Free Republic

The plunge in oil prices last year led many to say that a decline in U.S. oil production wouldn't be far behind. This was because almost all the growth in U.S. production in recent years had come from high-cost tight oil deposits which could not be profitable at these new lower oil prices. These wells were also known to have production declines that averaged 40 percent per year. Overall U.S. production, however, confounded the conventional logic and continued to rise--until early June when it stalled and then dropped slightly. Anyone who understood that U.S. drillers in shale plays had large...

When the Green Mountain power company, Vermont’s largest utility, announced earlier this year it will be buying nuclear power from New Hampshire’s Seabrook reactor, many environmentalists felt betrayed. “This is exactly why we closed Vermont Yankee, because we didn’t want any nuclear power,” they complained. But consumer demands left Green Mountain with no other choice. Nuclear is the ultimate reliable source of power – reactors operate more than 90 percent of the time – and Green Mountain needs back-up in case other sources stop working or if demand exceeds supply on a hot summer day. Vermont is struggling with its...

The midstream company planning to build one of the largest crude oil storage facilities on the Gulf Coast said Thursday that it had reached a deal to fund the first phase of construction on the project in southwest Houston. Fairway Energy Partners LLC said in a release that Houston private equity firm FBR & Co. agreed to fund the first leg of the Pierce Junction storage facility, which will convert three underground salt caverns near the intersection of the 610 and 288 Freeways into crude oil storage. Fairway is backed by Haddington Ventures LLC, a Houston investment firm that manages...

The problem of limited range has been an important factor curbing the wide-spread adoption of electric cars. But scientists in South Korea have developed a new technology which could solve the problem. The lithium-ion batteries used in most of the current generation of electric cars have limitations. They are expensive and store insufficient power for the needs of many drivers, requiring frequent top-ups. And when they have to be recharged the charging process is time consuming. The technological breakthrough could solve these problems. And in the process, Dr Lu Wu of the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in South...

=============================================================================================== A team of researchers at Colorado based Escape Dynamics is reporting that initial tests indicate that it might really be possible to launch space-planes into space using microwaves sent from the ground, to allow for a single stage spacecraft. If the idea pans out, the cost savings for sending satellites (or perhaps humans) into orbit could be considerable. Today's rockets are all based on the same idea, a multi-stage rocket is used, each part filled with propellant that pushes the rocket into space as the propellant is burned. It is a really expensive way to go because the propellant...

The North American ocean carrier TOTE is deploying the world’s first container ships fueled by liquefied natural gas (LNG). The move anticipates imminent environmental regulations that are likely to trigger large shifts in the maritime shipping industry. TOTE is making the move to comply with the international Marpol Annex VI maritime emissions standards, first implemented in 2005. Restrictions on emissions like sulfur and nitrogen oxide will tighten in 2016 within designated emission control areas (ECAs), including the waters surrounding North America. Sulfur and nitrogen oxides are generated in large volumes by conventional maritime ships, which have long relied on so-called...

Lawmakers are eyeing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a piggy bank, but not without controversy. The Senate is considering legislation that would partly replenish the u.S. highway trust fund with $9 billion worth of sales from the reserve, which at 69S.1 million barrels of oil is close to its 713.S-million-barrel capacity. This month, the House passed a bill to sell 80 million barrels from the reserve to raise $7 billion to help pay for legislation to boost government drug approvals and research funding. But proposals to tap the nation's oil stockpile as a way to pay for unrelated government programs...

On Thursday, Iran detailed plans to rebuild its main industries and trade relationships after last week's final nuclear deal with the P5+1. The country says it is targeting oil and gas projects worth $185 billion by 2020. Iran Wants 2-Way Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, Iran's Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade, said Iran would focus on its oil and gas, metals and car industries with the goal of exporting to Europe following the easing of sanctions, rather than merely importing Western technology, Reuters reported Thursday morning. "We are looking for a two-way trade as well as cooperation in development, design...

Though a relatively small organization with only 26 people on staff, WildEarth Guardians’ litigious nature has established the environmental advocacy group as a dominant voice in the national debate about environmental policy. From 2010 to present, Guardians have initiated a total of 152 cases in federal district courts and 55 in the Circuit Court of Appeals for a total of 207 cases. In 2010 alone they filed 61 claims — an average of about one per week. However, Guardians’ pervasiveness in the courts has not gone without criticism. In a 2012 analysis of WildEarth Guardians' legal activity, the conservative group...

Key US senators have reached a deal on a broad package of energy sector reforms that if enacted would speed decision-making on liquefied natural gas exports, focus the intent of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and require reviews of how federal rules impact electric system reliability. The agreement on the bipartisan legislative package follows a number of Senate hearings in recent months and lawmakers' consideration of more than 100 bills offered for inclusion in the wider package. The bill unveiled Wednesday is also the result of negotiations between the two leaders of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee -- Chairman...

Weatherford International says it plans to bump its job cuts from 10,000 to 11,000, about 20 percent of its workforce, with the increase coming mostly from its U.S. support staff. The oil field services firm, based in Switzerland with main offices in Houston, said the layoffs come as the North American market continues to weaken. It had completed all but 3 percent of its previously announced cut of 10,000 jobs, it said in its second-quarter earnings release late Wednesday. “The aggregate results of these measures will help mitigate the effects of the downturn, while at the same time, take advantage...

The Obama administration gave its final stamp of approval Wednesday to Shell Oil Company's application to drill oil and natural gas in the Arctic Ocean. Under the approval, Shell can start drilling exploratory wells as soon as its fleet arrives at its prospect in the Chukchi Sea, about 140 miles off Alaska's northwest coast. But the two “application to drill”s approved by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) included key restrictions that bar Shell from drilling in areas known to contain oil, since its safety equipment is not yet fully ready. The decision is a major...

The US Senate showed a disturbing lack of respect for US energy security on Tuesday. The upper chamber introduced a highway bill that proposes selling oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to partially pay for a three-year extension of the highway trust fund. The bill is the result of a deal between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and California Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer. Legislators project that selling 101 billion barrels from the 693 billion barrel stockpile would raise $9 billion if the government sells the oil between 2018 and 2025. The bill assumes an average oil price of...

...“The EIA has global oil demand in 2020 and beyond being met with increased supplies from a region of the world stuck in a multi-decade crisis that is likely to get much worse before it ever gets better. Supply from the short-cycle U.S. oil market is required to balance the global crude market at a rate where U.S. shale should remain a growth industry.”... There have been several key developments that set the stage for the evolutionary phase that the world has now entered: 1) development of mature fracking technologies for oil and gas shale that have made previously uneconomic...

The clock is ticking on the Obama Administration. With only 18 months remaining in his final term, federal energy planners and agency regulators are working as quickly as possible to impose new rules on the oil and natural gas industry. As one industry lobbyist told the Houston Chronicle, “The agencies are all in hyperdrive to get the rules across the finish line or have them well-positioned in the regulatory queue so that their path forward past Jan. 20, 2017, is clearly established.” The rush to increase regulations on oil and natural gas is nothing but bad news for an industry...

Ridgewood Energy is not letting $50 oil shift its aim. The energy company focused on the deep-water Gulf of Mexico closed a nearly $2 billion private equity fund that it contends will still prove profitable. Houston- and New Jersey-based Ridgewood said its new $1.94 billion, Ridgewood Energy Oil & Gas Fund III is its biggest yet and exceeded its initial $1.5 billion target. As other companies slow down their expensive deep-water Gulf investments, Ridgewood says it can find and develop oil there for $20 a barrel or less, although the break even is closer to $35 a barrel with other...

Manufacturer TimkenSteel Material Services LLC told state officials Monday it would lay of 39 workers at a Houston plant. The Canton, Ohio-based company, which manufactures steel bars and pipes, cited a “significant downturn in business” as the reason for the layoffs. Manufacturers and oil patch suppliers have suffered alongside drillers as lower crude oil prices have led producers to idle rigs and trim orders for the manufactured goods that support drilling. Timken has operations in the U.S., Mexico, Europe and China. In its 2014 annual report, the company indicated that its energy and distribution business segment accounted for about 43...

Thank goodness we last November gave the Republicans the Senate majority.Who besides the GOP would resurrect government money for ridiculous “green” “energy” – which is neither green nor energy? To the tune of tens (if not hundreds) of billions of dollars more down the juice-less rat hole. Oh yeah – every Democrat on the planet. Senate May Revive Expired Green Energy Tax SubsidiesThe Senate finance committee will be holding a markup hearing on expired tax subsidies members want to be revived for their constituents and campaign supporters, and this includes now defunct subsidies for green energy.A document released by...

We Interrupt Our Regular Trump Programming to Announce America’s Surrender to Iran and Global Governance July 20, 2015 At the New York Times website this morning, if you dig down under stories on the Donald Trump Circus, you will find a one-line link, buried beneath several other one-line links, to a report titled, “U.N. Vote on Iran Nuclear Deal Irks Congress.” Further burying the lede, you must scour down to a passing reference in paragraph four to find a glimmer of the real story: The Obama administration has already raced to the United Nations Security Council to spearhead action, today,...

Saudi Arabia is pumping more crude oil than ever before. In June, it produced 10.6 million barrels a day. That’s the highest on record, . . . . .. And it’s pretty clear that Saudi Arabia is settling in for the long run. The country borrowed $4bn on the bond markets this week, selling bonds for the first time in eight years.