Free Republic

The false leftist narrative that suggests President Trump is a uniquely evil president because American Border Patrol agents hurled a few tear gas canisters at invading migrants continues its amusing collapse.Trump is hardly unique in using tear gas and pepper bombs to protect the border from an invading horde. Another American president, one hailed as a Messiah by the same people hurling scatalogical invective at Trump, did the same thing.His name was Barack Hussein Obama, and given the data published by The Daily Caller, he might have been known as the Gasser in Chief. Or maybe we might call him...

Mexico’s state oil company Pemex said it produced an average 1.76 million bpd of crude in October, down 7 percent from October last year, Reuters reports, citing data released by the company. This is also one of the lowest monthly production rates since 1990 when records began. The decline was attributed to the natural depletion of mature fields, highlighting the urgent need for new production in the country. The outgoing government of Enrique Pena Nieto launched a sweeping reform in Mexico’s energy sector, one of its aims being to open up the local oil wealth to foreign operators in order...

Migrants approaching the U.S. border from Mexico were enveloped with tear gas Sunday after a few tried to breach the fence separating the two countries. U.S. agents shot the gas, according to an Associated Press reporter on the scene. Children were screaming and coughing in the mayhem.

(AP) – The United States is pumping record amounts of oil, vaulting over Russia to become the world’s biggest producer of crude. The Energy Information Administration said Thursday that the U.S. produced more than 11.3 million barrels a day in August, a 4 percent increase over the old record set in July. Russia’s energy ministry estimates that country pumped 11.2 million barrels a day in August. OPEC reports Saudi Arabia pumped 10.4 million barrels a day It’s the first time since 1973 that the U.S. leads the world in oil production. in August including Texas, which accounts for about 40...

Multiple explosions in the Lawrence, MA area.

President Bashar al-Assad has approved a gas attack in the Idlib province, which is the country’s last rebel stronghold, a report on Sunday said...The Wall Street Journal reported that the international pressure did little to sway Assad, who benefits from support from Russia and Iran. The report said Assad has approved the use of chlorine gas...Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a “total annihilation of terrorists in Syria,” while Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke of “cleansing the Idlib region of terrorists.”

Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Thursday christened the first natural gas export terminal on the East Coast, at the Cove Point facility in Maryland outside of Washington. “We can become a reliable competitive alternative anywhere in the world, and we will,” Perry said in remarks opening the second natural gas export terminal in the country. Energy exports are key to Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda, and Perry said the president fully supports the new terminal. “This president understands the power of energy and he is eager to unleash our bounty to the world, which is why he is so supportive of...

MOUNDSVILLE — Trump Administration officials are continuing to listen as West Virginia officials push for an expanded Interstate 68 from Morgantown through Marshall County. Marshall County Commissioner Robert Miller led a contingent to Washington, D.C., last week to meet with Brittany Carter, the White House assistant director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Miller said the group discussed the I-68 project’s prospects of being included within Trump’s expected $200 billion infrastructure improvement plan, which should be presented to Congress by the end of this year. The I-68 project is expected to cost at least $1 billion. “$200 billion isn’t a...

The impending oil renaissance in Alaska’s North Slope is going to be even more massive than previously projected. The oil lurking under the surface of the historically oil rich region is enough to turn the state’s economy around and reinstate it as a major player in the oil industry, according to new research from IHS Markit, a London-based global information and analytics provider. The study shows that the North Slope’s crude output could increase by as much as a whopping 40 percent in the next eight years, more than regaining its place as one of the major powerhouses of the...

Fledgling companies, many backed by private equity, are rushing to help shale drillers deal with one of their trickiest problems: what to do with the vast volumes of wastewater that are a byproduct of fracking wells...Moving water by pipe costs anywhere from 60 cents to $1.50 a barrel compared with more than $2 by truck...

I have 2 chain saws, 3 weed eaters and 3 blowers, all 2 cycle and all need fuel lines almost every year. I buy the fuel line by the foot now. Used to just by replacement bag of lines for each brand. There must be a better way to fix these lines so they won't rot every year or 2. FReepers are wise and chocked with info. I hope someone out there has a better way. Is there some other material that can be used.I'm even thinking of copper if I can get it small enough. Thx

A Ukraine court has found former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of authority for signing gas contracts with Russia and sentenced her Tuesday to seven years in prison. Authorities deployed hundreds of police officers around the court to keep order, state media reported. Dozens of angry Tymoshenko supporters took to the streets of Kiev in August when she was taken into custody. "Dear friends, I just want to say that I disagree with this verdict and I am saying that the year 1937 is back again," Tymoshenko said in the courtroom on Tuesday, making a reference to Josef...

Once the inevitable collapse of Citgo happens, the ruling drug cartel in Venezuela will inevitably enter it’s final phase. Today, Venezuela is unable to refine oil into gasoline, so in turn it is purchased from Citgo and all but given away for domestic consumption. This has given rise to a vast network of gasoline smuggling, often by the military itself, which steals the gasoline in transit then sells it in other nations for a huge profit while remaining well under the market price. Gasoline is so cheap in Venezuela, one can purchase around 875,000 gallons of 87 octane for $1....

It’s summer. It’s hot. We all want to go on vacation. But for those of us who watch the oil market, there’s a nagging feeling that we won’t get to read that trashy novel on the beach, because oil prices are ready to explode. Who’s to blame? Top of the list is Iranian President Hassan Rouhani who, on Sunday, warned the United States that conflict with the Islamic Republic would be “the mother of all wars.” Additionally, Rouhani’s comment that “We have always guaranteed the security” of the Strait of Hormuz — the comparatively narrow waterway from the Persian Gulf...

LIKE vinyl records and popped collars, rows between the United States and Europe over Russian energy are making a comeback. In the early 1980s Ronald Reagan’s attempts to thwart a Soviet pipeline that would bring Siberian gas to Europe irritated the West Germans and drove the French to proclaim the end of the transatlantic alliance. The cast of characters has shifted a little today, but many of the arguments are the same. In Nord Stream 2 (NS2), a proposed Russian gas pipeline, Germany sees a respectable project that will cut energy costs and lock in secure supplies. American politicians (and...

THE crisis in Ukraine has alarmed the rest of Europe—not just because of the prospect of war, or chaos on its borders, but because a row with Russia over Ukraine's unpaid gas bill threatens energy security in the rest of the continent. Europe could survive a short interruption of a few weeks to the pipelines across Ukraine, assuming that other Russian gas kept flowing. The European Union has built in more resilience since the last upset in Ukraine, in 2009. Now it is hurrying to reduce its reliance further. But measures such as better storage, more interconnectors and diversification of...

“Germany is totally controlled by Russia … They will be getting between 60 and 70 percent of their energy from Russia and a new pipeline, and you tell me if that is appropriate because I think its not,” Trump said. The U.S. president was speaking at a press conference in front of NATO representatives ahead of a two-day summit. The Trump administration’s policies indicate it views security and trade as intimately linked. And when it comes to the trade balance, no ally will be spared. Speaking in Brussels, Belgium on the first leg of his European trip, the U.S. president...

The speculators are at it again in the oil market, pushing up prices beyond the fundamentals.

A NEW Syria is emerging from the rubble of war. In Homs, which Syrians once dubbed the “capital of the revolution” against President Bashar al-Assad, the Muslim quarter and commercial district still lie in ruins, but the Christian quarter is reviving. Churches have been lavishly restored; a large crucifix hangs over the main street. “Groom of Heaven”, proclaims a billboard featuring a photo of a Christian soldier killed in the seven-year conflict. In their sermons, Orthodox patriarchs praise Mr Assad for saving one of the world’s oldest Christian communities.

Nord Stream-2 includes construction of two lines of a gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 bln cubic meters of gas per year from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The gas pipeline will bypass the transit states - Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and other Eastern European and Baltic countries - through the exclusive economic zones and territorial waters of five states - Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project is purely commercial, not political, and attempts to counter its implementation violate the rules of free competition, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said...