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State-owned Petroleos Mexicanos admits that "serious" corruption exists in some areas of the company and that contracting processes in particular have been plagued by "interference from organized crime," a leading Mexican daily said Friday. In a front-page story, El Universal said Pemex representatives and members of the Mexican Construction Industry Chamber drew that conclusion at a meeting in late April. Pemex executives acknowledged that corruption is fueled "by the elevated potential economic benefit of illegal acts, impunity and the spaces opened up due to unnecessary flexibility," the newspaper reported. El Universal's story was published just days after rival daily Reforma...

Mexican state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos said it detected the presence of oil at a deep-water field in the Gulf of Mexico. "There are clear signs of the presence of hydrocarbons in Maximino, but final tests are still needed to fully confirm it," Pemex announced on Twitter. It said exploration work was continuing at the field, which is located on Mexico's side of the Perdido basin in a zone very near U.S. territorial waters. Pemex has previously found crude at other deep-water fields in the Perdido area. The Mexican company added that it hopes "to have definitive results shortly on...

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — The U.S. Navy is putting underwater drones through wartime-style drills as part of international mine-clearing exercises in the Persian Gulf following similar maneuvers by Iran. The U.S.-led exercises, which began last week, include operations by the unmanned SeaFox devices, which are equipped with sonar and an explosive charge designed to shoot and destroy mines. It is part of the Navy's plans to increasingly deploy automated surveillance and protection systems, including aerial drones. Navy commanders insist the exercises, comprising more than 41 nations, are not intended solely against possible Iranian threats. But Iran has previously warned it...

It’s Not The End Of OPEC…But Might As Well Be Matt InsleyMay 17, 2013If you could safely turn $8 dollars into $40, would you? What about turning $800 into $4,000? Same question, right? If you answered yes to those questions, which I’m sure you did, then you’re already onboard with half of today’s energy story. That is, most American shale oil wells are set to payout at the odds above. You see, the average shale oil well costs anywhere from $5-10 million to drill, complete and put into production – let’s call that $8 million in total upfront cost. Once...

A steeper-than-expected rise in US shale oil reserves is about to change the global balance of power between new and existing producers, a report says. Over the next five years, the US will account for a third of new oil supplies, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The US will change from the world's leading importer of oil to a net exporter. Demand for oil from Middle-East oil producers is set to slow as a result. "North America has set off a supply shock that is sending ripples throughout the world," said IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven....

LONDON—North American oil production will dominate world-wide supply growth over the next five years, the International Energy Agency predicted Tuesday, the result of growing production from "fracking" and other technologies that access once-inaccessible reserves. It is a shift that few predicted five years ago, and will come at the expense of producers like members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries that have for years dominated the industry. In its most recent analysis, which takes a five-year view of the oil market, the IEA said U.S. production is rising much faster than previously forecast as a result of sustained...

For a man with a carbon footprint the size of a dwarf planet, Al Gore takes the hypocrite's cake for his ignorant statement that there is "no such thing as ethical oil." He was in Canada this week to sell his new book, of course, so what better way to get media attention than to insult both the host country and one of its major resources? If you want to know the name of his book, look it up. We're not going to shill for him, even if he is a former vice president of the United States as well...

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 9 (UPI) -- Israel's rapprochement with onetime strategic ally Turkey is a vital element in Ankara's drive to become the intercontinental east-west energy hub in the Mediterranean and many expect it to produce an energy alliance that will transform the region. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan has, since taking power in 2002, transformed his country's economic prospects through a wide-ranging diplomatic drive aimed at restoring Turkish leadership in the region. He has long sought to transform Turkey, which has no energy resources of its own, into the unassailable central hub for transporting oil and gas...

The shale revolution hit America and the world with such speed and suddenness that it surprised almost everyone—investors, businessmen, economists and politicians. Soon the implications of this dramatic development seeped into the national consciousness and spread optimism that the United States could ride it to a wave of prosperity. And the new techniques for extracting "unconventional" oil and gas from shale rock, which America possesses in such abundance, do indeed pose prospects for an economic boom. They also pose prospects for changes in the defense posture of many nations. Anything of value that a nation possesses must be protected, and...

Energy companies are lining up for their shot to drill in the Dakotas and Montana after a new government report revealed that a massive geological formation stretching across the states contains twice the oil and three times the amount of natural gas than was originally believed. While the new estimate is drawing smaller companies to the game, the larger players like Schlumberger, Halliburton and Continental Resources are pushing forward with ambitious multi-year plans to stake their claim in the industry. Continental recently announced a five-year plan to triple its production by 2017. The company’s growth is based on success in...

On Thursday Fred Smith, CEO of FedEx, a company that consumes "over 1.5 billion gallons" of gasoline per year, told a gathering at the libertarian oriented Cato Institute that "oil has become a geopolitical weapon of choice, both for U.S. interests and against U.S. interests." Smith told the audience at the event hosted by Cato and co-sponsored by the nonprofit group Securing America's Future Energy that the United States needed to adopt a three fold strategy: increase domestic energy production, become more energy-efficient, and develop additional types of energy beyond oil. The OPEC cartel of oil producing countries, Smith said,...

"There are rumors that OPEC may call for an emergency meeting to discuss output if Brent prices stay below $100 a barrel," Ker Chung Yang, senior investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore, told AFP. Sanctions-hit Iran, OPEC's fourth largest producer, said on Wednesday that it considers the "logical" price of crude to be around $100-$120 a barrel. Analysts said the $100 price for Brent is considered ideal by Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, and falling below it could prompt OPEC to cut back on output.

LUXEMBOURG (AP) -- The European Union on Monday lifted its oil embargo on Syria to provide more economic support to the forces fighting to oust President Bashar Assad's regime. The decision will allow for crude exports from rebel-held territory, the import of oil and gas production technology, and investments in the Syrian oil industry, the EU said in a statement. Any export or investment initiatives will be taken in close coordination with the leaders of the Syrian opposition, the bloc's 27 foreign ministers decided at a meeting in Luxembourg. The move marks the first relaxing of EU sanctions on Syria...

A recent NASA report throws the space agency into conflict with its climatologists after new NASA measurements prove that carbon dioxide acts as a coolant in Earth's atmosphere. NASA's Langley Research Center has collated data proving that “greenhouse gases” actually block up to 95 percent of harmful solar rays from reaching our planet, thus reducing the heating impact of the sun. The data was collected by Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry, (or SABER). SABER monitors infrared emissions from Earth’s upper atmosphere, in particular from carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitric oxide (NO), two substances thought to be playing...

As Independence Day celebrations were winding down Tuesday night, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made a guest appearance on Channel 2's left-wing satire show Eretz Nehederet. One of the final questions that the show's host Eyal Kitzis asked the premier was how he would like to be remembered after he leaves office. Netanyahu thought a moment and said, "I'd like to be remembered as the leader who preserved Israel's security." On the face of it, Netanyahu's stated aspiration might seem dull. In a year he'll be the longest-serving prime minister in the state's history, and all he wants is to...

President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned speech Thursday at the memorial service for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. But that was to be expected. We all know Obama can give a stem-winder. What wasn’t expected was that this would be by far the toughest week of the Obama presidency—the first time I can remember the president being dealt an unequivocal policy defeat. Only the “shellacking” of the 2010 midterm comes close, and even there a case can be made that achieving the decades-old progressive dream of universal health care was worth losing the House of Representatives and a filibuster-proof...

audi Aramco has started production at its behemoth Manifa field, putting out 500,000 barrels of crude per day from a network of wells drilled through man-made islands, the world’s largest oil company said Monday. The field is located in a bay along the Persian Gulf. The company began production on April 10, a full three months ahead of schedule and under budget, it said in a news release. Saudi Aramco plans to increase its output from the field to 900,000 barrels of Arabian heavy crude per day next year, an oil production total larger than that of many countries. Saudi...

In January, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev set a goal of 5 percent growth for the Russian economy, one of the central promises of Vladimir Putin’s campaign — but not only is that proving to be too wildly optimistic a target; now they’re scrambling just to avoid recession. No neighboring economy is safe, it seems, from the ravages of the all-destabilizing and never-ending European debt crisis. Says their economic minister: “We are not in recession for now, but we may get there – there is such a risk,” Mr Belousov told reporters during a trip to eastern Siberia. “I think that,...

John E. Beckman, and Terence J. Mahoney Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain  Abstract:We discuss how, in the 1970's, Eddy took clues from the historical researches of Spörer and Maunder in the 19th century to draw attention to the virtual absence of sunspot activity between 1645 and 1715. This ``Maunder Minimum'' is not only of interest to solar physicists in the context of the theory of solar magnetic activity, and to stellar astrophysicists working on the properties of cool stars, but may also be a vital clue to the influence of the variability of the Sun's...

NYT March 2011 ($3.57 a gallon): US better prepared for rising gas costs NYT August 2005 ($2.55 a gallon): Economy shows signs of strain from oil prices 'Two oil men' to blame for high gas prices, Pelosi says http://articles.cnn.com/2008-07-17/politics/congress.oil_1_drilling-anwr-pelosi?_s=PM:POLITICS April 24th, 2006, "Democrats Eager to Exploit Anger Over Gas Prices http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20060424monday.html Blame rising oil prices on Bush Wednesday, June 11, 2008 Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/10/EDPP11775T.DTL#ixzz1p3rq8dZ8 As gas prices and oil profits soar, Bush promotes giveaways to corporations http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/apr2008/gas-a30.shtml Mr. Bush, Lead or Leave http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/opinion/22friedman.html http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/10/EDPP11775T.DTL

The first signs are emerging that key Persian Gulf members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are adjusting their strategies to cope with the growing threat that North American shale oil is making to their long-term dominance in global energy markets. The OPEC moves lag behind other international players such as Statoil and Sinochem, who are staking out a major stake in the U.S. shale industry but provide the first insights on how major oil producers might respond over time to the possibility of a future supply glut: Integration through foreign investment. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)...

Europe is falling dangerously far behind the US in productivity growth and is blighted by crippling energy costs, the pan-EU industry federation has warned. “Europe doesn’t have an energy policy. It has a climate policy,” said Markus Beyrer, head of BusinessEurope. Mr Beyrer said the US is running away with the shale energy revolution, leaving Europe’s companies in the dust. Spot gas prices are now four to five times higher in Europe, with grim implications for the chemical industry. “Shale gas is a game-changer and we need to have a discussion based on the evidence, not based on risks,” Mr...

(Reuters) - Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, one of the nation's most prominent Republicans and a possible 2016 presidential candidate, has fallen out of favor with local voters, and his bold plan to scrap the state income tax is running into trouble. Jindal was re-elected to a second term with two-thirds of the vote in 2011. But his Louisiana approval rating was down to 38 percent in a recent poll, worse than Democratic President Barack Obama in one of the most conservative states. The poll suggested voters think he is spending more time traveling outside the state and burnishing his credentials...

> Will Lonnie Thompson archive THIS new ice core data? Posted on April 4, 2013 by Anthony Watts From the Ohio State University , taken with a grain of salt since Dr. Thompson and his wife Ellen are serial non archivers of ice core data (even when asked for it), which prevents other scientists from checking their work.Discovery of 1,800-year-old ‘Rosetta Stone’ for tropical ice coresFind offers the most complete picture of Earth’s low-latitude climate history to dateThis photo from a 1977 expedition to Quelccaya Ice Cap in Peru shows clearly defined annual layers of ice and dust visible in the...

Undocumented Intelligence wrote: Ransom wants to make climate change concern all about being liberal. Actually, it's all about being rational and not blinded–as Ransom is--by an ideology that is highly inconvenienced by an overwhelming body of expert scientific evidence. -Combat Global Warming: Be Gay for a Day Dear Comrade Undoc, Please note that the Ransom Style Book will no longer recognize the phrase Hooverville Follies. Just as the Associated Press has axed the term Illegal Immigrant, we have replaced the term Hooverville Follies with a more apt phrase: Undocumented Intelligence.  Thank you. Look, I’m not the one who declares every...

The White House is planning to unveil a proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency that aims to clean up gasoline and automobile emissions, a plan officials say will lead to cleaner air but also higher gas prices. The so-called Tier 3 standards would reduce sulfur in gasoline by more than 60 percent and reduce nitrogen oxides by 80 percent, by expanding across the country a standard already in place in California. It would go into effect in 2017. The oil industry, Republicans and some Democrats have pressed the EPA to delay the rule, saying it would be unwise to impose...

The Environmental Protection Agency will move ahead Friday with rules requiring cleaner gasoline and cars nationwide, despite fierce protests from the oil industry and some conservative Democrats, according to several individuals briefed on the matter. The proposed rules — which had been stuck in regulatory limbo since December 2011 in the face of intense political opposition — would cut the amount of sulfur in U.S. gasoline by two-thirds and impose fleetwide pollution limits on new vehicles by 2017. The regulation enjoys support from auto companies, state regulators, environmental groups and equipment manufacturers. But oil industry officials and their congressional allies...

President Obama’s Energy secretary nominee regards a carbon tax as one of the simplest ways to move the energy industry towards clean technologies, though he notes that government would have to come up with a plan to mitigate the burden this tax places on poor people, who would pay the most. “Ultimately, it has to be cheaper to capture and store it than to release it and pay a price,” MIT professor and Energy nominee Ernest Moniz told the Switch Energy Project in an interview last year. “If we start really squeezing down on carbon dioxide over the next few...

Delays in federal permitting for oil and gas exploration on public land is likely reducing national energy production and depriving the federal government of revenue, according to a federal report released Friday. The report is the latest addition to a mounting body of evidence undercutting the administration’s claims that it has fostered increased oil and gas production, critics say. Production on lands the federal government controls has plummeted during Barack Obama’s presidency. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) inspector general examined 1,881 applications for drilling permits on public land. Fewer than 4 percent of those applications were “recent,” or...

US House Energy and Commerce Committee members released a discussion draft of legislation designed to jump-start approval of the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline project. The draft bill by Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) would eliminate the need for a presidential permit and find that the Aug. 26, 2011, final environmental impact statement issued by Sec. of State Hillary Clinton satisfied all National Environmental Policy Act requirements. Reps. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and John Barrow (D-Ga.) cosponsored the proposal, which also would limit legal challenges to the project so it would not be delayed further. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred...

Oil prices could rise to anywhere between $150 and $270 a barrel by 2020 as demand growth in emerging markets like India and China out paces expected supply, the OECD said Wednesday. The report shows the central role that Asian oil demand will play in determining prices, even as the U.S. reduces its need for energy imports amid a surge in its unconventional hydrocarbons production. Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Energy reported China overtook the U.S. as the world's largest net oil importer.

March 16, 2013 Did Obama Just Block Keystone? Stanley Kurtz Deciding whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline is surely one of the toughest challenges of Barack Obama’s presidency. He hasn’t made up his mind yet, of course. Or has he?Bloomberg reports that the Obama administration “is preparing to tell all federal agencies for the first time that they should consider the impact on global warming before approving major projects.� Up to now, under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), federally approved projects had to consider potential impacts like dangerous spills or air pollution, but not global warming. Directing all...

He's learned his lesson about risky loans, but Obama wants to increase research grants The auto industry isn't very happy with the federal government.  After two decades of inaction on the fuel economy, President George W. Bush (R) and his successor, current President Barack H. Obama (D) have pushed legislation through Congress to stiffen fuel economy rules.  Those rules have cost the industry billions.  But both Presidents tried to make up with automakers by pushing federal funding initiatives that help automakers with the cost of fuel economy research, on the taxpayer dollar. I. After a Decade and a Half...

Obama cast his proposal as not only a clean energy plan, but as one meant to create opportunities for economic growth. Envisioning cars that can go 'coast to coast without using a drop of oil,' President Barack Obama on Friday urged Congress to authorize spending $2 billion over the next decade to expand research into electric cars and biofuels to wean automobiles off gasoline. Obama, expanding on an initiative he addressed in his State of the Union speech last month, said the United States must shift its cars and trucks entirely off oil to avoid perpetual fluctuations in gas prices....

When the Congress failed to pass cap and trade legislation during his first term Barack Obama famously quipped that there was “more than one way to skin a cat,� and we all know what he meant by that; he was going to use the EPA to bypass the Congress and subvert the constitution through the regulatory process.This was a proclamation that he reaffirmed during his State of the Union address when he stated, “if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will.� Well, the EPA has already started making moves to implement cap and trade and at...

On the same day the Independent Democrat Caucus in New York announced another piece of proposed legislation to delay development of the Marcellus Shale in New York, two representatives from a premiere energy conference in New Mexico heralded success on the radio and praise for energy operators.

T. Boone Pickens was headed to a private lunch with outgoing Energy Secretary Steven Chu when I caught up with him by phone this week. In the four years that Chu’s been in office, he’s never met privately with Pickens, the outspoken former oilman turned investor who’s been a proponent of natural gas vehicles. For the past few years, Pickens, who lives in Dallas, has been promoting his plan to wean the country off foreign oil. Critics are quick to point out that Pickens’ agenda would promote his investments in natural gas and a company that makes natural gas vehicles....

A new report says Minnesota's ethanol industry generated more than $2.5 billion in economic activity in 2009 and supported more than 6,800 jobs. The annual report from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture says ethanol production in the state increased to 862 million gallons in 2009 from 550 million gallons five years ago. It estimates production will increase to 1.1 billion gallons this year with an economic impact of $3.1 billion and around 1,500 additional jobs.

Today, Americans are spending $900 more annually on gas than they did in 2009.

Oil prices are likely to rise sharply from 2015, surpassing $150 a barrel in 2019 and 2020, Bernstein Research said. The 180-page report from Bernstein estimates Brent will rise from an average $113 in 2015 to $158 in 2020, with U.S. crude priced at a $5 discount. While U.S. shale oil and Canadian oil sands have reinvigorated the North American oil industry, new supplies are too small to meet emerging market demand growth. By 2015, shale oil is forecast to constitute just 3.2 pct of global supply, up from 1.5 pct now. The cost of production will support prices. Bernstein...

If a recent article in the Washington Post is any indication, the Obama administration may feel pressure from the greens to crack down even harder on American coal, especially given news regarding Germany’s increasing reliance on this fuel. Germany is currently harnessing lignite, or brown coal, to offset its reduced reliance on nuclear power. The Post’s Michael Birnbaum worries that this may lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. “Now, U.S. coal is spreading around the world instead, pushing down global prices,” writes Birnbaum. “In Europe, that has raised fears among environmentalists that the cheap natural gas in the United...

Colombia announced that it produced an average of 1.01 million barrels of oil per day in January, marking the first time that average crude output for a month surpassed the one million-barrel mark that the government had set as a target for the country's oil industry. Last month's figure was more than 7% higher than the 944,000 barrels a day produced in January 2012, the Mines and Energy Ministry said in a statement. For all of 2012, average oil output stood at 940,000 barrels of oil per day, which represents a 3.16% increase from 2011. Colombia has seen its oil...

If you have not read this yet, now is the time. Given what president Obama recently said about skeptics in his inauguration address, I thought this 2010 article would be worth revisiting. In Germany, there’s a revolution going on. That revolution is that they are backing away from the global warming issue, and taking on much more pragmatic outlook on it an many things “green”. For example, they are going big on coal power. Below is one excerpt from the series, describing the David and Goliath story of Steve McIntyre. Links to all eight articles of the series follow. I...

Pursuant to my earlier story today about the article in Spiegel, Bjørn Lomborg writes on his Facebook page:Real German electricity prices for households have increased 61% since 2000. One quarter of household costs now stems directly from renewable energy. Also, the increase is *not* because of increasing production costs (which have actually slightly declined since 1978).The increase is due to dramatically increasing taxes, most noticeably from the Renewable Energy Act (EEG). In 2013 the EEG will increase 50% to 6.28 euro-cent (5.28 cents plus 19% VAT).  In June 2011, Chancellor Angela Merkel famously promised to keep EEG prices stable, but...

When it comes to reversing the economy’s fourth-quarter growth decline, shale gas is the answer, says Wilbur Ross, chief of private equity firm WL Ross. “The best way to overcome the negative gross domestic product figures that were just released would be to encourage the exploitation of shale gas both for domestic and for international purposes,” he tells Fox Business Network. The clean energy concerns that have stifled permit issuance for shale gas extraction can easily be solved, Ross notes. “The greenies worry that shale gas would drive the price of electricity down and make sun power and wind power...

In Switzerland, it's not just the clocks that are cuckoo. Over the past four years Swiss politicians and central bankers have gone on an unprecedented buying spree of foreign exchange reserves. In 2012, their cache swelled to as much as $420 billion worth of various currencies, primarily the euro. This figure is a seven-fold increase since 2008 and equates to 70% of the country's annual GDP. The sum translates to $200,000 per family of four, enough to keep the Swiss in clocks, chocolates, and fondue for many years to come. The Swiss leadership will claim the money has been "invested"...

The fuel industry's American Petroleum Institute tested the 15 percent ethanol gas approved in 2010 and found it gums up fuel systems, prompts "check engine" lights to come on, and messes with fuel gauge readings. "Failure of these components could result in breakdowns that leave consumers stranded on busy roads and highways," said the industry report. Worse: API said the fuel problems--not found in E5 or E10 blends--aren't always covered by auto warranties. The industry prefers pure fuel to an ethanol mix, but the report isn't likely to slow the administrations green push

This is Big. At its very least, they’re talking of 3.5 billion barrels of oil, which is a Very Nice Discovery, thank you. At its largest, they are saying 233 billion barrels — Saudi Arabia, here we come.Near Coober Pedy, Linc Energy has confirmed the Arckaringa Basin has lots of shale oil, so much that it could possibly shift us back to being an oil exporter. (We were self sufficient until 2000, but our oil production has been declining since then.)Any discovery that comes with discussions about “national energy security” is one worth paying attention to. The news stories...

Baghdad (CNN) -- Iraq's state-owned oil exploration company has made the country's first oil find in 30 years, an Oil Ministry spokesman said Monday. The company found at least a billion barrels of crude under the ground in a southeastern province near the border with Iran, spokesman Assim Jihad said Monday. The discovery in Maysan, about 350 kilometers (215 miles) south of Baghdad, is a "significant achievement" for the country, Jihad said. Despite vast reserves and reliance on oil for government income, exploration in Iraq has been hindered by decades of conflict.

A hydrocracking unit, or hydrocracker, takes gas oil, which is heavier and has a higher boiling range than distillate fuel oil, and cracks the heavy molecules into distillate and gasoline in the presence of hydrogen and a catalyst. The hydrocracker upgrades low-quality heavy gas oils from the atmospheric or vacuum distillation tower, the fluid catalytic cracker, and the coking units into high-quality, clean-burning jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline. There are two main chemical reactions occurring in the hydrocracker: catalytic cracking of heavy hydrocarbons into lighter unsaturated hydrocarbons and the saturation of these newly formed hydrocarbons with hydrogen. The catalytic cracking...