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The town of Somerset, Kentucky, opened a city-run filling station on Saturday, the Associated Press reported, offering gas to the public at below-market rates. From the Associated Press: The Somerset Fuel Center opened to the public selling regular unleaded gas for $3.36 a gallon, a bit lower than some nearby competitors. In the first three hours, about 75 customers fueled up at the no-frills stations, where there are no snacks, no repairs and only regular unleaded gas. The mayor says the station was created in response to years of grumbling by townspeople about stubbornly high gas prices in Somerset, a city...

Charts and maps of America’s Amazing Shale Oil Revolution; and the new ‘Big Three’: Bakken, Eagle Ford and Permian Mark J. Perry | July 15th, 2014   Skip to Responses     Below are four charts and two maps that help tell the story of America’s Amazing Shale Oil Revolution:1. The Big Three. Yesterday, the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) updated its monthly “Drilling Productivity Report” with new estimates of oil production through August in America’s three, super-giant oil fields, the “Big Three”: the Bakken in North Dakota and Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin in Texas. As...

Republicans love fracking in Colorado — and it could help them flip a critical Senate seat this fall. The onslaught against Democratic Sen. Mark Udall (Colo.) reached a fever pitch this week when Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) had to cancel a special legislative session meant to keep two hydraulic fracturing initiatives backed by Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) off the November ballot. Udall, who had stayed out of the fray on the two measures, was forced to take a side much to the GOP's glee. Now, with Colorado as one of the top natural gas producing states in the nation,...

Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze said that increased drilling and a shortage of staff are behind his agency’s request for a fee system to increase the agency’s inspection capacity. ... BLM is focused on a range of inspections, including drilling and production inspections. ... Irregular and declining budgets have hindered our ability to move out aggressively in this area. Through the President’s 2015 budget proposal, we are now seeking to fund inspections through a fee system that will allow us to be much more responsive to the needs of industry and, importantly, to meet the foundational safety and...

While the House and the Senate this week issued measures intended to temporarily replenish the Highway Trust Fund before it runs out of money next month, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) ended the week by proposing to hike - then abolish - the federal fuel tax and replace it with a per-mile “fee.” “The policy development that I’m most excited about and that will reinforce the right practices for the future: After we raise the gas tax, we should abolish it,” Blumenauer said on Friday at the liberal Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. “The time is right to replace...

KIEV, May 27 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine has asked Russia to pay $1 billion for 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas stored at an underground facility belonging to Crimea's Black Sea oil and gas company Chernomorneftegaz, Acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Tuesday. [....] Until Crimea’s reunification with Russia in mid-March, Chernomorneftegaz belonged to Ukrainian energy giant Naftogaz. After the referendum on secession from Ukraine, the company was nationalized.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The Obama administration's attempt to assuage farmers' and ranchers' fears about a major Clean Water Act proposal has drawn flak from all corners, forcing the U.S. EPA administrator herself to concede yesterday that there are "legitimate concerns" with the effort. At issue is the interpretive rule for agriculture that the Obama administration released in March in tandem with a major proposal to increase the number of streams and wetlands that receive automatic Clean Water Act protection following years of regulatory uncertainty. Administrator Gina McCarthy said on a call with reporters yesterday that the interpretive rule was intended...

The fate of a chicken-size bird carries huge economic and political stakes across the West. The sage grouse, long a threat to the thriving energy sector, is also a threat to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The ground-dwelling bird, which has habitat across Nevada and 10 other states, could be listed as a threatened or endangered species as soon as next year. Such a designation would place burdensome restrictions on the use of tens of millions of acres by ranchers, farmers, and oil and natural gas producers. Environmental organizations that want a halt to ranching and fossil fuel development are...

At a recent town hall meeting in Edmond, Oklahoma, local citizens gathered to discuss the possible connection between fracking and increased seismic activity in their area. According to one published report, members of the audience left “disappointed” that no consensus had been reached linking fracking and seismic activity. According to the same report, many in the audience appeared to be “hostile to the oil and gas industry.” Even in this most oil-friendly of states, it seems, there is a rush to judgment linking fracking to every conceivable sort of damage.

Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the meadow jumping mouse as an endangered species. Now, the U.S. Forest Service, which oversees the Santa Fe National Forest, is considering erecting a series of 8-foot high fences to protect the mouse’s habitat. The Luceros, members of the San Diego Cattleman’s Association and holders of grazing permits with the federal government, say the fences will lock out their cattle — as well as those of other permit holders — from ever returning to the meadow where the livestock graze for 20 days in the spring and up to 40 days...

This Independence Day weekend, drivers won't see any relief from high gas prices. Although prices retreated by a fraction of a cent at the beginning of the week, AAA predicts holiday travelers will pay the most at the pump since 2008. In its monthly gas price report released June 30, AAA said, "With Independence Day only a few days away, today's national average price of gas is $3.68 per gallon. This average is considerably more expensive than recent years for the holiday. The national average on July 4 in previous years was: $3.48 (2013); $3.34 (2012); $3.57 (2011); $2.74 (2010);...

There was a lot of hoopla last week over the news that the U.S. Department of Commerce had seemingly loosened rules governing the export of condensate — light weight hydrocarbons recovered from oil and gas wells. The excitement was palpable; shares in in oil refiners sold off. Was this the start of the big policy shift that oil producers have been dreaming of? An end to the 40-year oil export ban?

Energy boom fuels economic growth in Midwest states     The drilling rig floor is slick with grease and oil in Watford City, N.D., Dec. 17, 2013. Jim Gehrz / Minneapolis Star Tribune/MCT By Patrick Gillespie McClatchy Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- While the national business outlook remains tepid, the energy sector is driving fast economic growth in some states.A drilling boom for oil shale and natural gas has spurred prosperity throughout the middle of the United States. Despite having mostly smaller economies compared with coastal states, these states will continue growing for at least five more years, energy economists project,...

With Petroshenko agreeing to extend today's cease-fire deadline for 3 days, the Russians, unfortunately, are not optimistic after the 'expert-level' talks in Europe. Given this, it appears Russia is preparing its retaliation for possible further sanctions that are being waved by Europe and the US. As AP reports, Russia's state-controlled gas company, Gazprom, says it could limit supplies to European customers that intend to re-sell the natural gas on to Ukraine. Whil enot naming specific countries, the Gazprom CEO explained he needed to clamp down on the so-called reverse-flow supplies the the cut-off Ukraine as they were "half-fraudulent schemes." Russia...

Peak Oil’s Revenge A slew of events over the past few months have driven the price of oil higher.The ISIS incursion in Iraq has set up the entire Middle East for a multinational civil war. It’s not hard to envision a reign of destruction across the Arab Peninsula to the oil producing regions of Iran.Russia, the world’s largest producer of hydrocarbons, is stirring up nationalism and sending rebel groups into Ukraine.China just sent four jack-up rigs into disputed waters off Vietnam to look for oil.And two days ago, the Obama administration made it legal to export very lightly refined crude...

Wildlife advocates want a federal judge to order faster action on a recovery plan for imperiled Canada lynx. ... Officials also say that lynx face a relatively low degree of threat compared to other protected species. The Fish and Wildlife Service was forced to come up with a timeline on the recovery document when Molloy last month expressed frustration with the government's progress. The judge said the "stutter-step" approach by federal officials necessitated court intervention. The lawsuit pending before Molloy was brought by Friends of the Wild Swan, Rocky Mountain Wild, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and the San Juan Citizens Alliance....

ienna (AFP) - Coinciding with a visit to Vienna by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian energy giant Gazprom on Tuesday signed a deal with Austria's OMV approving the EU country's section of the controversial South Stream pipeline. The crisis in Ukraine has made the planned pipeline bringing Siberian gas to the European Union -- bypassing Ukraine -- a new focus of tensions between Moscow, Brussels and Washington. EU member Bulgaria earlier this month said it was suspending work on building its section of the multi-billion-euro (-dollar) project following pressure from the EU and the United States. The European Commission has...

Shale Boom Will Spread Beyond North America Before 2020: IEA By Meagan Clark on June 17 2014 8:45 AM Here's the EIA's latest assessment of where the world's known technically recoverable shale oil and gas deposits are located. The number of countries on the list has nearly doubled since 2011. U.S. Energy Information Administration Share this article   The North American shale boom that has transformed the oil industry here will spread beyond the continent before the end of the decade, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Tuesday in its annual five-year oil market report.That’s sooner than IEA previously expected....

Anti-fracking forces across the country have tapped into local governments to get them to tap the brakes on fracking, a technological advance that allows energy companies to extract oil and gas from deep rock formations by pressure-pumping them with sand, water and chemicals. Some states allow communities to regulate the energy industry, but some do not, according to Deborah Goldberg, a New York attorney with Earthjustice, a national nonprofit known for using the court system to protect the environment and people’s health. “Local authority varies substantially depending on the state you are in,” Goldberg said in a press briefing Friday....

The World Has 53.3 Years of Oil Left By Matt DiLallo |June 22, 2014 | Photo credit: BP. BP (NYSE: BP  )  has provided an intriguing update to its global oil reserves estimate in the company's latest yearly review of energy statistics. BP raised its reserve estimate by 1.1% to 1,687.9 billion barrels, which is enough oil to last the world 53.3 years at the current production rates. However, there's likely a lot more oil left in the tank beyond what BP sees today. America's energy boom surgesA good portion of the growth in global oil reserves in BP's report comes from the...