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Just before 10:00 CST on Tuesday morning, the Houston Ship Channel reopened exclusively to barge traffic after a fuel oil spill on Saturday shut down the waterway that enables tankers to supply over one-tenth of US refining capacity. Planes were to begin flying after sunrise on Tuesday across Galveston Bay to assess the location of 4,000 barrels of heavy fuel oil spilled after a Kirby Inland Marine oil barge and a cargo ship collided on Saturday afternoon, the Coast Guard said. Additionally, the Coast Guard prepared inspection and decontamination stations for vessels entering and exiting the channel once it reopens....

Exxon Mobil Corp. said Monday that the shutdown of the Houston Ship Channel has affected production at its refinery complex in Baytown, the second-largest of its kind in the U.S. Exxon Mobil spokesman Todd Spitler would not disclose how much of a drop in output the company expects and other oil companies generally would not detail potential problems resulting from the port shutdown. The Houston Ship Channel remains closed indefinitely after nearly 170,000 gallons of heavy oil spilled into the Galveston Bay on Saturday afternoon. Authorities are hopeful that the channel could open to some traffic on Monday, said Patrick...

Texans increased their use of natural gas to fuel cars and trucks in 2013, but reduced its use to power lights and appliances, according to new federal data. Natural gas used for vehicle fuel in Texas jumped by more than 16 percent between 2012 and 2013, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show. Meanwhile, less electricity was generated from gas in 2013, down by nearly 7 percent. That reversed a trend seen in recent years as utilities shifted from coal-fired to natural gas-fired power plants to take advantage of low-cost natural gas, with its price in the Untied States...

The Phillips 66 refinery can seem a maze of tanks, pipes and valves for the uninitiated, even with descriptively named paths like “Diesel Drive” and “Coker Road” showing the way. Originally built by the U.S. government to process fuel for Allied aircraft during World War II, the plant now is the largest refinery by capacity in the portfolio of Phillips 66, Houston’s biggest Fortune 500 company. As Phillips 66 officials led a media tour tour this week, crews were preparing the site for the latest addition — a fractionator to separate natural gas liquids into components including ethane, propane and...

Russia signaled concern on Wednesday at Estonia's treatment of its large ethnic Russian minority, comparing language policy in the Baltic state with what it said was a call in Ukraine to prevent the use of Russian. Russia has defended its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula by arguing it has the right to protect Russian-speakers outside its borders, so the reference to linguistic tensions in another former Soviet republic comes at a highly sensitive moment. Russia fully supported the protection of the rights of linguistic minorities, a Moscow diplomat told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, according to a...

Texas contains about $140 billion in “petro-wealth,” with corporations owning 80 percent of that total, according to an analysis by an Austin firm. The figure is based on the value of proved, producing petroleum reserves in Texas, accounting for entities that have a working interest in those reserves as well as individuals earning royalties. The data is based on figures compiled by Blackbeard Data Services, an Austin company that provides information on oil leases. The study finds that corporations own about $112 billion of the total wealth attributed to petroleum reserves, and individuals own about $20 billion. The rest of...

Even with all the speculation and debate about Vladimir Putin’s nationalistic motives for Russia’s annexation of the Crimea, there still seems to be room for more thoughtful consideration of the oil and gas aspects of the conflict. Putin may be a nationalist and he may primarily worry about Russia’s national cohesion and periphery but Russia is fundamentally a petro-state and it is important not to forget that fact in analyzing the thorny problem of the Ukraine. Russia relies heavily on oil and gas for its national budget and has been under pressure from the prospects of increased competition. So far,...

Companies will need to invest $641 billion over the next two decades in pipelines, pumps and other infrastructure to keep up with the gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids flowing from U.S. fields, according to a study released Tuesday. The analysis, prepared by ICF International for two natural gas advocacy groups, predicts that $30 billion worth of new midstream infrastructure will be needed each year through 2035 — essentially triple the $10 billion in average annual investments over the past decade. “We’re in a heavy growth period right now, said Kevin Petak, an economist with ICF who authored the...

Clean Coal Technologies Inc. is almost ready to resume construction on a test plant in Oklahoma after being delayed by winter weather earlier this year. Winter weather has delayed construction of a clean coal test plant, but officials with the company behind the technology remain confident in its success. Clean Coal Technologies Inc. had hoped to have its pilot plant operational by early this year, but CEO Robin Eves said “one of the worst winters on record” put the project behind schedule. “On many days, the workers simply could not reach the facility,” he said in a webcast last week....

Wood as a main heating source in homes has gained popularity in many areas of the country in recent years, but the increase is most notable in the Northeast. All nine states in the New England and the Middle Atlantic Census divisions saw at least a 50% jump from 2005 to 2012 in the number of households that rely on wood as the main heating source. As the use of fuel oil and kerosene in this region has declined in recent years, many households have turned to lower-cost alternatives, including wood. In total, about 2.5 million households (2.1%) across the...

Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman said Friday the shale revolution could drive the state’s oil production to record levels before the end of the decade. Oil production in Texas is now close to 2 million barrels a day. And Smitherman, speaking at the IHS CERAweek energy conference in Houston, said the state could be at 3 million barrels by 2017 and 4 million barrels by 2020. In 1972 Texas produced 3.5 million barrels a day, according to Railroad Commission data. “It could easily go to 5 million by 2023,” Smitherman said. “I don’t know where the end is because...

Canada is on the verge of becoming an energy superpower, according to its natural resources minister. The Canadian government is already signing trade deals and building pipelines that could help it beat the US in a race to energy hegemony, Graeber writes. - - - Canadian Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said his country is on the verge of becoming an energy superpower. While the United States mulls its options for energy hegemony, a recent free-trade deal with South Korea and pipeline developments suggest Canada may beat it to the punch. The International Energy Agency said that, despite recent volatility,...

Meandering south from Cold Lake on small roads, I entered a new landscape. The boreal forest of northern Alberta gave way to rolling prairie, grain silos, and rural crossroads. The oil sands were now behind me — or rather, flowing beneath me. Every road had pipeline crossing signs or ditches for new lines alongside or piles of pipe sections waiting to be laid. All pipes led to the place I was headed: Hardisty, home to Canada’s largest oil depot and the site where the Keystone XL was slated to begin. LAt first glance, Hardisty, population 650, looked much like other...

The oil and gas industry is launching a social media campaign to promote hydraulic fracturing by highlighting Monday as the hotly debated technology’s 65th birthday. On March 17, 1949, Halliburton conducted the first commercial fracking job, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Hydraulic fracturing involves treating oil and gas wells with a mix of water and chemicals at high pressure, causing underground rock to fracture and allowing oil and gas to flow more freely. Experimentation with earliest forms of the technology began as early as the 1860s, according to the American Petroleum Institute. But in 1949, working under a patent...

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on Freeport LNG’s Phase II modification and liquefaction projects. FERC concluded that “construction and operation of the projects would result in adverse impacts on certain resources and nearby communities.” FERC said, “We have identified that there would be significant and unavoidable impacts on residents of the town of Quintana due to construction noise and construction traffic if the projects are approved by the commission.” The commission added, “However, other adverse impacts would be reduced to less-than-significant levels with the implementation of Freeport LNG’s mitigation measures and...

Ukraine's Crimean parliament voted Monday to nationalize energy companies Ukrtransgaz and Chornomornaftohaz, according to a statement on the Parliament's website. A Crimean official said last week that the local authorities may sell the oil and gas company Chornomornaftohaz to a Russian firm "such as Gazprom" once the region assumes control of it. On Sunday, a Russia-backed referendum in Crimea demonstrated overwhelming support for joining the Russian federation. The US and its European allies are expected to announced sanctions against Russia on Monday after Crimea announced that just under 97% of voters in the region supported leaving Ukraine and becoming a...

Louisiana-based horizontal driller Ranger Field Service lowers pipe for a 2.1-mile line that runs across the Texas-Louisiana border and under the Sabine River. Some are speculating that the drill is the longest horizontal length that has ever been drilled on land and under a river, one of the biggest obstacles Mother Nature can throw at a pipeline drill. - - - - A private drilling company in Louisiana said this week it has drilled a 2.1-mile horizontal length under the Sabine River and across the Texas-Louisiana border. The 11,065-foot span is raising speculation that it was the longest horizontal length...

Most people — especially Texans — know propane as the fuel source that allows them to fire up a backyard barbecue in seconds. Now it’s also heating up as an alternative motor fuel, as companies with vehicle fleets embrace its lower costs and smaller environmental footprint relative to gasoline or diesel. Shipping company UPS announced plans this month to spend $70 million on 1,000 propane-fueled vehicles and 50 refueling stations in the United States, where the company operates about 77,000 ground vehicles. Other big companies also have added propane to their fuel mix. Airport transportation service SuperShuttle touted its propane...

Production from the Eagle Ford unconventional oil play in South Texas is expected to keep growing through 2014 and to break the 1.5 million barrel per day (bpd) mark in 2015, an analyst told attendees at the Platts’ North America Crude Conference in Houston Feb. 27-28. Between now and the end of 2018, 4.4 million barrels of crude are expected to be produced in North America, said Suzanne Minter, manager of crude and natural gas analysis with Bentek Energy. In 2013, 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude production was grown; crude production this year will exceed that number,...

Highlights Temperatures east of the Rocky Mountains have been significantly colder this winter (October-February) compared with the same period both last winter and the average for the past 10 years, straining distribution networks and putting upward pressure on consumption and prices of fuels used for space heating. U.S. average heating degree days were 13% higher than last winter (indicating colder weather) and 10% above the October through February 10-year average. The Northeast was 13% colder than last winter, the Midwest and South both 19% colder, while the West was 5% warmer. The cold weather this winter had the greatest effect...