Free Republic

SANTA FE — A California research team is conducting a five-year ecological study of six songbird species in northwestern New Mexico oil fields to see how sensory intrusions affect the birds’ survival, reproduction and general health. The Santa Fe New Mexican says the study by avian researchers from California Polytechnic State University will zero in on the specific impacts of noise and light pollution. As the human population swells and generates more light and sound, researchers are curious about how those multiplying stressors might compound the challenges of climate change in New Mexico’s San Juan Basin, the newspaper reported. Clint...

President Joe Biden appears to be doing everything in his power to lower energy prices. Last month, Biden officials eased sanctions on Venezuela with an eye to increasing oil imports. Next month, Biden will travel to Saudi Arabia with the intention of improving relations and increasing oil production. And yesterday, Biden sent a harshly-worded letter to Exxon and other oil companies, urging them to increase production. “At a time of war,” Biden wrote, “high refinery profit margins being passed directly onto American families are not acceptable… companies must take immediate actions to increase the supply of gasoline, diesel, and other...

BREAKING: OPEC countries give in to President Trump's demands, agree to increase oil production by almost 1 million barrels a day - AP

PARIS--Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday he was positive about the way the incoming U.S. administration wanted to restore American influence in the world, contain Iran and fight Islamic State. "We are optimistic about the incoming administration and look forward to working with it in all areas that are a concern for both of us," Jubeir told reporters in Paris. "We will look at the Trump administration's view as articulated. Wanting to restore America's role in the world, we welcome this. Wanting to defeat ISIS (Islamic State), absolutely. Wanting to contain Iran ... absolutely." Jubeir said the interests...

Citing "low industry interest," the Interior Department announced a freeze Friday on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska until at least 2017.

NEW YORK — Exxon Mobil said Friday that it will wind down a drilling project in Russia in compliance with U.S. sanctions, but said it received a license to keep working beyond the sanctions' deadline in order to complete the work. U.S. sanctions against Russia over its involvement in the Ukraine require the removal of U.S. workers on projects in the Russian Arctic and other select locations by September 26.

Despite all the climate-based hysteria put out into the public domain in recent weeks attacking the oil and natural gas industry (even the Weather Channel got into that act recently), three key factors continue to give policymakers pause about acting in ways that would negatively impact the ongoing boom. Those factors are: * Jobs; * Ancillary stimulative impacts on other industries; and * National Security. The reality for the United States is that the oil and natural gas industry has greatly enhanced the picture around all three of these critical factors in recent years, nowhere more than in my home...

The shale energy revolution is likely to shift the tectonic plates of global power in ways that are largely beneficial to the West and reinforce U.S. power and influence during the first half of this century. Yet most public discussion of shale’s potential either focuses on the alleged environmental dangers of fracking or on how shale will affect the market price of natural gas. Both discussions blind policy makers to the true scale of the shale revolution. The real impact stems from its effect on the oil market. Shale gas offers the means to vastly increase the supply of fossil...

One would think that one of the primary requirements of energy independence would be having the ability to collect the energy through which one becomes independent by using. Somehow, this logic escapes the Obama administration as evidenced by their “Five-Year Plan.” However, if their goal was to diminish opportunities for energy resources, they’ve done a magnificent job. It is pretty well established that there is oil in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Arctic. We should drill there until it runs dry and the administration puts forth the appearance that they agree on this point as they have been...

Topic: Supply/Production Tags: azerbaijan, bakken, epa, exxonmobil, irag, iran, libya [list all tags] For most of this past year, these posts have reviewed and then discussed data on the state of different reservoirs of oil and gas that ultimately provide the power we need and use every day. However, as we come to the end of 2011, it seems as though there is a gloss or spin applied to stories about the state of global energy supply, which implies that concerns about future energy supply are overstated. Instead, the impression is left that there will be, in the immediately foreseeable...

A rush of recent reports indicates that the explosion of non-conventional fossil fuel production continues to transform the world. (Non-conventional fossil fuel production is the production of oil and natural gas by hydraulic fracking and horizontal drilling.) In fact, 2011 will mark a major turning point in energy production worldwide -- one with profound geopolitical consequences. The first report is that Anadarko Petroleum has just raised its estimate for its Colorado Wattenberg field holdings. Anadarko estimates that the field will yield more than one billion barrels of oil and national gas. This would place it right up there with the...

An industry comprised of workers from all walks of life, O&G personnel vary in skills, experience and pay. #5 Electrician Job Description: Specializing in installation, maintenance, and design of electrical systems (in infrastructure, machinery, and related equipment). Category: Trades Average Annual Salary: $87,374, up 9.6% from 2010 | Standard Range: $50,648 to $133,356 - - - - - - - - #4 Snubbing Job Description: Performing a risky form of well-intervention, which is used only when lighter intervention techniques do not work . Category: Oilfield Service Average Annual Salary: $121,702, up 8.4% from 2010 | Standard Range: $77,424 to $165,979...

President Obama frequently says Americans "need to end our $4 billion in annual taxpayer subsidies to oil companies." The latest Democrat bill would have repealed some $2 billion of what Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and others call "subsidies" and "special tax breaks" for Big Oil. That’s baloney – shameless demagoguery that will inflict further damage on our struggling economy. Subsidies are cash payments from government to the private sector. Money is taken from the 51% of Americans who still pay income taxes – and transferred by legislators and bureaucrats to companies and activities that "deserve" or "require" these wealth transfers,...

Tickers in this Article: BP, TLM, COP, CVX, PXP The hunt for oil and gas resources is taking the exploration and production industry to all parts of the globe, as higher-risk exploration is needed to satisfy world demand for these resources. This need for newly discovered resources may become acute as the emerging economies industrialize and bring higher living standards to their citizens. IN PICTURES: How To Make Your First $1 Million Get Free Stock Analysis By Email Exploration In Vietnam Vietnam currently only has 4.7 billion barrels of proved oil reserves, and it had 19.7 trillion cubic feet of...

Speaking at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC on 8 June, CERA Global Oil Group Managing Director Jim Burkhard began and ended his talk by stating that “CERA acknowledges that peak oil is here, you heard it from a CERA person.” Mr. Burkhard spoke at a CSIS session on “Transforming the Transportation Sector: Energy Security, Climate Change and Transportation”. During his presentation, Mr. Burkhard explained that in acknowledging that peak oil is here, CERA’s interpretation is that US gasoline demand peaked in 2008 and is expected to decline in future years. He also stated that...

A list and way to track number of economic issues and problems associated with Russia and its financial system: Main Google news search including "RTS" Russia Becomes Worst 3rd-Quarter Stock Market on Oil (Update3) - Bloomberg - good read! Investment Week, UK... a near 30% decline in the RTS index in recent months Lukoil cuts sale price of diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil in August - from Polish source Europe Grapples with Russia-Georgia Woes"With energy supplies at risk, the recent conflict in the Caspian region might spur the West to seek other gas and oil sources""The very fact of the...

Exxon's flat oil forecast was even more surprising because it came during a meeting when the company was trumpeting a big increase in capital expenditures -- to at least $25 billion a year going forward, up from $21 billion last year. The company also outlined a slew of big projects, 12 of which are starting up this year. These include the 600 million barrel Kizomba C development off the coast of Angola years. But how could oil production be flat? Peer into Exxon's historical numbers and you see the problem Tillerson faces. Since 2000, Exxon's oil output from two of...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) While some observers consider offshore oil and gas platforms to be an eyesore on the horizon, new data shows they are performing a critical function for marine life.For the first time, scientists have documented the importance of oil and gas platforms as critical nursery habitat for some species of rockfishes on the California coast. Two articles documenting the importance of the platforms are published in the current issue of Fisheries Bulletin, with lead authors from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Available on-line at http://fishbull.noaa.gov/, Fisheries Bulletin is a quarterly publication of the U.S. government that is...

New Mexico is suing the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to stop drilling on the environmentally sensitive Otero Mesa of south-central New Mexico. Gov. Bill Richardson and Attorney General Patricia Madrid, appearing at the University of New Mexico for Earth Day, announced the filing of a lawsuit to stop the BLM's drilling plan. Richardson, who called Otero Mesa one of the greatest groundwater resources in the state, said the federal government has stomped on the rights of New Mexican ranchers, environmentalists and outdoorsmen. Otero Mesa has the nation's largest contiguous patch of black gramma grass, which takes decades to re-establish...

Ranchers, Navajo Nation chapters and environmental groups on Wednesday sued federal land managers over a plan that would allow almost 10,000 new oil and gas wells in northwest New Mexico. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management last fall approved a plan to guide the use of more than 1.4 million acres in the Farmington area over the next 20 years. The plan covers the San Juan Basin, where there are 18,000 operating oil and gas wells. The basin, which is mostly in New Mexico, currently produces 10 percent of the nation's natural gas. In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District...