Free Republic

John MacZura, an Army infantry veteran, started work a week after graduation. Before receiving his petroleum engineering degree from Penn State in 2013, Mr. MacZura, 30, had already piqued the interest of five or six oil and gas companies. He had job offers from three. He eventually joined Houston-based Cabot Oil and Gas, where he now works as a completions engineer. “The military plays a large part in how I got to where I’m at today,” said Mr. MacZura. He spent four years stationed at the Schofield Barracks in Hawaii and two in the National Guard. “I can’t say I...

A California-based company claims that it has found a commercially viable technique to directly convert natural gas into liquid fuels or petrochemical building blocks. "Natural gas is the next logical step for the energy and chemistry industry," said Rahul Iyer, vice president of corporate development with Siluria Technologies, which is partnering with world-class refining and petrochemical companies to roll out its catalytic processes for producing ethylene and liquid hydrocarbon fuels or fuel blend stocks. Last month, Siluria announced that it raised nearly more than $30 million in a financing led by Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures (SAEV) – the venture investment...

There’s still plenty left to parse ahead of Scotland’s historic independence referendum tomorrow, not the least of which are very real concerns over what a “yes” vote might mean for the country’s energy ambitions. The North Sea is lousy with oil deposits (though production from many of these seems to be tapering off), and many of the pro-independence agitators have campaigned on a desire to claim more of the revenues from these offshore plays. But as the New York Times reports, these fields could prove fractious for the Scotland-UK relationship: [A] yes vote on Thursday could lead to protracted wrangling...

It will take a “train wreck” of falling prices, declining oil production and idle drilling rigs before the United States lifts its longstanding ban on exporting crude, a noted economist predicted Wednesday. Analysts have warned those are the possible outcomes if existing discounts on U.S. crude grow even larger and domestic oil production exceeds the ability of the nation’s refiners to process it. And while oil producers are beseeching the Obama administration and lawmakers to ease the export ban now — heading off any such “day of reckoning” — Rice University economist Kenneth Medlock said political action probably will lag...

Production has been halted at Libya's largest oilfield- the Sharara field- after a rocket attack at the connected Zawiya refinery, threatening nearly 30% of the country's production, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. A rocket exploded near a crude storage tank at the Zawiya refinery. The field was completely shutdown last evening following the discovery of damage to a 300,000 barrel crude storage tank at the facility, Mansur Abdallah, director of oil movement at the Zawiya refinery, told Bloomberg by phone. Prior to the disruption, the Sharara field produced approximately 250,000 bpd. Production was shut down as a precautionary measure after an attack...

The Islamic State is funding its rapid push into Syria and Iraq with a labyrinthine oil-smuggling operation that starts at seized Syrian oil fields, goes through makeshift refineries and can end up in jerrycans carried by mules into the hilly borderland of Turkey. Amid Western pressure to squeeze the group's finances, Turkey is expanding efforts to crack down on the increasingly organized business, which is now generating an estimated $2 million a day. A major route linking Syrian oil fields with the smuggling enclaves of southern Turkey offers a window onto the complexity of the oil network run by Islamic...

More details came to light Tuesday on Shell’s plans for exploratory oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska, as federal regulators released a copy of the company’s broad Arctic drilling blueprint. Shell filed the document with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management last month, a milestone in its quest to resume drilling in the region after its previous, attempt two years ago was marred by mishaps. Shell is aiming to drill up to six wells on separate lease blocks encompassing its Burger prospect in the Chukchi Sea, with work unfolding over several years. It plans to put two...

Spectra Energy Corp. announced a $3 billion expansion to its New England pipeline network which it says will help meet growing demand for natural gas in the region. The undertaking will allow Houston-based Spectra and its partners to deliver 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to the area, the company said. The project will serve both gas-fired power plants as well as customers who use natural gas for heating. “This is another step in our commitment to improving power system reliability, reducing electric costs to make the region more economically competitive, and protecting New England’s quality of...

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak will meet OPEC officials on Tuesday in Vienna, his spokeswoman said, as oil's price fall piled pressure on Moscow's budget. The annual meeting had been planned long before oil fell below the $100 per barrel level critical for Russia's oil sales which account for 40 percent of state budget revenues. Russia suffered from a decline of oil production and prices this year and has cut its outlook for oil output as core Western Siberian fields become more depleted. The spokeswoman said that Novak and the officials from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries had...

Investors are losing interest in Brazil's oil industry as the country's energy policies raise costs, reduce efficiency and increase risk, Brazil's oil industry association, the IBP, said on Monday. Without changes Brazil will likely lose out to places such as Mexico, Iran, Iraq and Algeria where policies are becoming more open to private sector investment. "I went to the three largest oil conventions in the world this year and you hardly heard Brazil's name mentioned," Milton Costa Filho, Executive Secretary of the IBP told reporters at an industry event in Rio de Janeiro. "Brazil is falling off the world oil...

The global crude oil and refined product tanker fleet uses a classification system to standardize contract terms, establish shipping costs, and determine the ability of ships to travel into ports or through certain straights and channels. This system, known as the Average Freight Rate Assessment (AFRA) system, was established by Royal Dutch Shell six decades ago, and is overseen by the London Tanker Brokers' Panel (LTBP), an independent group of shipping brokers. AFRA uses a scale that classifies tanker vessels according to deadweight tons, a measure of a ship's capacity to carry cargo. The approximate capacity of a ship in...

When it comes to the U.S. energy boom, small and mid-size firms -- not Big Oil -- are providing the momentum for growth, according to an American Petroleum Institute report released Tuesday (Sept. 9). The industry group's report looks at the oil and gas supply chain in all 50 states, listing more than 30,000 firms across the country. The findings were based on a nationwide survey asking oil and gas companies what suppliers, contractors and other vendors they use. "Oil and natural gas companies are only one part of a much larger economic success story that is creating job growth...

The Powder River Basin, well known for its abundant coal supply, is experiencing a turnaround in oil production. Production has rebounded from a low of 38,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2009 to 78,000 bbl/d during first-quarter 2014. Although U.S. oil production growth is occurring primarily in the Bakken, Eagle Ford, and Permian Basins, the Powder River Basin is among other regions of the country that have also benefitted from the application of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. The increase in Powder River Basin oil production is largely attributable to production growth in the Turner, Parkman, and Niobrara-Codell formations, which...

While the economic boom brought on by the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas has no doubt brought attention and prosperity to the state, it’s brought on its fair share of complications, too. One such complication: industrial infrastructure in the Eagle Ford Shale. To remedy the challenges created by the large influx of oil and natural gas production in the state, numerous regional refineries are being overhauled to meet demand, and billions of dollars in new pipelines are being created as well. New Pipelines Transportation of oil and natural gas from the Eagle Ford Shale to local refineries has been...

CUSHING, Okla.— New pipeline projects are expanding the size of an Oklahoma crude oil hub that is already one of the most important oil storage facilities in the world. One new pipeline is in operation at the hub in Cushing, another is almost complete and a new project was announced earlier this month when Tulsa-based NGL Energy Partners revealed plans for the Grand Mesa Pipeline, a joint venture with Rimrock Midstream LLC, the Tulsa World reported Saturday. Grand Mesa, which will be open to oil producer commitments starting next week, will be a 550-mile system from Colorado to Cushing. Once...

The University of Texas at San Antonio and the Southwest Research Institute say they have found an inexpensive way to treat the water that flows back to the surface after hydraulic fracturing. A team of researchers used a plant matter called biochar to remove impurities from the flowback water. UTSA and Southwest Research Institute say it’s a low-cost method that could help address the issue of the millions of gallons of water use and disposal – per well – in new oil and gas fields such as the Eagle Ford Shale. Hydraulic fracturing pumps a mix of water and chemicals...

An oil industry trade group unveiled its latest attack ads on the nation’s renewable fuels policy, accusing the Obama administration of “playing politics” with a mandate to blend more ethanol into gasoline. The American Petroleum Institute said Thursday it fears the Environmental Protection Agency will boost ethanol requirements to help a Democrat locked in a close U.S. Senate race in Iowa — a corn-growing state that benefits from the mandate because most U.S. ethanol is made from corn. U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, an Iowa Democrat running to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, last month sent a letter to the...

He went. He saw. He issued another news release. Making good on his vow to “see the situation first hand,” Texas Railroad Commissioner David Porter returned Thursday from a visit to oil installations with a grim safety assessment. But the industry, he stressed, was not to blame. “South Texas pipelines are vulnerable,” announced Porter, whose agency regulates the state’s petroleum industry, “because the federal government has abdicated its most basic function to protect our borders.” Repeating an assertion that he made in an open letter last month to the federal Customs and Border Patrol agency, Porter said “his concerns stems...

The United States and European Union plan to stop billions of dollars in oil exploration in Russia by the world's largest energy companies including Exxon Mobil Corp and BP Plc, U.S. government sources said. The planned sanctions over Russia's aggression toward Ukraine would ban U.S. and European companies from cooperating with Russia on searching its Arctic territory, deep seas or shale formations for crude, said two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the measures have not been made public. The measures, which one of the sources said represented "preliminary thinking," would expand sanctions the Obama administration announced...

Senators and shippers complained Wednesday that widespread delays in freight rail shipments are hurting a wide array of industries and driving some companies out of business, and they expressed doubt that the railroad companies are doing all they can to fix the problem. The delays, which escalated late last year and continued through the spring and summer, appear to be the result of too few rail cars and too much demand from shippers, officials representing the agriculture, auto and chemical industries told a hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Lawmakers displayed a photo of a giant mound...