.8 billion oil pipeline if government officials require the route to be moved. Houston-based Dakota Access LLC wants to build the pipeline — de..

India’s state-owned oil and gas giant ONGC risks losing a massive Persian Gulf gas field in a contracting hurdle, as it races against Saudi Arabia to extract gas reserves from two fields spanning the Iran-Saudi Arabia border. India’s flagship explorer does not have the necessary contract to exploit..

U.S. consumption of natural gas is projected to rise from 28 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2015 to 34 Tcf in 2040, an average increase of about 1% annually, according to EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2016 (AEO2016) Reference case. The industrial and electric power sectors make up 49% and 34% of this gr..

The latest drilling productivity report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has shown that the Marcellus shale continues to be the largest source of natural gas in the U.S. by a wide margin, with daily amounts that put it on par with leading international producers such as Iran and Qata..

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — India said Monday it will invest up to $500 million in a deal to develop a strategic port in Iran and both countries planned a number of projects they say are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The deal and plans were announced during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendr..

ITC Pipeline Company announced it launched an open season for a new petroleum products pipeline system south of Houston in Pasadena, TX. The system consists of two 36-inch injecting pipelines and two 16-inch return lines running 1.7 miles between a terminal and interconnections with Colonial and Exp..

A senior Kuwait Petroleum Corp official has confirmed to media the company’s plans to increase production by 44 percent to almost 4 million barrels a day in 2020. The plan is a continuation of current attempts to pump as much crude as possible and tender new E&P projects in the Persian Gulf. In addi..

Specialty gas supplier Linde has expanded its plant turnaround, maintenance, repair and overhaul, and pipeline services capabilities to include the Gulf Coast region from a new facility located in Baytown, TX. With a secure supply of industrial gases from its recently completed air separation units ..

Natural gas-fired power generation increased 19% in 2015, because of low natural gas prices, increased gas-fired generation capacity, and coal power plant retirements. EIA’s May 2016 Short-Term Energy Outlook forecasts that this year, natural gas-fired generation will exceed coal generation in the U..

The U.S. average retail price for gasoline was $2.30 per gallon (gal) on May 23, 47 cents per gallon (cents/gal) lower than at the same time last year, and the lowest average price just before Memorial Day weekend (the start of the summer driving season) since 2009. Lower gasoline prices reflect low..

WARRI, Nigeria (AP) — Militants bombed a pipeline feeding electricity to Chevron’s Escravos terminal Thursday, shutting down the U.S.-based oil major’s onshore operations in Nigeria, the attackers and residents said. It was the third assault on a Chevron Nigeria facility this month. It’s the latest..

As Libya prepares to resume oil exports from the blockaded port of Hariga amid a month-long standoff between rival governments seeking over control of the country’s oil wealth, the global crude glut could suffer another negative jolt. Libyan oil officials have reportedly told Reuters that an agreem..

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — The majority of Canada’s oil sands industry has stopped production and will only start back up when it is “absolutely safe” but that should happen soon, Alberta’s premier said Tuesday after meeting with company officials to discuss the impact of the massive wildfire that des..

Mozambique is heading towards a major default on outstanding loans related to offshore natural gas infrastructure, symbolizing the deflating hopes for a major source of new natural gas production from East Africa. The state-owned Mozambique Asset Management is set to default on $535 million in loan..

Navitas Midstream Partners, LLC announced yesterday the execution of a long-term gas purchase agreement with Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. Under the agreement, Navitas will purchase Encana’s gas from its substantial acreage position in Howard County, Texas.  Navitas will gather gas into a new system c..

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire is a big step closer to getting a $236 million judgment after the U.S. Supreme Court said this week it wouldn’t hear Exxon Mobil’s appeal regarding its use of a gasoline additive that contaminated groundwater in the state. The case involved MTBE, or methyl tertiar..

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s government announced Wednesday it is lifting a controversial subsidy on gas, nearly doubling the price amid a massive fuel shortage and militant attacks on oil installations in Africa’s biggest petroleum producer. Previous attempts to end the subsidy have provoked ri..

TROMSOE, Norway (AP) — Norway awarded on Wednesday 10 new licenses for offshore oil and gas exploration in the Barents Sea, including three in previously untouched waters near the Russian border. The Oil Ministry said it is the first time new acreage has been opened for drilling in Norwegian waters..

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — American Energy Partners, the Oklahoma City-based oil and natural gas company founded by the late energy tycoon Aubrey McClendon, is shutting down. The company’s leadership team released a statement Wednesday saying it had decided to wind down operations but the five independen..

Petroleo Brasileiro, Brazil’s state-owned, heavily indebted oil giant, has closed the sell-off of its Argentinean business to local Pampa Energia for US$892 million and its Chilean subsidiary to investment firm Southern Cross for $490 million. The combined value of the deals represents a small port..

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) pushed back the deadline for comments on the proposed natural gas transmission rule until July 7. The proposed regulations would update critical safety requirements for natural gas transmission pipelines and expand risk-based safety..

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An oil pipeline company responsible for a massive spill on the California coast a year ago didn’t do enough to prevent corrosion and its operators didn’t detect and react to the spill quickly enough, federal regulators said Thursday. Plains All American Pipeline also didn’t have ..

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Texas oil pipeline company responsible for spilling more than 140,000 gallons of crude on the California coast last year has been indicted on dozens of criminal charges, the company said Tuesday. Plains All American Pipeline and one of its employees face 46 counts of state law ..

Investigators have found evidence of corrosion on a natural gas pipeline that exploded in a massive fireball in Pennsylvania last week, scorching trees a quarter-mile away, damaging homes and burning a fleeing homeowner, the federal pipeline safety agency said Wednesday. The cause of Friday’s blast..

Global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are projected to increase by one-third between 2012 and 2040 in EIA’s International Energy Outlook 2016 (IEO2016) Reference case, largely driven by increased energy use in countries outside of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developm..

SEATTLE (AP) — Hundreds of climate activists on Saturday marched to the site of two refineries in northwest Washington state to call for a break from fossil fuels, while a smaller group continued to block railroad tracks leading to the facilities for a second day. Protesters in kayaks, canoes, on b..

In 2015, more than 70% of the crude oil produced in the Lower 48 states was light oil with an API gravity above 35 degrees. At the same time, 90% of imported crude oil was heavier, with a gravity below 35 degrees API. To accommodate increasing U.S. production of light crude oil, refineries have adju..

Mexican Energy Secretary Pedro Joaquin Coldwell used the launch of a regional oil and gas forum Thursday in the nation’s capital to reiterate his country’s commitment to the reform of its domestic energy market. Citing measures initiated by President Enrique Peña Nieto and approved by the nation’s ..

Investors pondering their choices as oil prices continue to recover must attempt to determine which firms are the best investments. The problem is that every company management team is trying to put the best spin on their results in quarterly conference calls and investor presentations. As a result,..

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia on Saturday announced the ouster of its longtime oil minister as part of a larger ongoing government shakeup. A royal decree announced that Ali al-Naimi has been replaced by former Health Minister and Saudi Aramco board chairman Khaled al-Falih. Al-N..

WARRI, Nigeria (AP) — In a story May 11 about attacks on Nigerian oil installations, The Associated Press erroneously reported that Shell had closed its Bonny oil terminal. Shell declared force majeure but exports continue. A corrected version of the story is below: Shell declared force majeure on..

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The only company to drill an exploratory oil well in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea following a 2008 federal lease sale confirmed Tuesday it has relinquished nearly all of its leases. Royal Dutch Shell PLC formally relinquished all but one of its leases in the waters off Alaska’s nor..

Officials at Shell Oil Co. say crews have repaired an underground pipeline after it broke and spilled up to 21,000 gallons of oil in rural Northern California. Company spokesman Ray Fisher said Tuesday that workers are running small amounts of oil through the pipeline to test it and are working on ..

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Crews were preparing to clean up an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after about 88,200 gallons of oil were released from a Shell flow line about 90 miles off the coast of Louisiana, the company said Friday. Shell said five boats were dispatched to clean up oil they can skim off t..

After making a $21-million wire payment to a fraudulent company account claiming to be that of Saudi Aramco, South Korea’s largest petrochemical company, LG Chem, is now seeking a full investigation and state assistance to recover its loss. The $21-million payment was destined for Saudi Aramco, whi..

Southern Company and AGL Resources have received regulatory approval of the companies’ proposed merger from the Maryland Public  Service Commission, with all intervening parties in support of the previously announced settlement agreement. AGL Resources is the parent company of Elkton Gas, a regulat..

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A new study says the oil-producing region of North Dakota and Montana leaks 275,000 tons of methane annually, an amount that’s less than previously reported. Researchers say it’s the first field study of methane emissions from the Bakken shale formation. Methane is a greenhous..

The total U.S. rig count (both oil and gas) fell again this week from 406 to 404. While the U.S. oil rig count held fast at 318 as reported by Baker Hughes’ latest oil rig count, the U.S. gas rig count fell from 87 to 85. Last week, it was the number of U.S. oil rigs that had fallen, with U.S. gas ..

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will not hear Exxon Mobil’s appeal of a $236 million judgment for its use of a gasoline additive that contaminated groundwater in New Hampshire. The court’s order Monday leaves in place a jury verdict involving contamination by the chemical MTBE. Exxon Mobil wan..

HOUSTON (AP) — The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. dropped by nine this week to 406, another all-time low amid depressed energy prices. A year ago, 888 rigs were active. Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday 328 rigs sought oil and 86 explored..

Now that the merger between Halliburton (HAL) and Baker Hughes (BHI) is officially dead, it’s time for shareholders to begin thinking about what comes next for each firm. While HAL is taking a tough hit to its balance sheet with the enormous $3.5 billion break-up fee to BHI, that figure is actually ..

Now that oil prices have rebounded to $50 per barrel, will U.S. shale drillers turn the taps back on? That is the million dollar question that the oil markets still do not have a clear answer on. Last year, when oil prices rebounded from $44 per barrel in March to $60 in June, the rig count leveled..

The OPEC meeting is only a week away, but the chances of a positive result are as remote as ever. Rising oil prices, the heightened rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and Saudi Arabia’s willingness to go it alone will make a deal all but impossible. First of all, Iran is not in a cooperative mo..

The race to discover oil and gas in virgin Arctic waters is now on, as Norway offered oil majors a lifeline on Wednesday by opening up what experts say could be home to 15 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 33 percent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas. Norway officials on Wednesday a..

DALLAS (AP) — Williams Cos. has gone to court to pressure rival pipeline company Energy Transfer Equity to go through with the planned $32.6 billion purchase of Williams. In a lawsuit filed in state court in Delaware, Williams suggested that Energy Transfer is trying to get out of the deal. Energy..

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Construction work is starting on a new pipeline project bringing Azeri gas through northern Greece and Albania to Italy, reducing Europe’s energy dependency on Russia. The Trans Adriatic Pipeline will run for 878 kilometers (550 miles), from Greece’s border with Turkey t..

Inline Services Inline Services’ Cutter Disc is designed for enhanced cleaning of pipelines where wax, scale or debris is present.  The angled shaped edges of the disc act as cutter blades to scrape off deposits throughout the pipeline.  The spaces in-between the cutter edges allow bypass of produc..