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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said after Friday's talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras that a prospective Russian natural gas pipeline should help Greece service its debt, but the Kremlin said the question of direct Russian financial aid to Greece was not discussed. Speaking of the pipeline deal at a meeting with top executives of global news agencies, including The Associated Press, which began nearly three hours behind schedule at around midnight, Putin said he saw no support for the Greeks from the EU. "If EU wants Greece to pay its debts it should be...

EIA's energy mapping system is a data-intensive visual reference tool that includes several map layers defining energy infrastructure components across the United States. Using this series of maps, viewers can see crude oil, petroleum, natural gas, or hydrocarbon gas liquid pipelines, terminals, and ports in their area, as well as high voltage electric transmission lines. The mapping system combines information from many government agencies as well as public and private sources. Understanding infrastructure components is helpful as energy supply and consumption patterns change. These map layers can be presented over several base layers with geographic, topographic, street, or satellite image...

It's a case of dueling press releases. But it deserves a minute of Minnesotans' time -- especially those Minnesotans who oppose the Sandpiper Pipeline and can't understand why their fellow residents keep rejecting their arguments. For those opponents, gaining this understanding is crucial. For indisputable evidence now has surfaced that the pipeline's backers are carrying the day -- evidence in the form of Friday's unanimous vote in favor of the pipeline by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. How can that be? How is it that even in famously liberal and environmentally sensitive Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Lakes, the commission...

U.S. net imports of natural gas decreased 9% in 2014, continuing an eight-year decline. As U.S. dry natural gas production has reached record highs, lower domestic prices have helped to displace natural gas imports. Net natural gas imports (imports minus exports) totaled 1,171 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in 2014, the lowest level since 1987. Imports by pipeline from Canada account for nearly 98% of all U.S. natural gas imports, and were the main driver of the decrease in total imports. Net imports from Canada represented 7% of total U.S. natural gas consumption in 2014, down from 11% in 2009. U.S....

An estimated 21,000 gallons of oil dumped into the ocean from a broken pipeline just off the central California coast before it was shut off on Tuesday, creating a spill stretching about 4 miles along the beach, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Santa Barbara County health officials have shut down Refugio State Beach, the central site of the spill, though many had abandoned the site already because of the foul smell. That smell brought county firefighters to the beach earlier in the day to discover the spill. “They found about a half-mile slick of dark, black crude oil in the...

Environmentalist billionaire Tom Steyer, a vocal opponent of the Keystone XL pipeline – and any Democrats who support it – hosted a $2,700-per-person fundraiser for Hillary Clinton at his San Francisco home, riling some green activists, Politico reports. Though Clinton has avoided public comment while the Obama administration weighs the fate of the pipeline, as secretary of state, she presided over studies that said the pipeline would pose few environmental risks – and even said in 2010 the administration was "inclined" to support it. "I am not surprised that he would want to get on-board the Clinton train, but I'm...

Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer has a new mission — keeping oil from Canada’s tar sands out of California. Steyer’s NextGen Climate organization released a report Tuesday warning that an “invasion” of tankers and railcars carrying crude from the oil sands could soon hit West Coast refineries, which currently process very little Canadian oil. Steyer, a major Democratic donor who quit his hedge fund to focus on fighting climate change, has risen to prominence as a vocal opponent of the Keystone XL pipeline extension, which would link the oil sands to American refineries on the Gulf Coast. But Tuesday’s report, prepared...

A key hearing to determine whether the state Public Utilities Commission will allow construction of the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline to move forward through South Dakota won’t be held next week, the commission voted on Monday. The regulatory body met in Pierre and voted 3-0 to delay final arguments to ensure adequate time for parties to examine documents involved in the case, and the hearing will likely be held later this summer. The state initially authorized TransCanada Corp. to construct the Keystone XL pipeline project in 2010, but state rules dictate permits must be re-authorized if the construction of the...

The dam is about to burst in the Northeast. The question is who will drown in the coming flood of natural gas? BTU Analytics is currently tracking 42 Bcf/d of Northeast projects coming online through 2018. Of that capacity, 14.6 Bcf/d will help carry gas out of the region. Some of the most notable of these projects are Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline at 3.25 Bcf/d, Spectra’s Nexus Pipeline at 1.5 Bcf/d, and a series of REX Pipeline expansions bringing the pipe’s total east to west capacity to 2.6 Bcf/d. Infrastructure constraints in the Marcellus and Utica have been the norm...

Kinder Morgan said Thursday it was considering another expansion along a pipeline linking its natural gas system to Mexico. The expansion would add another 200 million cubic feet of capacity along the Mier-Monterrey pipeline, which runs 95 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border near Starr County, Texas to Monterrey, Mexico. If Kinder Morgan moves forward, the project would add a new compressor station and boost total capacity along the line to 840 million cubic feet per day. The Houston-based company said it would solicit commitments from shippers for new pipeline capacity between April 27 and May 11. Pipeline projects usually require...

At least five people were rushed to the hospital with burns after a “major gas line explosion” at the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office gun range, a department official said. The blast occurred about 2:30 p.m. behind the range in an area under construction, said Lt. John Zanoni. The injured did not include Sheriff’s Office employees, he said. No firearms were involved in the explosion. Fresno Fire Department spokesman Pete Martinez said witnesses reported a “ball of fire” that burned multiple people.

China plans to build a pipeline to transport natural gas from Iran to Pakistan in a move to alleviate the crippling burden of electricity shortage in Pakistan, a report said.  A deal is likely to be signed during the Chinese president’s visit to Islamabad this month, Pakistani officials were quoted as saying in the Tehran Times report. Pakistan has been negotiating for months for China to build the Pakistani portion of the pipeline, which will cost up to $2 billion, according to the report. “We’re building it,” Pakistani Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told The Wall Street Journal. “The process has started.”...

ISLAMABAD: In an attempt to curtail Pakistan’s severe energy shortage, China has agreed to build a pipeline bringing natural gas from Iran to Pakistan. The final deal is to be signed during the long-sought visit of the Chinese President Xi Jinping to Islamabad in April, Pakistani officials said. Where most countries are unwilling to invest in Pakistan given the current situation, this deal is expected to mark China’s commitment towards the development of infrastructure in ally Pakistan. The pipeline would amount to a premature profit for both Pakistan and Iran due to the agreement between Tehran and the US and...

Russia is considering soon giving Greece funds based on future profits Athens would earn from shipping Russian gas to Europe as part of an extension of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, a Greek government official said. Plans for the pipeline taking Russian gas from Turkey to Europe via Greece would be linked to lower Russian gas prices, the official added. Greece would pay back the Russian prepayment after the pipeline started operating, the official said.

Jordan and Israel signed an agreement on 26 February to go ahead with a World Bank-sponsored project to build a desalination plant in the Gulf of Aqaba and a pipeline linking the Red Sea with the Dead Sea. The plant will be built in the southern Jordanian port of Aqaba on the Red Sea and will desalinate water to be shared by Israelis and Palestinians. The brine that is a by-product of the process will be sent north in a 180km pipeline to the Dead Sea. The project will cost around $900m (£584.5m, €803m). It will take nearly three years...

Pipeline company files suit against W.Va. landowners By Tina Alvey REGISTER-HERALD REPORTER | Posted: Wednesday, April 1, 2015 6:30 pm A company seeking to run a massive natural gas pipeline through the state has followed through on a threat to take legal action against West Virginia landowners who have thus far refused to allow access to their properties. Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, (MVP) filed a petition Friday in U.S. District Court in Beckley asking federal authorities to force three corporations and more than 100 other property owners residing in 10 West Virginia counties to permit the developer's agents to survey...

TransCanada on Thursday announced a two-year delay to its plans to move the Canadian tar sands. The company is cancelling its plans to build a controversial export terminal in Quebec, citing environmental concern over the endangered beluga whale. This means a delay to plans for finishing the Energy East pipeline, now set for 2020. In the meantime, TransCanada will search for a new location for its port. For once, then, Canadian oil news isn't about the TransCanada-owned Keystone XL, which has faced a six-year delay as the Obama administration sits on a decision to issue a permit. At least not...

A decision on whether to allow the Keystone XL Pipeline to be built in the U.S. could come at any time, but there are myriad other projects on the table designed to do exactly what Keystone XL was designed to do: transport Canadian tar sands oil to refineries. Those pipelines, both in the U.S. and Canada, are being designed to move the oily bitumen produced from the tar sands to refineries in Texas and eastern Canada, and to ports on the Pacific Coast where the oil could be shipped to Asia. Combined, the pipelines would be able to carry more...

In a far corner of North Dakota, just a few hundred miles from the proposed path of the Keystone XL pipeline, 84,000 barrels of crude oil per day recently began flowing through a new line that connects the state’s sprawling oilfields to an oil hub in Wyoming. In West Texas, engineers activated a new pipeline that cuts diagonally across the state to deliver crude from the oil-rich Permian Basin to refineries near Houston. And in a string of towns in Kansas, Iowa and South Dakota, local government officials are scrutinizing the path of pipeline extensions that would pass nearby. While...

As expected, President Barack Obama vetoed legislation from Congress that would have approved the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, rejecting the creation of thousands of jobs in the process. However, it did not end the six-year saga for building the 1,179-mile pipeline that would deliver 830,000 barrels of oil per day of Canadian and American crude oil to U.S. refineries. The fight will go on, even though Congress was unable to override the president’s veto. Fortunately, President Obama never closed the door. As noted in his message to the Senate, there remains an ongoing National Interest Determination (NID) process...