Free Republic

As many energy industry companies revise their capital expenditures downward for 2015 amid the steep drop in crude oil values, they are making a variety of decisions with regard to worker compensation, according to Aon Hewitt, a global human resource company that tracks corporate performance, reward and talent. The slide in crude oil prices picked up speed late in 2014, about the time that financial decisions for 2015 were being made. As prices continued to dip, many companies within the industry revisited the budgeting process early in the new year in light of the current reality of sub-$50/barrel crude oil....

When the temperature dips below freezing, reliable electricity becomes more than a matter of convenience but a matter of life and death. Unfortunately, the reliability of our electric grid is at-risk due to EPA regulations that are shutting down America’s coal plants.Existing EPA regulations already have led to the scheduled shutdown of nearly 20 percent of the U.S. coal fleet. EPA’s newest carbon regulations being finalized this summer will lead to even more shutdowns. With coal responsible for generating nearly 40 percent of America’s electricity, these shutdowns will further strain our nation’s electricity grid and could leave many Americans in...

Pennsylvania's most prolific shale gas driller dialed back 2015 spending plans Thursday because of low natural gas prices, following a general belt-tightening among energy companies across the country. Fort Worth-based Range Resources Corp., which has a regional headquarters in Cecil, dropped its capital expenditure plan by a third to $870 million from $1.3 billion. That initial figure was 18 percent lower than its 2014 plan. The company plans to spend nearly all that money in developing Marcellus shale wells and still plans to increase gas production by 20 percent over this year. “The time and effort that Range spent in...

On January 14, Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, to cut back by 60% the natural gas delivered to Europe through Ukraine. His ostensible reason: Ukraine was illegally siphoning off gas for its own use—a charge Ukraine denies. Overall Europe depends on Russia for 30% of its gas supplies, and some 80% of Europe’s Russian natural gas comes via Ukraine. Putin’s order would leave six countries in eastern and southeastern Europe totally without gas.

Ahead of President Obama’s upcoming State of the Union (SOTU) address, American Petroleum Institute (API) President and CEO Jack Gerard discussed ways for the president to take a leadership position on the oil and gas industry in the United States. The energy industry has gone from scarcity in the 20th century to abundance early in the 21st century, generating billions in tax revenue, creating millions of new jobs and providing a boost to manufacturing, Gerard said, thus necessitating a new way of thinking about energy. The change also offers the country an opportunity to achieve a level of energy security...

Yes friends, never let it be said that this administration isn’t beholden to special interests to the detriment of the middle class.The oil shale boom has helped create a surplus of oil that has entered the market and driven prices down to under $2 a gallon. It is an economic boon to hard pressed families and businesses who use a lot of fuel. It is also a testament to how well markets work.And that’s why government is about to intrude in that market and jack the prices back up. This time under guise of your out-of-control EPA: In spite...

Oil isn't Russia's only problem. The energy exporter is losing its dominance over the European gas market. In the past there were two factors that kept Russia as the major gas powerhouse: European policies and cold winters. But both of those things have changed — and Russia is starting to explore non-Western countries.

Royal Dutch Shell won’t move forward with plans for a new petrochemical plant in Qatar, the company announced Wednesday, citing the “economic climate” facing the energy sector today. The project, dubbed Al Karaana, had been in the works for more than three years. It would have been a joint venture between Shell, which had a 20 percent stake in the project, and state-owned Qatar Petroleum, which had an 80 percent stake. Shell said in a statement that it decided not to move forward with Al Karaana after receiving bids from engineering and construction firms that ”showed high capital costs, rendering...

Taking direct aim at the oil-and-gas industry, President Obama on Wednesday put forth long-awaited regulations on methane emissions, setting an ambitious goal of reducing those emissions by 45 percent over the next decade. The move comes just days before the State of the Union address and underscores that, in the final two years of presidency, Mr. Obama is looking to cement his legacy on climate-change and environmental issues...

In President Obama’s latest move using executive authority to tackle climate change, administration officials will announce plans this week to impose new regulations on the oil and gas industry’s emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, according to a person familiar with Mr. Obama’s plans. The administration’s goal is to cut methane emissions from oil and gas production by up to 45 percent by 2025 from the levels recorded in 2012. The Environmental Protection Agency will issue the proposed regulations this summer, and final regulations by 2016, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the...

The proposed Port Ambrose deepwater LNG terminal near New York City has been denounced by environmentalists as a dirty and dangerous export terminal in disguise. The reality is that LNG is the safest and cleanest fuel available and natural gas is critical in efforts to eliminate air pollution and save lives in New York City. Protesters showed up at a public hearing January 7 on Long Island to encourage Governor Cuomo to veto the proposal for the terminal. The Port Ambrose LNG terminal should be appreciated by environmentalists as a technological marvel that helps provide much needed seasonal supplies of...

Furnaces from Minnesota to Maine are running full-blast as frigid temperatures descend from the Arctic. But the natural-gas market is still ice cold. Prices for the fuel, used to heat half of U.S. homes, hit a more-than two-year low this week and are down 35% since mid-November. The arrival of freezing weather across most of the country hasn’t revived the market. Normally, plunging temperatures are a cue for traders to make bullish bets because the resulting spike in demand can deplete natural-gas supplies. Last February, prices jumped by more than 30% in a matter of days during one particularly severe...

The world's oil and gas exploration companies are expected to cut capital expenditures 17 percent this year as a deep slump in crude oil prices takes a toll on budgets... The survey, based on an average oil price of $70 per barrel, estimates that global exploration and production expenditures will slide 17 percent to $571 billion. If oil prices average $60 per barrel, spending should drop by 30 percent to 35 percent, according to the survey of 476 oil companies. ...under $50 per barrel on Wednesday... North American spending is forecast to drop by 22 percent...

With oil prices sliding downward, Jim Gray — a veteran of Alberta’s energy business — provides perspective. 1. There has been a lot of gloom and doom over the oil price slide. What do you make of the 50 per cent drop in the price of oil since June? There are many precedents for a 50 per cent slide in oil prices. Just since 1983, there have been four principal slides. When you look at the history of oil prices since 1983, you’ll see the rate of recovery is tied to how quickly prices fell. In 1986, prices dropped between...

SOFIA, Bulgaria — Barely two weeks after President Vladimir V. Putin annexed Crimea on one side of the Black Sea, he won a different prize on the other side. In Bulgaria’s Parliament, lawmakers gave initial passage to a bill clearing the way for a mammoth gas pipeline from Russia. The pipeline, known as South Stream, was Mr. Putin’s most important European project, a tool of economic and geopolitical power critical to twin goals: keeping Europe hooked on Russian gas, and further entrenching Russian influence in fragile former Soviet satellite states as part of a broader effort to undermine European unity....

Lithuania’s LNG terminal at the port of Klaipeda has reached another milestone since the official start of operations earlier this month. According to Klaipeda port data, the 155,000 cbm Arctic Aurora LNG carrier delivered the first commercial cargo of liquefied natural gas from Statoil’s Hammerfest facility, on Tuesday. Earlier in October, Höegh LNG’s FSRU Independence received the first cargo that was delivered to Klaipeda for testing purposes. It was also delivered from Norway onboard the 160,000 cbm Golar Seal. The first commercial cargo signs the beginning of Lithuania’s independence from Russian gas. Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaitė was recently quoted saying...

Just five years ago, almost no one outside the natural gas industry had heard of fracking, even though the basic technologies were not new; today, the shale gas revolution has transformed America’s energy markets, with profound effects for economic growth, competitiveness, security, and environmental quality. In a nation still deeply concerned about its energy future, this extraordinary success story should prompt the question: Can we do it again? The answer is yes​—​if we correctly understand both the model for innovation that shale gas exemplifies and an opportunity that now exists to emulate the shale model. That opportunity involves exploiting a...

Southwestern Energy Co. said Tuesday it is planning to snap up Statoil’s 20-percent stake in oil and gas assets in West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania for $394 million, just a day after closing its biggest-ever deal with Chesapeake Energy in the region. The transaction, which encompasses 30,000 net acres, boosts Southwestern Energy’s working interests in that area of the Marcellus and Utica shale plays by 5.8 percent to 73 percent. The wells on the land produce about 29 million cubic feet of gas a day, as of October. The deal is expected to close early next year. It’s the Houston...

The comedian Chico Marx famously asked, “Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?” That’s the question I feel like Governor Andrew Cuomo is posing to New Yorkers with his decision to ban hydraulic fracturing in the Empire State’s portion of the Marcellus Shale. The governor and his allies – most notably the acting state health commissioner, whose report served as justification for Mr. Cuomo’s decision – say the move will protect New York’s air, land, and water. For years now, New Yorkers have been besieged by apocalyptic claims made by anti-oil and gas activists – many of them...

To get a sense of the deep disappointment felt by many here at the twin killings of two potentially lucrative dreams, hydraulic fracturing and a new luxury casino, one needed to look no further than the front-page headline of Thursday’s edition of The Press & Sun-Bulletin. It was two letters, in red type: “NO!” That cry could seemingly be heard all along New York State’s Southern Tier, which borders Pennsylvania and has long been one of the state’s most stubborn economic laggards. In recent years, both hydraulic fracturing — known as fracking — and casinos had been posited as potential...