News
Going With the Flow: Shift in Direction Presents Challenges
Fracking in the Marcellus Shale has markedly increased the supply of natural gas produced in the Appalachian Basin, which is typically of higher quality than gas produced from the Gulf. This increased supply has resulted in a shift in the historical pattern of gas flow.
Energy Service Company Market Will Reach $8.3 Billion By 2020
The energy service company (ESCO) market in the United States has gone through a difficult period in recent years. Customers have grown concerned about the impact of energy performance contracts on their financial positions, and many of the resources, including policy measures, that drove growth prior to 2011 have been exhausted.
UPIS Luna Welcomes Shale Challenge
Philip Luna is a man on the go, and if you work for him at Houston-based UniversalPegasus International (UPI), you’d better be as well, even if it means getting to work for the 7 a.m. team meeting.
Pipeline & Gas Journals 33rd Annual 500 Report
<em>Pipeline & Gas Journal</em>’s 33rd Annual 500 Report offers the industry’s most comprehensive statistical review of U.S. energy pipeline systems. As in past years, the report ranks the nation’s top gas distribution, liquids and gas transmission systems. Transmission companies are ranked by mileage, while the rank of each liquids pipeline company is based on yearly crude deliveries. The gas distribution rankings are based on number of customers.
A Sign Of The Times: Steel Mill Resurgence
One of the best ways of gauging the strength of an industrial economy is watching the return of the steel industry. As the shale revolution continues to evolve in the U.S. and eventually Canada, owners of steel mills are restarting furnaces, expanding and building new facilities to fashion the new pipelines that will carry oil and natural gas to market.
Editor's Notebook: The Long Tail
Say, did you hear the one about the oil pipeline crew that was digging a trench when they spotted the dinosaur tail? No tall tale here. This is one of the stories that makes you appreciate being in the pipeline business. It proves that whether you’re the operator or the contractor, you care about something more than just money. You care the about the world around you as well as those that came before us, even if it was 70 million years ago.
Volvo CE Positions Itself For North American Market
In today’s fast-paced business world, there is a certain class of individuals who seem capable of running nearly any type of company. They combine academic prowess, problem-solving and people skills to a level few others achieve. Whether that unique skill set is recognized is often another question.
Projects Reflect Midstream Expansion, Restructuring
Growth in production of domestic light crude and increased exportation of heavy crude led to substantial additional investments in pipelines and other midstream infrastructure during the year, according to data from the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Government Approves Gas Exports, Adding To U.S. Natural Gas Demand
Liquefied natural gas, LNG, as a product is cold – minus 162 degrees centigrade. Commercially, it is hotter than a 4th of July firecracker! In mid-September the federal government issued a conditional license to a fourth company, Richmond, VA-based Dominion Resources, to sell up to 770 MMcf/d of natural gas for 20 years to any buyers abroad including those without Free Trade Agreements. The gas will go mainly to Asian markets.
1 Trillion Barrels: Global Potential Of Undeveloped Discoveries
Around the world there are nearly 1.4 trillion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) reserves in conventional undeveloped oil and gas fields according to Wood Mackenzie’s latest upstream outlook. This includes nearly 1.1 trillion boe of "technical reserves" – a term Wood Mackenzie uses for reserves for which there are no firm development plans in place.
Inergy, Enserco Team Up For Crude Oil Rail Terminal JV
An Inergy Midstream LP and Enserco Midstream LLC joint venture will own and operate a crude oil rail terminal, located in Douglas County, WY.
Prices, Transportation Determine Future For Canadian Oil And Gas
Recent reports on the state of crude oil and natural gas production in Canada suggest that the transportation bottleneck at the border will have long-ranging effects on Canada’s energy markets.
Energy Reforms Would Open Mexicos Petroleum Industry To Global Investment
In a bid to fulfill a campaign promise, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has proposed a change to the constitution to allow private companies to share in the development, transportation and refining of Mexico’s vast energy resources, which are reserved exclusively to Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX). The changes would revert the constitution to its 1940 position, maintaining national ownership of all hydrocarbons but overturning 1950s-era changes that prevent any private interest participating in the energy industry.
Editor's Notebook: Still Waiting
President Obama sure is a cagey fellow; after watching him closely for the past six years I don’t think there’s much doubt about that. So, that leads me to the big question: what exactly is he planning to do with that long-overdue decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline?
Global Implications Of Shale Development
As we watch the development of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in the Northeast, the implications are both obvious and subtle at the same time. The economic outcomes are measureable at the local level with new business opportunities for established shop owners as energy companies and their many contractors make a concerted effort to source goods and services within host communities.
Ohio Oil Gathering Reactivates Rail Terminal
Ohio Oil Gathering, a subsidiary of Crosstex Energy LP, reactivated its Black Run rail terminal with a ribbon-cutting ceremony July 17 at the company’s regional office in Frazeysburg, OH.
Romania, Hungary At Loose Ends For Gas Supply
The demise of the Nabucco-West gas pipeline project leaves Romania and Hungary dependent on Russian gas imports, and scrambling for diversification solutions that variously look sub-optimal or doubtful.
USDG/Gibson Energy To Expand Alberta Crude-By-Rail Terminal
Gibson Energy announced plans for a crude rail terminal near Hardisty, Alberta, to handle increasing Canadian production. The terminal will be developed in partnership with rail logistics company U.S. Development Group LLC and served by Canadian Pacific Railway’s North Main Line.
Gazproms Valuation Continues To Plummet
It wasn’t long ago that Gazprom was worth $350 billion, making it the third-most valuable company in the world.
MSC Unleashes Safety Report On Pipeline Boring Practices
The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) released “Recommended Practices for Pipeline Boring,” the seventh in a series of content-rich guidance documents developed by the coalition’s various subject-specific committees.
Rail Delivery Continues To Increase, But Pace Slows
With U.S. crude oil production at the highest level in two decades, outstripping pipeline capacity, the U.S. is relying more on railroads to move its new crude oil to refineries and storage centers. The amount of crude oil and refined petroleum products transported by rail totaled close to 356,000 carloads during the first half of 2013, up 48% from the same period in 2012, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
Runaway Train Calamity Underscores Crude-By-Rail Concerns
When a train carrying 72 tanker cars of Bakken crude oil derailed in the Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic, killing 47 people and destroying 40 buildings, it powerfully rekindled the debate over the merits of rail vs. pipeline delivery throughout the industry.
Oil And Gas Employment Shows Strong Growth Over Private Sector
The Energy Information Administration reports that from the start of 2007 through the end of 2012, total U.S. private sector employment increased by more than 1 million jobs, about 1%. Over the same period, the oil and natural gas industry increased by more than 162,000 jobs, a 40% increase.
"How Green Is My Energy?" Big Factor In Fuel Choice
“Green energy sources” are becoming more popular but still make only a small dent in the country’s or even the global energy supply. Green energy today includes conventional hydropower, wind, solar, wood and waste biomass, and geothermal. Some observers include nuclear because the waste products are easily collected and handled. Almost any source of energy that is free of fossil fuels is considered green energy. Many times the green fuels are a renewable source of energy.
Energy Economics Conference Suggests Upcoming Plummet In Oil Prices
Rice University’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy recently hosted a conference, “Energy Market Globalization: Investment and Commodity Price Cycles and the Role of Geopolitics.” Much discussion focused on the relationships of oil prices to other economic indicators, and whether these relationships indicated that oil prices may tumble in the near future.
Charlie Joyce: Born And Raised To Be A Pipeliner
The hallmark of the pipeline business has always been symbolized by the handshake. Never has there been a better example of this tradition than with Charlie Joyce and his family, owners of Otis Eastern Service, Inc., in Wellsville, NY.
Technology And Natural Gas Go Hand In Hand
In late July, the natural gas industry mourned the passing of George P. Mitchell, who pioneered key technologies applied to natural gas extraction, which today are changing global energy markets. Mitchell – his vision, ingenuity and commitment - is a prime example of the ability for research and subsequent deployment of lessons learned to transform an industry, create economic value and ultimately shape the course of history.
Russias Petroleum Industry At Critical Juncture
Russia faces a looming oil crisis that places the country at a crossroads. Production could well be in decline by 2020, even as the state's dependence on oil as its primary source of income continues to grow. Yet oil also offers Russia’s best hope for continued progress if the state's precarious relationship with the industry can be reformed, said IHS Senior Research Director Thane Gustafson, author of “Wheel of Fortune: The Battle for Oil and Power in Russia.”
Industrial Sector Rocketing NatGas Prices Long Term
The revival of the U.S. industrial sector will be “the most significant driver” to higher long-term natural gas prices, lifted by new ethylene crackers, ammonia plants and natural gas-to-liquids facilities fed by unconventional natural gas, according to an analysis by Raymond James & Associates Inc.
Study: Henry Hub Volatility To Emerge From U.S. LNG Exports
The price of Henry Hub will become significantly more volatile once U.S. LNG exports begin, and the more export capacity that is approved and built, the greater the volatility will be. This is the central theme of a new study released by PIRA Energy Group, a NYC-based energy market consulting firm.
- Texas Waha Hub Gas Prices Plunge to Record Lows, Hit Negative Territory
- Williams Seeks Emergency Certificate to Operate $1 Billion Mid-Atlantic Gas Pipeline After Court Reversal
- Texas Oil Pipelines Near Max Capacity, Threatening Future Export Limits
- Energy Transfer Subsidiary Selects KTJV for Lake Charles LNG Export Project
- FERC Sides with Williams in Texas-Louisiana Pipeline Dispute with Energy Transfer
- Malaysia’s Oil Exports to China Surge Amid Broader Import Decline
- Four Petroleum Liquids Pipelines Completed in U.S. Since 2023
- Lighter U.S. Permian Crude Risks Losing Favor with Refiners Due to Processing Challenges
- Saudi Arabia Looking to Expand Pipeline to Reduce Oil Exports via Gulf
- Report: Houston Region Poised to Become a Global Clean Hydrogen Hub
