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An energy company has received approval to start construction of a new natural gas processing plant in northwestern North Dakota. The Oneok company says the plant will cost $160 million and be able to process 100 million cubic feet of natural gas each day. Oneok is based in Tulsa, Okla.

While Texas and North Dakota's boom in oil production have been well-publicized, five other western U.S. states made a notable contribution to the growth in U.S. oil production since 2010, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Tuesday. Onshore oil production, including crude oil and lease condensate, grew by over 2 million barrels of oil per day (bopd), or 64 percent, in the U.S. Lower 48 from February 2010 to February 2013. Production in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Texas' Eagle Ford play and Permian Basin outpaced other regions. However, gains in other Lower 48 states added up...

House Republicans on Wednesday took one of the first steps toward overturning a new Obama administration plan for managing wildlife and oil development in the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. During a House subcommittee hearing on a bill to repeal the reserve management plan, Republicans insisted the administration’s blueprint tilts too heavily toward conservation by walling off energy development in roughly half of the reserve. “The Obama administration appears determined, against the wishes of most Alaskans, to keep their energy resources off limits,” said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. who sponsored the repeal bill along with Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska. Finalized by...

In a remote stretch of the Omani desert, row after row of long, curved mirrors collect the sun’s energy. Similar facilities have been gathering sunlight in the Southern California desert for years, using the focused light to generate electricity. In Oman, however, the facility generates steam. Pipes shunt the steam underground, where it coaxes heavy oil from the rocks. The new solar steam plant is the first of its kind in the Middle East. It was built by GlassPoint Solar, a Fremont company that uses renewable power to squeeze oil from the ground. GlassPoint, which has raised about $32 million...

A North Texas company said Monday it plans to build a 10,000-barrel-a-day refinery in La Salle County in the booming Eagle Ford Shale. Dave Martinelli, CEO of Worldwide Energy Consortium Inc. of Irving, which will build the plant, said it will refine oil from the shale and sell its fuels in the area. He said the company has plans to build “several” more plants in the region. He expects the La Salle County plant to begin operating late next year. He said the company has started the initial engineering and permitting phase. However, a spokesman for the Texas Commission on...

In case you were wondering whether there was really an oil Renaissance happening in Texas, the state has 838 drilling rigs – about 47 percent of all U.S. rigs and 26 percent of drilling rigs worldwide. The Texas rigs are mostly operating in five fields across the state, according to the latest Baker Hughes Rig Count. The Permian Basin in West Texas has 397 rigs, the Eagle Ford in South Texas has 234, the Granite Wash in the Panhandle has 44, the Barnett Shale in North Texas has 31 and the Haynesville Shale in East Texas has 19. Our neighbors...

EOG Resources, the company with the most acreage in the Eagle Ford Shale, reported its first-quarter earnings recently. And basically, EOG is making a lot of money in South Texas. Mark Papa, CEO and board chairman of EOG, said the Eagle Ford continues to surprise “in an upside manner.” EOG’s U.S. crude oil production increased 24,200 barrels per day over the fourth quarter of 2012, mostly thanks to the Eagle Ford. The company is getting a rate of return on its South Texas wells greater than 100 percent. During the first three months of the year, EOG completed 27 “monster...

The head of the International Energy Agency on Tuesday urged the United States to decide quickly to allow crude exports, or the industry will find ways to get around restrictions. The Export Administration Act of 1979 banned the sale of U.S. crude abroad, except to Canada and Mexico, but the shale energy boom has since turned the North American energy market upside down in just a few years. U.S. oil production is now rising steeply, having been falling for decades, prompting some to say shipments abroad should be considered. "The answers have to be given by the U.S. government. I...

The surge in oil production in the U.S. and Canada and shrinking oil consumption in the developed world is transforming the global oil market. The threat of chronic oil shortages is all but gone, U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil will continue to dwindle, and oil will increasingly flow to the developing economies of Asia, according to a five-year outlook published Tuesday by... International Energy Agency. The changes will have ‘‘significant consequences for the global economy and oil security,’’ the IEA says. The report paints a picture of a world with plenty of oil to meet modestly growing demand. Where...

Thanks to a boom in domestic shale oil production, the U.S. is on pace to overtake Russia as the world’s largest non-OPEC producer. The revelation came in a semi-annual report released Tuesday by the West’s energy agency, the International Energy Agency, which said the U.S. could surpass Russia as soon as 2015. Moreover, the IEA anticipates that U.S. production will take care of most of the world’s new oil demand over the next five years. OPEC would therefore risk lower prices if it chooses to lift output. “North America has set off a supply shock that is sending ripples throughout...

ast month, Earth Day came and went. Perhaps you missed hearing about it. For 2013, the theme was “The Face of Climate Change.” Other than a change in the Post Office cancellation mark on your letters from the usual wavy lines, to the four stick-like wind turbines and a sun symbol, there was little note of what was once an event celebrated by 20 million Americans. Tim Wagner, Utah representative for the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America Campaign, groused: “Media coverage of global warming has virtually disappeared.” According to EarthDayCentral.com, one of the goals of Earth Day is to help...

inder Morgan Energy Partners said this week it would spend $106 million to buy about 20 acres next to its Pasadena terminal, build nine new storage tanks and build a new barge dock that is expected to help relieve current barge congestion in the Houston Ship Channel. The land will be used for a future crude condensate and refined products terminal capable of handling 10 150,000-barrel tanks with a connection to the Explorer Pipeline. The new barge dock, which will complement existing infrastructure at the Pasadena terminal, will provide additional capacity to handle up to 50 barges per month. And...

To the federal government, ethanol only counts as a conventional biofuel if it is produced from switchgrass, corn starch or some other easily replenished materials. But Texas Rep. Pete Olson wants to change that. On Tuesday, the Houston-area Republican is introducing legislation that would allow ethanol produced from natural gas to compete with corn-based ethanol under the federal renewable fuels standard, an eight-year-old mandate that forces refiners to blend an increasing amount of alternatives into petroleum-based fuels. Technically, the measure would create a new “domestic alternative fuel” category under the RFS, under which the natural-gas based product would qualify. Olson...

The environmentalist activist community has a new Public Enemy No. 1: Keystone XL. That’s the proposed 1,200-mile pipeline linking Canadian oil fields to Texas refineries. The project is up for debate at the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology this week – the latest in what is now a four-year-long national debate on the project. The facts have become nearly smothered by the small but vocal opposition, but the fact is the Keystone XL pipeline offers a safe, efficient and affordable means of transporting the resources our nation needs. Block the Keystone XL pipeline and Americans are going...

Crude oil exports anchor the energy trade between Mexico and the United States. In 2012 Mexico was the world's ninth largest oil producer. The value of crude oil exports from Mexico to the United States reached $35.7 billion in 2012, having more than doubled since 2004. However, Mexico's crude oil production and exports to the United States have both fallen, with exports down to 0.96 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2012 from 1.48 million bbl/d in 2004. Last year was the first time since 1994 that annual exports of Mexican crude oil to the United States fell below 1...

State, ConocoPhillips, ASRC join defense of permit for first NPR-A development - - - - Quite a legal battle is shaping up over the expansion of oil and gas development into Alaska’s western North Slope frontier. The conflict centers on a planned project known as Colville Delta 5. ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. has a federal permit to build and operate the CD-5 drill site inside the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Seven residents of Nuiqsut, a predominantly Inupiat Eskimo village a few miles southeast of CD-5, are suing in Anchorage federal court to invalidate the permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of...

Shale oil production could revolutionize global energy markets, reducing oil prices and bolstering the economy globally, but its impact will vary on a country-by-country basis. After witnessing the impact that the U.S. shale boom has had worldwide, PwC decided to examine how the development of shale oil worldwide might impact oil prices and the economy worldwide, said Adam Lyons, director of PwC and co-author of PwC's global report, "Shale Oil – the Next Energy Revolution". "Shale oil is on the same journey as shale gas," said Lyons, who discussed the study's findings at a World Affairs Council event on the...

Officials with the Greater Tomball Area Chamber of Commerce and Houston Northwest Chamber, the city of Tomball, and the Klein and Spring school districts went to Virginia recently to serve up a little Texas hospitality to Exxon Mobil employees who will be relocating to the new campus in 2014 and 2015. An estimated 3,000 employees and their families attended the “Let’s Discover Houston Fair” in late April at the Exxon Mobil headquarters for Downstream Operations in Fairfax, Va., to learn about the communities, schools and the amenities in the Greater Houston area. “What Exxon Mobil put together to bring us...

In an interview with the Globe and Mail, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore referred to Canada’s oil and gas riches as a “resource curse” and said the Alberta oilsands add “to the reckless spewing of pollution into the Earth’s atmosphere as if it’s an open sewer.” Gore speaks as winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his efforts to educate the world on climate change. This would be the same Al Gore who recently sold his cable TV network, Current, to al Jazeera for $500 million. Al Jazeera, of course, would be the same network owned by Qatar,...

The American Petroleum Institute urged the US Environmental Protection Agency to use a full Clean Air Act rulemaking process for its proposed Tier 3 rule instead of a rushed review process API says the agency is contemplating. The proposal to reduce gasoline sulfur limits and tailpipe emissions further is so controversial that it requires publication in the Federal Register, a comment period, and a properly scheduled public hearing, API Senior Downstream Policy Advisor Patrick Kelley told reporters in a May 7 teleconference. “Respecting the statutory rulemaking process in this case is particularly important because the proposal is hard to justify...

Historically, standard futures contracts for heating oil allowed for delivery of product with sulfur content up to 2,000 parts per million (0.2%). Beginning with the May 1, 2013 contract, the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) switched its specification for the heating oil futures contract to the ultra-low sulfur diesel specification (ULSD). The ULSD contract is a distillate that contains less than 15 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur, the same specification used for most diesel fuel. Many states in the Northeast require the switch over the next several years (see chart) to lower sulfur heating oil. Switching the contract to...

The Three Affiliated Tribes have broken ground for a $450 million oil refinery on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in northwestern North Dakota The Thunder Butte Petroleum Services Refinery will be constructed in four phases over two years. A ceremonial groundbreaking was held Wednesday, after more than a decade of planning, according to The Forum and the Minot Daily News. Construction is expected to begin in August. “We grew up poor. We were lucky if we had a pair of clean overalls,” Tribal Chairman Tex Hall said. “But our parents made sure we went to school and got educated. They...

Leading oil industry groups said Thursday federal land managers are blocking new energy development and job creation by postponing all oil and gas lease auctions on prime public lands in California until October. Officials with the American Petroleum Institute, the largest lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, said the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s recent announcement that it will temporarily put off energy leasing in the state will prevent economic growth. “We now know that California holds a vast amount of oil and natural gas resources, especially in the Monterey Shale located in the central part of the...

Have environmentalists already won the war over fracking in California? It’s starting to look that way. A trio of bills swiftly moving through the state’s legislature would ban hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, until the practice is deemed safe. The bills are among nine pieces of legislation currently under consideration that would effectively restrict drilling in the Monterey Shale, a geological formation that holds an estimated 15.4 billion barrels of oil, the largest such reserve in the US. Unreachable by conventional drilling, the Monterey Shale has come into play with advances in fracking, which injects chemical-laced water into wells under...

Oil and gas companies will face a tougher regulatory regime in the United States as the U.S. government introduces new rules over the next two years to improve industry safety following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident, according to the findings of a recent survey by GL Noble Denton. The independent industry technical provider's new report "Reinventing Regulation: The impact of U.S. reform on the oil and gas industry" includes data gathered from over 100 senior oil and gas professionals and in-depth interviews with 10 industry executives, analysts and academics. Eighty-five percent of survey respondents told GL Noble Denton they expected...

News that Talisman Energy Inc. is pulling out of exploration for shale gas in Poland is a blow to the country’s hopes that its deposits of the hydrocarbon will soon cut its dependence on Russian supplies and support the weakening economy. Canada’s Talisman said Wednesday it had not found enough gas to warrant further expensive exploration or extraction procedures. It will sell its Polish interests to a European company, San Leon Energy, and focus on easier-to-get deposits in North and South America, Southeast Asia and the North Sea. The company’s retreat — the second by a major company in less...

The president's recently proposed budget for fiscal year 2014 included a strategic review of the federal government's role in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). TVA is a federally owned corporation that owns and operates 56 power plants in the Tennessee Valley Region, which stretches across parts of six states (Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee). TVA's plants are primarily hydroelectric, natural gas, nuclear, and coal-fired facilities with a combined net summer capacity of more than 35 gigawatts (GW), about 3% of the total U.S. electricity capacity. According to the proposed 2014 budget, TVA's current capital investment plan...

As upstream oil and gas professionals near retirement, many companies in the sector are facing a major shortfall when it comes to the skilled and experienced people they need as the oil and gas industry continues to expand around the world. The “Great Crew Change” has focused plenty of minds within the upper echelons of the oil and gas industry. BP plc is one company that has recognized the need to take a proactive approach to training in order to obviate the skills gap challenges that it might face. In a recent interview with Rigzone, BP Head of Learning and...

Full Title: The meteoric rise in Texas oil output continues and is one of the most remarkable energy success stories in US history The Energy Information Administration released new US crude oil production data today for the month of February by state, and one of the highlights of the monthly update is that oil output in America’s No. 1 oil-producing state – Texas – continues its phenomenal, meteoric rise. Here are some details of oil output in “Saudi Texas”: 1. Texas produced an average of 2.295 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in February, which is the highest...

The operator of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline has been working for years to modernize pump stations along the 800-mile route. The chief objective of this “strategic reconfiguration” program is to save costs. But it has yielded other important benefits, says operator Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. After an oil leak forced a pipeline stoppage in January 2011, new pump station equipment helped avert a shutdown of unprecedented length, a top Alyeska manager said. The problem facing Alyeska was the rapid chilling of idle oil inside the pipeline. New pumps and power units installed as part of strategic reconfiguration were able to...

Escalating costs to build liquefied natural gas plants on land in Australia, where energy workers earn the highest salaries in the world, are driving developers out to sea in search of billions of dollars in savings. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) plans to use the world’s largest ship to turn gas into liquid at an offshore field, eliminating the need for investment in pipelines and port facilities. Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL) is studying sea-based technology since ditching plans this month for an onshore plant for its Browse project. After starting work on $180 billion in LNG terminals on land, developers are...

French energy services firm Technip has leased a 17-story building, adding to the space it already occupies along the Energy Corridor, developer Mac Haik announced Wednesday. “We are experiencing unprecedented growth in our Houston office and are optimizing our resources among all segments,” David Dickson, president of Technip North America, said in a statement. North of Houston: Aerial photos of the Exxon Mobil campus The lease is for 428,831 square feet in Energy Tower III at 11740 Katy Freeway. The building, which was started without a tenant lined up to occupy it, is near completion. It is part of a...

The news in early March that a Japanese company had finally successfully extracted natural gas from methane hydrate deposits under the seabed offshore Japan was hailed as a breakthrough for the energy industry around the world. There are large deposits of methane hydrate, or "ice gas", in several locations around the planet which means, if successfully exploited, they could bring to many regions around the world the low gas prices currently seen in North America as a result of the shale gas boom. Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) reported March 12 that it successfully extracted natural gas...

Drivers’ views of “too high” gasoline prices appears to be changing after seeing years of steady hikes at the pump. According to a AAA survey, more than half of adults believe gasoline is too costly when it reaches $3.44 per gallon. Those adults are driving, buying and dining out less as a result of the higher prices. “It was not long ago that motorists were shocked to pay more than $3 per gallon for gasoline, but now that is standard at stations nationwide,” said Robert L. Darbelnet, president and CEO of AAA. “Expensive prices have forced many motorists to change...

Cold temperatures, a shortage of storage facilities and cutbacks in natural gas drilling are all helping push the price of natural gas well above $4, according to an Ernst &Young analysis released Tuesday morning. The increase comes after natural gas prices plunged to the lowest in more than a decade in 2012, as production outpaced domestic demand, creating a glut of natural gas. A year ago, the futures contract for next-month delivery was $1.975. On Tuesday, the contract closed at $4.238 in New York Mercantile Exchange trading. Consumers are beginning to absorb this excess supply, both for heat during unseasonably...

The powerful U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has once again rebuked the State Department over its positive environmental assessment of TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline. In a lengthy, highly technical letter sent Monday to the top State Department officials overseeing the pipeline permit process, the EPA raises serious concerns about the project's carbon footprint and criticizes the department's draft analysis. It urges the State Department to rethink its finding that the controversial pipeline would not significantly spur production of Alberta's carbon-intensive oilsands or boost greenhouse gas emissions. The letter, signed by EPA official Cynthia Giles, said the State assessment included "insufficient...

Cheap natural gas has split the climate debate into two camps. One celebrates the development, emphasizing that natural gas cuts emissions when it replaces coal, and arguing that abundant gas reduces emissions as a result. The other bemoans the news, noting that inexpensive natural gas makes it tougher for zero-carbon energy to compete and arguing that this will ultimately result in higher, not lower, emissions. Which view is right? Exploring a set of simulations just released as part of the Annual Energy Outlook published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) provides some neat insight. For the first time, the EIA...

As President Obama weighs the fate of the Keystone pipeline, a similar project connecting Canada’s oil sands to the West Coast is quietly moving forward, little noticed in the United States. A 60-year-old pipeline already pumps oil from northern Alberta to Vancouver’s busy harbor for shipment to Asia or California. Now the owner, Kinder Morgan Canada, wants to nearly triple the Trans Mountain Pipeline’s capacity, making it even bigger than Keystone. And unlike Keystone, Trans Mountain’s proposed $5.4 billion expansion doesn’t need the approval of the U.S. government. Canadian authorities will have the final say. The project would give Canada’s...

ExxonMobil refinery spokeswoman Kathleen Jackson said 12 contract workers were injured after a fire in the refinery's processing unit this morning.The unit was shutdown for repairs, Jackson said. Injured workers were taken to Beaumont hospitals with a variety of injuries, Jackson said. Beaumont Fire and Rescue said three of the workers were critically burned. Medical helicopters could not be used to transport the burn victims because of poor weather, according to Beaumont Fire and Rescue. Instead, all injured workers were taken by ambulances, which were seen going in and out of refinery gates around 11:30 a.m. All refinery employees have...

The global impact of the U.S. shale gas boom was in further evidence this week as Qatar Petroleum, along with its MOU partner, Centrica, made its first move into the North American exploration and production (E&P) market in a $1 billion acquisition of Canadian assets from Suncor Energy. North America had been earmarked by Qatar as a guaranteed market to sell its copious Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export capacity in, but the U.S. Shale boom has turned this idea on its head, as the middle-eastern NOC becomes the latest foreign power to move into the North American E&P arena. The...

A failure to apply an inherently safer design, identify and evaluate damage mechanism hazards, and use effective safeguards led to an Aug. 6, 2012, pipe rupture and vapor release that ignited and shut down the No. 4 crude oil unit at Chevron USA Inc.’s Richmond, Calif., refinery, the US Chemical Safety Board said in a draft report. Investigators found that Chevron did not apply inherently safer design principles and upgrade piping in the unit over 10 years, leading to extreme corrosion that ultimately made the pipe rupture and release a vapor cloud that ultimately caught fire, endangering 19 workers who...

As LNG17 gets underway in Houston, Shell Oil President Marvin Odum spoke with FuelFix about the challenges and opportunities for liquefied natural gas. Shell is leveraging its position as one of the largest natural gas producers by using the fossil fuel to power its own drilling rigs, ships and heavy trucks — with hopes of spurring others to make the same transition. At the same time, it is investing heavily in small modular facilities capable of liquefying natural gas and building the infrastructure to resupply trucks and boats that run on the super-chilled fossil fuel. Shell also is part of...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has decided that the sulfur content of gasoline must be further reduced from 30 parts per million to 10 parts per million on an annual average basis by January 1, 2017. This will bequeath to President Obama’s successor the immediate economic problem of higher gasoline prices for consumers upon assuming office. Refiners are currently meeting the Tier 2 vehicle standards that reduced sulfur in gasoline from 300 parts per million to 30 parts per million, a 90-percent reduction. Refiners estimate that the proposed new rules will cost the American motorist as much as an...

North America has seen nothing short of a revolution in natural gas production over the last several years. Evidence of this revolution can be found in the dramatic shift in projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) during that timeframe. In 2005, the EIA projected US imports of LNG — natural gas cooled to -160o C (-256o F) to enable it to be transported by ocean-going tankers — would hit 12 Bcf/day by 2030. Seven years later, the EIA projected that by 2030 exports of LNG could be as high as 12 Bcf/day. To see a swing of 24...

The United States exported 9,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of foreign-origin crude oil to China in January 2013, according to data EIA released on March 28. Many media outlets picked up this information, noting that the United States had not exported crude oil to China since 2005. However, the United States does export small amounts of crude oil on a regular basis, mostly to Canada, which is not shown on the graph. From 2003 to 2012, the United States exported an average of 35,000 bbl/d of crude oil — 98% of those exports were delivered to Canada. By comparison, in...

For decades, the image of the 18-wheeler has been that of a smoke-belching behemoth, the grinding gears and hissing brakes synonymous with the power of the diesel engine. But a 20-truck fleet powered by hydrogen fuel cells will begin rolling across the Port of Houston later this year in a test of whether the vehicles can improve air quality and still provide enough heavy lifting to handle cargo. In the largest demonstration project of its kind, the electric fleet will unload containers from ships and deliver them to a Wal-Mart warehouse. “We’re looking at our carbon footprint,” said Aston Hinds,...

Geologists hunt the Eagle Ford Shale miles below the surface in South Texas, looking for valuable oil and gas deposits. But in West Texas, the formation can be seen a lot more easily — in a simple a highway cut, for instance. Southwest Research Institute is running training field trips where geologists from oil and gas companies look at places where the Eagle Ford is exposed at the surface. The Eagle Ford Shale was deposited millions of years ago when much of Texas was a shallow sea. In South Texas where oil and gas drilling has boomed, it’s 50 miles...

audi Aramco has started production at its behemoth Manifa field, putting out 500,000 barrels of crude per day from a network of wells drilled through man-made islands, the world’s largest oil company said Monday. The field is located in a bay along the Persian Gulf. The company began production on April 10, a full three months ahead of schedule and under budget, it said in a news release. Saudi Aramco plans to increase its output from the field to 900,000 barrels of Arabian heavy crude per day next year, an oil production total larger than that of many countries. Saudi...

The Alaska Senate on Sunday afternoon approved the oil-tax bill that passed the House 13 hours before, sending to Gov. Sean Parnell the measure he had sought to save billions of dollars for Alaska's leading industry. The Senate vote was 12-8 to concur with the revised bill that the House approved 24-15 just before 2 a.m. Sunday morning (on reconsideration, three Republicans switched to support the bill). The Senate vote came past the midway point of the 90th day of the 90-day session. Parnell said that Alaska's current tax regime, which he backed as lieutenant governor in 2007 when it...

As it looks to boost demand for bountiful natural gas, Royal Dutch Shell figures a good way to start is by keeping the home fires burning. The company is leveraging its position as one of the largest natural gas producers by using the fuel to power its own drilling rigs, ships and heavy trucks – with hopes of spurring others to make the same transition. At the same time, it is investing heavily in small modular facilities capable of liquefying natural gas by super-chilling it, and building the infrastructure to fuel trucks and boats that run on it. The approach...