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As of January 1, 2014, there were 139 operating refineries and 3 idle refineries with total atmospheric crude oil distillation capacity (ACDU) of 17.9 million barrels per calendar day (bbl/cd), a 101,000-bbl/cd increase in capacity from January 1, 2013. In 2013, four refineries changed ownership, continuing the trend of a handful of sales each year. This information is detailed in EIA's recently released Refinery Capacity Report, which surveys U.S. refinery ownership and capacity annually at the start of each year. Valero Energy Corporation remains the largest U.S. refiner, with total ACDU capacity of more than 1.9 million bbl/cd. Exxon Mobil...

The remnants of the peak oil community cling avidly to the belief that oil production has already peaked and that high prices prove this. “Look at the data” seems to have become a catechism amongst them, and it can be hard to dissuade them otherwise, especially by considering more than one variable as explaining oil supply and price. Most anyone can understand that high oil prices are no more an indicator of resource scarcity than the occasional spike in coffee, pork or orange juice prices. Things happen that can cause prices to rise for a period before supply and demand...

A business association whose members include some of the world’s biggest energy companies is urging the administration to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, arguing that the southern portion of the project already has shown the positive economic impact the project will have on the country. The group commissioned a study on the economic effect of the 485-mile portion of Keystone pipeline known as the Gulf Coast Extension, which opened earlier this year linking Oklahoma and Texas. The study highlights benefits the project had on local businesses like restaurants and hotels along the route. It notes that during construction, TransCanada...

Plans to build a natural gas pipeline through central and western Massachusetts are running into opposition from residents in the communities affected. The pipeline begins in Troy, Pennsylvania and runs through Wright, New York before entering Massachusetts in Richmond. It would run through dozens of communities before ending in Dracut. But few residents expect to see any benefits from the pipeline plan. “It would go in front of our house. It would go through this hay field,” said Pat Worth, one of those residents. Worth is afraid her 25-acre farm in rural Royalston will be ruined if a natural gas...

The United States plans to export abundant supplies of liquefied natural gas could generate tens of thousands of new jobs in industries that supply producers of the fuel, according to industry participants and a new study. But critics claim that increased demand from energy-hungry overseas customers would drive up domestic natural gas prices, causing manufacturers' costs to rise, and deterring job creation. As Congress considers bills that would speed government approval of applications to build LNG export terminals, a trade association representing manufacturers and others that service the shale gas industry projected that the construction and operation of the multi-billion-dollar...

Much hoopla has erupted since Kurdistan sold a $106 million load of crude oil to a buyer in Israel. Here was justice at last for the long-suffering Kurds, forgotten in the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement that divided the Middle East and seemed to give every other major nation its own home, including some nations not previously considered nations. That is the 50,000-foot view, though, and wholly neglects the fate of the first tanker to set sail with Kurdish oil. (The Israeli sale was the second shipment.) The United Leadership left the Turkish port of Ceyhan on May 22. But a combination...

Air strikes killed at least 38 people yesterday as security forces held off attacks on a strategic town and an oil refinery, officials and witnesses said. In the town of Baiji, north of Baghdad, air strikes killed at least 19 people and wounded at least 17 in the morning, while further raids in the evening killed six more. Officials said the dead and wounded were civilians, and it was unclear if there were any casualties among the militants, who were the target of the strikes. State television said 19 "terrorists" were killed in the earlier Baiji raids. In the Husseibah...

At 8:48 p.m. on March 26, wind generation on the electric grid covering most of the state of Texas reached a new instantaneous peak output of 10,296 megawatts (MW). At that moment, wind supplied almost 29% of total electricity load, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the grid's operator. The average wind production in that hour was 10,120 MW. The new wind record surpassed two highs reached in the previous week, while the record prior to March was 9,674 MW set in May 2013. March's wind power record will likely be surpassed in the near future as...

The Obama administration has cleared the way for two energy companies to sell an ultralight variety of oil overseas after minimally processing it, a decision that tests the limits of a long-standing ban on exporting U.S. crude. The move, which came in private classification orders issued by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, effectively confirms that hydrocarbon known as condensate qualifies as a petroleum product once it has been processed in a distillation tower, and therefore is not barred by the 39-year-old ban on crude exports. Unlike unprocessed crude, companies can freely sell gasoline, diesel and other petroleum...

More than 4,600 oil and natural gas wells were completed in Oklahoma last year as part of a domestic boom that is affecting many parts of the nation, according to reports filed with state regulators. Corporation Commission records indicate companies applied for more than 6,000 drilling permits for the second consecutive year. That figure is up from about 4,100 permits in 2009, The Oklahoman reported Sunday. Mike Terry, president of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association, said horizontal drilling has opened vast new resources across the country and has renewed activity in Oklahoma’s historic oil fields. “The Mississippi Lime in northern...

You know those proposed EPA power-plant rules that we’ve been going on and on and on about? Now you can go on and on and on about them yourself. The Obama administration has opened up the official 120-day public comment period, after the proposal was published in the Federal Register. The EPA will accept feedback through Oct. 16, so now’s the time to speak your mind. Here’s how to comment. The big enviro groups are going to be pushing to make the rules stronger, while industry and Republicans are trying to undermine them. The EPA will consider all the feedback...

President Obama has three new reasons to approve the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline would bring 830,000 barrels of Canadian crude oil per day from Alberta to U.S. refineries, which would lead to economic growth and job creation in the United States. Escalating Conflict in Iraq. Though the fighting is yet to affect oil production in southern Iraq, uncertainty over how much havoc ISIS will create is driving up futures prices. Disruption in Iraq's production would substantially affect its heavy crude oil exports, the type of oil found in Canadian tar sands. If unrest continues in the region, Canadian...

Most of Iraq’s oil production has been unaffected by militant violence, according a report by IHS analysts. That’s because the majority of the country’s production is concentrated in the southern part of the country, while the violence attributed to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, known as ISIS, is concentrated in the north. The consulting firm, which counts many major energy companies among its clients, said it’s received no reports of shut-in production. Yet, despite the lack of disruption, crude oil and gasoline prices continue to rise. Iraq was the world’s sixth largest net exporter of petroleum liquids in...

Oil and gas producers could boost their annual spending to $165 billion in the United States as conflicts in Iraq and elsewhere send crude prices higher, according to a report released by Barclays on Wednesday. Exploration and production spending, the lifeblood of the oil field service industry, which employs thousands in Houston, is expected to jump 9.6 percent over last year, according to the London bank. North American operators are putting more muscle behind oil production, and already have made slight adjustments to their outlook for this year’s oil prices, their benchmark for spending budgets. But at $91 a barrel,...

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized Cameron LNG LLC’s plan to build and operate facilities to liquefy and export natural gas from its existing LNG import terminal in Hackberry, La. FERC also approved Cameron Interstate Pipeline LLC’s application to construct and operate pipeline and compression facilities in Cameron, Calcasieu, and Beauregard Parishes to supply the Cameron LNG facility with domestically-produced gas. Sempra Energy Corp. owns the project. The June 19 actions marked the second time FERC has approved an LNG export facility. It approved the Sabine Pass liquefaction project in April 2012, which is under construction. Sabine Pass’s application to...

The U.S. Senate Energy Committee advanced a bill on Wednesday that would force congressional approval of TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline project, but the measure seems unlikely to be taken up by the full Senate. The bill, the latest effort by lawmakers to breathe life into the long-delayed pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast, will languish without a commitment from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to bring it to a vote. The measure, from Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Republican Senators John Hoeven of North Dakota and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, would take a decision...

Cheap, abundant U.S. shale gas soon will find its way to a new market: The flood of people moving from the countryside to the dense cities of developing countries. In a few years, the gas will arrive in China, India and Latin America as resin pellets that will become plastic products like food packaging, a key component for urbanizing populations as consumers trade farming markets for preserved foods. It’s a huge, hungry market. Shortly after U.S. gas prices collapsed a few years ago, a half-dozen energy companies raced to build plants along the Gulf Coast that can break natural gas...

The Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) announced on Monday that it expects service to commence as soon as today for the first 0.25 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of capacity on its 0.60 Bcf/d Seneca Lateral pipeline in southeast Ohio. The 14.3-mile lateral will flow gas north from the MarkWest Seneca natural gas processing plant to the REX mainline, where a newly built compressor station will allow this gas to be delivered to points west in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. No new pipelines will be added to the mainline; the project will allow bidirectional flows—both east and west—to occur on...

When U.S. President Barack Obama spoke briefly on June 13 outside the White House on the deteriorating security situation in Iraq, he ruled out sending in U.S. troops, but said that he had instructed his national security team “to prepare a range of other options.” While the potential use of force – most likely consisting of airstrikes in some form – is what made headlines, Obama also hinted at the fact that his administration was working behind the scenes to plan for a possible major disruption in Iraqi oil output, which accounts for some 3.5 percent of global supply. “One...

Canada’s government on Tuesday approved a proposed pipeline to the Pacific Coast that would allow oil to be shipped to Asia, a major step in the country’s efforts to diversify its oil industry. The approval Tuesday was expected. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been a staunch supporter of Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline after the U.S. delayed a decision on TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline that would take oil from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Enbridge’s pipeline would transport 525,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific to deliver oil to Asia, mainly energy-hungry...