Free Republic

Even with all the speculation and debate about Vladimir Putin’s nationalistic motives for Russia’s annexation of the Crimea, there still seems to be room for more thoughtful consideration of the oil and gas aspects of the conflict. Putin may be a nationalist and he may primarily worry about Russia’s national cohesion and periphery but Russia is fundamentally a petro-state and it is important not to forget that fact in analyzing the thorny problem of the Ukraine. Russia relies heavily on oil and gas for its national budget and has been under pressure from the prospects of increased competition. So far,...

New England's electric grid operator says a lack of pipelines is driving the price up for natural gas, and hiked wholesale electricity prices in the region by 55 percent last year. ISO-New England said Tuesday that the average price of wholesale electric energy rose to $56.06 per megawatt hour, up from a historic low of $36.09 in 2012. Natural gas is the predominant fuel used to generate the region's electricity, amounting to about 46 percent of generation in 2013. Wholesale power prices tend to track the price of natural gas.

Yet another poll on the general public’s feelings on the Keystone XL pipeline, this one from Pew, is out today confirming pretty much everything we already knew about the beleaguered project: That the majority of Americans are cool with it, while the majority of the opposition is coming from out-of-touch wealthy liberals. Shocker. As the Obama administration deliberates over whether to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to be built, the proposed pipeline continues to draw broad support from the public. Currently, 61% favor building the pipeline while 27% are opposed. These views have changed little over the past year.As previous...

Companies will need to invest $641 billion over the next two decades in pipelines, pumps and other infrastructure to keep up with the gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids flowing from U.S. fields, according to a study released Tuesday. The analysis, prepared by ICF International for two natural gas advocacy groups, predicts that $30 billion worth of new midstream infrastructure will be needed each year through 2035 — essentially triple the $10 billion in average annual investments over the past decade. “We’re in a heavy growth period right now, said Kevin Petak, an economist with ICF who authored the...

Meandering south from Cold Lake on small roads, I entered a new landscape. The boreal forest of northern Alberta gave way to rolling prairie, grain silos, and rural crossroads. The oil sands were now behind me — or rather, flowing beneath me. Every road had pipeline crossing signs or ditches for new lines alongside or piles of pipe sections waiting to be laid. All pipes led to the place I was headed: Hardisty, home to Canada’s largest oil depot and the site where the Keystone XL was slated to begin. LAt first glance, Hardisty, population 650, looked much like other...

Louisiana-based horizontal driller Ranger Field Service lowers pipe for a 2.1-mile line that runs across the Texas-Louisiana border and under the Sabine River. Some are speculating that the drill is the longest horizontal length that has ever been drilled on land and under a river, one of the biggest obstacles Mother Nature can throw at a pipeline drill. - - - - A private drilling company in Louisiana said this week it has drilled a 2.1-mile horizontal length under the Sabine River and across the Texas-Louisiana border. The 11,065-foot span is raising speculation that it was the longest horizontal length...

I can at least appreciate the semi-honesty about their real goals here. Via The Hill: A letter sent to Kerry on Friday, signed by 27 House Democrats, details what they said would be the climate impacts of approving the $5.4 billion project, which would run from oil sands in Alberta to Gulf refineries.“The math doesn’t add up. In order to meet our commitment to fight climate change, we need to keep at least 80 percent of carbon reserves below ground,” the letter, spearheaded by Reps. Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), Mike Quigley (Ill.), Rush Holt (N.J.) and Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.), states.“If the...

Europe, including all EU members plus Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, and the non-EU Balkan states, consumed 18.7 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas in 2013. Russia supplied 30% (5.7 Tcf) of this volume, with a significant amount flowing through Ukraine. EIA estimates 16% (3.0 Tcf) of Europe's total natural gas imports passed through Ukraine's pipeline network, based on data reported by Gazprom and Eastern Bloc Energy. Two major pipeline systems carry Russian gas through Ukraine to Western Europe—the Bratstvo (Brotherhood) and Soyuz (Union) pipelines. The Bratstvo pipeline is Russia's largest pipeline to Europe. It crosses from Ukraine to Slovakia and...

During a hearing on the State Department’s 2015 budget, Ms. Landrieu, a Democrat who has been a strong pipeline proponent and faces a tough re-election fight this year, pressed Mr. Kerry to approve the project, which would carry crude from Canada’s oil sands and from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale Formation to Gulf Coast refineries. Ms. Landrieu, the new chairwoman of the Senate Energy Committee, said, “Canada is our closest, strongest trading partner,” and “a majority of American people” support Keystone. “It is hard for me to understand why there are still questions about whether building this pipeline is in our...

On Wednesday, a Nebraska judge struck down a state law that would have allowed TransCanada to use the power of eminent domain to seize private land to help construct a short 300-mile segment of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline between Cushing and Steele City, Nebraska. The law in question, LB 1161, allows Nebraska Governor David Heineman and TransCanada to avoid regulators in siting a crucial portion of the pipeline. Lancaster County District Judge Stephanie Stacy sided with three landowners who challenged the law, finding that regulatory power over industrial companies such as TransCanada must remain with agencies such as the...

Americans support the idea of constructing the Keystone XL oil pipeline between Canada and the United States by a nearly 3 to 1 margin, with 65 percent saying it should be approved and 22 percent opposed, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The findings also show that the public thinks the massive project, which aims to ship 830,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta and the northern Great Plains to refineries on the Gulf Coast, will produce significant economic benefits. Eighty-five percent say the pipeline would create a significant number of jobs, with 62 percent saying they...

The Keystone oil pipeline is good idea for the United States, Warren Buffett said Monday, even though it would take away some business from his Berkshire Hathaway rail subsidiary BNSF. The long-delayed leg from Alberta, Canada, to Nebraska should be approved, the billionaire investor told CNBC. "I would vote 'yes,'" Buffett said in a "Squawk Box" interview, but added he has "no idea" if President Barack Obama will approve it. "I don't believe in the Keystone pipeline because of the jobs you'd make building it. You can build anything and create jobs," he said. "I just believe it's a useful...

Give Obama this: When he wants something, no one moves more quickly and decisively. From unilaterally rewriting Obamacare at least 18 times to bypassing Congress and implementing the DREAM Act’s immigration policies by fiat, Obama rules by decree. His executive orders recall the late Yul Brynner’s portrayal of Pharaoh Ramses II in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956). As the maximum leader of Egypt said: “So let it be written. So let it be done.” Now that’s leadership. “America does not stand still,” Obama likewise declared in his January 28 State of the Union address. “And neither will...

if we’re gonna’ kill this Keystone XL pipeline I supported one month ago And I quote: “Based on safety I think the President should give this project the stamp of approval. Environmental groups obviously think differently. And so do the majority of people on the left. But this newsflash: We’re not getting out of the oil business in America. It runs our economy. Do we have climate change? Yes we do. But the construction of this pipeline does not mean we are going to consume more as a country. … So a brand-new pipeline, to me, makes sense.” That was...

"All of that is rhetoric and nonsense," says Girling, about the criticism. "As things sit right now we do have an approved route in Nebraska. ... seen as environmentally sound through five environmental reviews by the federal government and through the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.... We'll eventually get through that process. It's just a matter of determining what is the legal process for us to have it reviewed."

Faith Spotted Eagle figures that building a crude oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast would bring little to Indian Country besides more crime and dirty water, but she doubts that Native Americans will ever be able to get the U.S. government to block the $7 billion project. “There is no way for Native people to say no — there never has been,” said Spotted Eagle, 65, a Yankton Sioux tribal elder from Lake Andes, S.D. “Our history has caused us not to be optimistic. . . . When you have capitalism, you have to have an underclass — and...

About 300 people were arrested at the White House - most of them students - in a protest against approval of the Keystone pipeline.The reasons they oppose the project are so far out in left field, they aren't even in the ballpark. Politico: More than 300 anti-Keystone XL protesters were arrested Sunday afternoon outside the White House in the latest push by environmentalists to convince the Obama administration to reject the Canadian oil pipeline. The student-led protest, organized by XL Dissent, started with a rally at Georgetown University. The students marched from there to the White House — with a...

Police on Sunday arrested around 200 people who strapped themselves to the White House fence to protest the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. The protesters were mostly college students who participated in a peaceful march that began at Georgetown University and ended outside the White House. The marchers chanted “climate justice now” and carried signs such as “don’t tarnish the Earth” in their efforts to convince President Barack Obama to reject the pipeline. They say it will contribute to global warming.

Like many conflicts before it, the current battle brewing between Russia and Ukraine has a strong energy component. Russia has a history of using its energy supplies as a control mechanism—such as the 2006 and 2009 gas wars when it cut natural gas supplies in the midst of winter and left many European nations, which rely on Russian natural gas that is shipped through Ukraine, without energy. The supply disruptions were due to “disputes over politics, price, and late payments,” says the Washington Post. Back in November, before the current conflict erupted, Reuters reported: “Ukraine has for years been a...

Sen. Barbara Boxer wants to add a new element to the Keystone XL oil pipeline debate: its effects on health. The California Democrat claims negative health effects from the proposed pipeline's development were ignored by the State Department's environmental impact review. "The Environmental Impact Statement was woefully inadequate when it came to exploring human impacts of the pipeline," Boxer said Wednesday at a press conference held with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and anti-Keystone XL activists and environmentalists. She said Keystone will add pollutants to the air that will increase the likelihood of peopel getting cancer or heart disease. "I do...