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Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Note: Petroleum production includes crude oil, natural gas liquids, condensates, refinery processing gain, and other liquids, including biofuels. Barrels per day oil equivalent were calculated using a conversion factor of 1 barrel oil equivalent = 5.55 million British thermal units (Btu). The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that the United States will be the world's top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2013, surpassing Russia and Saudi Arabia. For the United States and Russia, total petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbon production, in energy content terms, is almost evenly split between petroleum and natural...

The EU has started legal action against Russian energy giant Gazprom, the bloc’s competition chief said on Thursday (3 October). … The anti-Gazprom claims say it is abusing its dominant market position to demand extortionate prices for gas and preventing countries from diversifying their energy supply. Lithuania says it pays 35 percent more than Germany for gas under its contract with Gazprom. …

The question of whether natural gas is a ‘clean’ fuel is hotly debated amongst food columnists and the current U.S. Secretary of Energy alike. The debate has been fueled by scientific uncertainty; measuring methane emissions has been difficult because data is hard to obtain. But a new study released last week by the University of Texas (UT) and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), addresses this challenge head-on. In the most comprehensive shale gas emission study ever undertaken, the researchers found that extracting gas from shale is being done in a sustainable, environmentally friendly fashion. The study found that 99 percent...

U.S. Is Poised to Overtake Russia as Largest Oil-and-Gas Producer By RUSSELL GOLD and DANIEL GILBERT CONNECT The U.S. is poised to overtake Russia as the world's single largest producer of oil and natural gas combined this year, a startling shift that is reshaping energy markets and eroding the clout of traditional petroleum-rich nations. Shale-rock formations of oil and natural gas have fueled a comeback for the U.S. that was unimaginable a decade ago. Russia meanwhile has struggled to maintain its energy output and has yet to embrace the technologies such as hydraulic fracturing that have boosted U.S. reserves. The...

As the death toll for Government Shutdown Apocalypse 2013 continues to grow, it appears that the EPA’s plans to make it even more expensive for Americans to drive a car were “shut down” by the government shutdown.Just think of how much less the EPA will be able to do with only 7 percent of its employees. That EPA SWAT Team may have to sit out the week. Someone else will have to send $700,000 to Thailand’s pig farmers. And someone else will have to hike fuel prices.

The former senior EPA adviser who stole $900,000 from taxpayers while posing as a CIA agent pleaded the Fifth on Tuesday morning — shortly before House members expressed outrage upon learning that he’s still due to get his government pension. John C. Beale invoked his right not to incriminate himself when facing questioning from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, just four days after he pleaded guilty to charges that could bring him three years in prison.“Mr. Beale, do you have a statement?” panel Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) asked during the hearing. “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. No I do...

As the death toll for Government Shutdown Apocalypse 2013 continues to grow, it appears that the EPA’s plans to make it even more expensive for Americans to drive a car were “shut down” by the government shutdown. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will take one of the biggest hits of any federal agency if the government shuts down this week, operating with under 7 percent of its employees, according to guidance issued by the agency. Just think of how much less the EPA will be able to do with only 7 percent of its employees. That EPA SWAT Team may...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will take one of the biggest hits of any federal agency if the government shuts down this week, operating with under 7 percent of its employees, according to guidance issued by the agency. Among those furloughed would be most workers at the Office of Air and Radiation, which is in charge of writing and implementing most of the EPA's major air pollution rules. The clock would also stop, for now, on the EPA's eagerly-awaited proposal on renewable fuel volume standards for 2014. The EPA said its plan for dealing with a shutdown would classify 1,069...

It simply isn’t fashionable these days for any self-importantly “forward-thinking” democratic bureaucracy to be without some sort of designated climate change agency or committee to come up with exciting new ways the country can divert its revenues and resources toward so-called green projects. (“Forward thinking” got the quotation-marks treatment because it is truly miraculous how often these usually progressive-leaning governments love to think ahead on climate change, but not so much on debts and deficits.)Earlier this month, however — amid higher taxes, a slowing economy, and a wildly unpopular tax on carbon emissions — the Australian national election yielded a...

Never before have so many been mislead by so much money spent by the so very few. All without the slightest attention to the truth. I’m talking about those who deny proven climate science. Deniers, sometimes aptly called “confusionists,” want to mislead us so our leaders won’t move to battle the scourge of our time. Because if leaders act, profits of the fossil fuel companies and the whole fake universe of climate denial will come crashing down. Climate deniers are gearing up for an event they really fear: the release next week of the fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,...

The Obama administration on Friday announced that it was not backing down from a confrontation with the coal industry and would press ahead with enacting the first federal carbon limits on the nation’s power companies. The proposed regulations, announced at the National Press Club by Gina McCarthy, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, are an aggressive move by Mr. Obama to bypass Congress on climate change with executive actions he promised in his inaugural address this year.

A Dutch company and an American ethanol producer hope to put a new kind of fuel in your gas tank — whether it makes economic sense or not. Thanks, Washington. Amid the cornfields of Emmetsburg, Iowa sits an ethanol plant that takes in 20 million bushels of corn and churns out about 55 million gallons of corn ethanol a year. Rising next to it is a revolutionary new facility. It will make ethanol as well, but instead of using juicy kernels of corn, its feedstock will be 285,000 tons a year of corncobs, leaves and husks. Although its 25 million...

 Tony Abbott announces Australia is open for business again.  Finally Australia steps back from a porkbarrelling party that stood for nothing more than being in power. They broke promises to anyone and everyone with Olympian success. And it was not just the usual politician broken promise of failing to solve a problem they promised to solve: they brought in The Carbon Tax after dishonestly guaranteeing they would not. Would they have won the 2010 election if they hadn’t made that promise? (It would only have taken 400 voters in Corangamite to rewrite history.) They’ve taken broken promises to an all new level, where nothing they...

Russian energy giant Gazprom issued a brief statement on June 29 which actually touches on many political problems in the greater geography surrounding Turkey. It said that the company is ready to send more gas to Turkey if necessary, but from 2018 on Turkey could ask help from Azerbaijan as well. Reuters got it right when it called the statement a threat; a threat to both Turkey and Azerbaijan. The date the Russian company named, 2018, is the planned completion date for the TANAP (Trans-Anatolian) pipeline, which will carry Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe, a $7 billion project which was...

China's investment in exploration of oil and gas resources is expected to stand at 80 billion yuan (13.07 billion U.S. dollars) in 2013, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources. Such investment has risen steadily in China over the past years as the country moves to reduce dependence on imports and ensure security of energy supply. The ministry figures show that money spent on exploration of oil and gas fields rose from 19.0 billion yuan in 2002 to 67.3 billion yuan in 2011. In the 2008-2011 period, some 5.01 billion tonnes of petroleum reserves and 2.6 trillion cubic meters...

It was supposed to help clean the air, reduce dependence on foreign oil and bolster agriculture. But a little known market in ethanol credits has also become a hot new game on Wall Street. The federal government created the market in special credits tied to ethanol eight years ago when it required refiners to mix ethanol into gasoline or buy credits from companies that do so. The idea was to push refiners to use the cleaner, renewable fuel, or force them to buy the credits. A few worried that Wall Street would set out to exploit this young market, fears...

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said that fracking in the US has lessened demand for their oil, and that they need to begin to find other income sources. In a letter to oil minister, Ali al Naimi and other top government officials, Alwaleed said that fracking was responsible for the declining demand for oil from OPEC. Alwaleed recommends that the oil rich country, should diversify immediately before the impact gets to be out of hand. He says that the Saudi's dependence on oil income is, "a truth that has really become a source of worry for many".

In the wake of a crushing defeat last week for the climate alarmism-promoting Australian Labor Party, which imposed the deeply unpopular and expensive “carbon tax” credited by analysts for the conservative coalition’s victory, authorities in Australia are preparing to dismantle and consolidate the myriad global-warming schemes spawned under the previous government. However, while legislation is already being drafted, major hurdles remain before the tax on CO2 can be scrapped, sparking an outcry among businesses, state governments, and especially Australian voters, who voted overwhelmingly in favor of the new coalition and its pledge to kill the costly economic burden. According to...

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed an internal combustion engine that emits less than half the CO2 compared to a regular engine without compromising performance. This corresponds to fuel consumption of less than 2.4 l per 100 km. This natural gas-diesel hybrid engine is based on a system of sophisticated control engineering.The global energy markets are changing. New extraction methods are tapping into oilfields and natural gas deposits that have been inaccessible until now. The US, for example, is able to cover up to 83% of its total energy needs today; the government is even planning to increase exports...

The Federal Election Commission is examining whether dozens of political action committees and individuals contributed more than the legally allowed amount to House Speaker John Boehner during last year's election cycle. Letters the Federal Election Committee sent Monday to Friends of John Boehner indicated that donors including coal, energy, and gambling interests, exceeded contribution limits to Boehner's committee by more than $150,000.