Free Republic

...faces unprecedented challenges to its long-term expansion and modernization plans.... Last week Rosneft said it would cut staff to reduce costs: Kommersant business daily said Rosneft's Moscow headquarters would see cuts of up to 25 percent from the current 4,000. These would be the first significant job losses at a company that swelled via the acquisition of rivals such as YUKOS, pushed into bankruptcy some ten years ago by the government of President Vladimir Putin. Since then Rosneft's output has risen 10-fold to exceed 4 million barrels per day or four percent of global supply. But last week it reported...

Israel is hoping to lure U.S. exploration and production companies to take advantage of its new offshore opportunities. So far, Houston’s Noble Energy is the only U.S. player there, after its discovery of major gas fields below the Mediterranean Sea. Reporter Rhiannon Meyers details how Israel is searching for inspiration and expertise in Texas. “Ultimately, Texas is the hub of the global oil and gas industry,” Joshua Beagelman, who is organizing the nation’s first international oil and gas conference in the fall, told her.

The growing glut of U.S. natural gas is helping to power a manufacturing boom in Mexico. Natural-gas exports across the southern border have risen 11% so far this year, to two billion cubic feet a day, according to Bentek Energy, an analytics company based in Denver. And that flow of gas could double in the next few years, analysts say. Companies have announced plans for at least seven new pipelines to take gas across the border from Texas and Arizona, including one expected to start transporting fuel at the end of the month. The increasing flow of gas is easing...

(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Monday oversaw the start of construction on a giant pipeline that is due to ship $400 billion (240.78 billion pounds) worth of Russian gas to China in the three decades after flows begin in 2019.The 4,000 km (2,500 mile) "Power of Siberia" pipeline, being built by state-controlled Gazprom (GAZP.MM), forms a key part of the Kremlin's energy strategy, symbolising Russia's attempts to wean itself off dependence on European markets that account for most of its exports."Just now, we along with our Chinese friends are starting the biggest construction project in the world," Putin told...

AIDEA board OKs early work, concession for North Slope plant for Interior supplies On Aug. 25 the board of the Alaska Industrial and Export Authority passed a couple of resolutions that move forward a project to build a liquefied natural gas plant on the North Slope, for the supply of natural gas to Fairbanks and the Alaska Interior. One resolution authorizes AIDEA to spend $1.6 million, in addition to an existing commitment of $4.5 million, for the early procurement of long lead-time items needed for the plant, while the engineering and design work for the plant is still in progress....

The ongoing energy reform in Mexico has been touted as opening the possibilities for a massive production increase from shale formations in the Burgos and Sabinas basins, largely because the assessments of technically recoverable resources reported by the US Energy Information Administration are so substantial. But, we should be careful not to put the proverbial “cart in front of the horse.” Specifically, as the US success story shows, although the geology (the cart in this case) might be very promising, there are a number of above ground issues (the horse) that must be aligned for large-scale successes to be realized....

A proposal to build a pipeline from the fracking fields of Pennsylvania to eastern Massachusetts by late 2018 is sparking concern among many property owners in the path of the pipe. But there’s a twist to this evolving story: a proposed surcharge added to electric bills that would force every ratepayer in New England to help pay for the interstate pipeline, which is expected to cost $2 billion to $6 billion. The route proposed for the pipeline’sMassachusetts segment runs through dense forests, wetlands and small towns in the northern tier of the state. Alternative routes, or modifications to the northern...

Colorado has so far spent $8 million in taxpayer money on nearly 240 compressed natural gas vehicles, with dozens of them stationed in places where there is no compressed natural gas filling stations, Watchdog.org has learned. And the state expects to buy more CNG vehicles, costing $7,000 to $11,000 more than comparable gasoline-fueled vehicles, in the 2015 fiscal year. Many of them are destined for state facilities that also have no current CNG filling station nearby, state records show. Because of the lack of fueling stations, state workers apparently continue to run many of the vehicles on more expensive gasoline,...

In addition to the fueling problem, workers for Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources and Colorado Parks and Wildlife may have difficulties doing their jobs because of Compressed Natural Gas fuel tanks on trucks, ... When state fleet was pushing CPW to buy the vehicles, there were concerns for the employees out in the field. “That is additional cost to the agency and inefficiency,” CPW fleet manager Michelle Arnold wrote in January 2013. “The decreased hauling capacity because of CNG fueling tanks in the back of the bed of the pickups is going to severely limit if not totally preclude the...

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At this stage, companies are building programs internally to address how they will adopt Internet of Things technologies and how to get the most benefits in terms of managing risks, reducing costs and bringing in new revenues, said Serhii Konovalov, who leads Cisco’s O&G Global Industry Solutions Practice and O&G Innovations, in an interview with Rigzone. Officials with Software AG are also seeing oil and gas companies starting to lay the framework and mapping their business processes to prepare their organizations for Internet of Things monitoring solutions. Software AG, which focuses on helping companies, including oil and gas companies, become...

Full Title: Dominion, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and AGL Resources Form Joint Venture to Own Proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline - $4.5 billion-$5 billion pipeline would bring 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to North Carolina and Virginia - 'Transformational' project provides growing Mid-Atlantic markets a new route for access to competitive, domestic energy supplies - Investment would create thousands of jobs, promote economic development and cleaner air, increase state and local tax revenue - Pipeline expected to be in service by late 2018, pending regulatory approvals Four major U.S. energy companies – Dominion (NYSE: D), Duke...

The federal government will resume oil and gas leasing in California following a report released Thursday that found little scientific evidence that fracking and similar extraction techniques are dangerous. The Bureau of Land Management said the report — and additional environmental reviews — will allow it to begin leasing on public land next year. The announcement is welcome news for energy companies that have been shut out of the oil-rich San Joaquin Valley and Central Coast. But critics, including environmental organizations whose lawsuits led to a judge's order to halt leasing last year, said the analysis was rushed by the...

Morgan Stanley has quietly filed plans to build and run one of the first U.S. compressed natural gas export facilities, the first sign the bank is plunging back into physical commodity markets even as it sells its physical oil business. In a 23-page application to the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy submitted in May, the Wall Street bank outlined a proposal to build, own and operate a compression and container loading facility near Freeport, Texas, which will have capacity to ship 60 billion cubic feet a year of compressed natural gas (CNG). While the size of the...

China's energy heavyweights Sinopec Corp and PetroChina have upgraded their outlook on the country's shale gas industry, citing steadily declining costs, but stopped short of predicting a near-term boom. China, estimated to hold the world's largest technically recoverable shale resources, is hoping to replicate the shale boom that has transformed the energy landscape of the United States. Industry experts caution that it would be much more difficult for China to monetise its shale gas reserves than the U.S. as it faces serious challenges from water shortages to complicated geological structure and a lack of infrastructure. But top executives at China's...

The independent companies at the forefront of the U.S. shale boom will finally earn enough from selling oil and gas to cover their capital expenditures next year, for the first time since 2008. Free cash flow, which measures operating cash flow minus capital spending, for the 25 leading independent oil and gas producers is expected to show a surplus of $2.4 billion in 2015, according to a consensus forecast in the Financial Times. That compares with a shortfall of around $9 billion in 2013 and $32 billion in 2012. ("Shale oil and gas producers' finances lift growth hopes" FT, Aug...

The oil and gas industry is the most dynamic industry in the U.S. and will remain so for a long time, according to T. Boone Pickens, chairman of BP Capital Management, who spoke Monday during Gov. Tom Corbett's Jobs 1st Summit in Pittsburgh. "What an opportunity for our country with 30 of our states being producing states," he said. Pickens said the country should take advantage of its energy resources and convert its fleet of commercial heavy-duty trucks over to natural gas. And it should form a strategic energy alliance with Canada and Mexico. Those two things he said could...

...Higher purchase prices compared with diesel trucks, improved diesel fuel economy and continued scarcity of fueling stations are damping natural-gas-powered truck demand. About 10,480 of the heavy-duty trucks are expected to be sold this year, up 20% from the 8,730 sold last year, according to Power Systems Research. However, some forecasters had expected sales to about double to 16,000 vehicles this year amid the trucking industry's enthusiasm for natural gas a year ago. What happened? A big roadblock remains the premium for a heavy-duty gas truck—$50,000 more than the about $150,000 for a new diesel-powered truck. In theory, the payback...

From his driveway, Tom Wheeler's view of North Dakota's sprawling grasslands seems endless. Fields of soy, wheat and canola stretch to the horizon in all directions. But as drillers flock to the state to cash in on North Dakota's booming shale play, that horizon has become increasingly marked by natural gas flares. Flaring is the burning of natural gas that can't be processed or sold. All those flares, meanwhile, are adding up. They burn so brightly that NASA astronauts have taken pictures of their glow from space. For some landowners like Wheeler, it's not the noise or light pollution that...

Researchers say they have found more than 500 bubbling methane vents on the seafloor off the US east coast. The unexpected discovery indicates there are large volumes of the gas contained in a type of sludgy ice called methane hydrate. There are concerns that these new seeps could be making a hitherto unnoticed contribution to global warming. The scientists say there could be about 30,000 of these hidden methane vents worldwide. Previous surveys along the Atlantic seaboard have shown only three seep areas beyond the edge of the US continental shelf.