Free Republic

This small city, which calls itself the "Pipeline Crossroads of the World," has been the center of the oil market for nearly three decades, housing millions of barrels of the light, sweet crude that make up the world's most actively traded oil contract. But that contract, known as West Texas Intermediate, isn't what it used to be. A pipeline-building boom that has flooded Cushing's terminals has kept WTI well below other oil-price benchmarks. The resulting price gap is clobbering airlines that use the Cushing-tied contract to lock in fuel prices, while causing some major oil producers to switch to different...

Republicans today argued that the promise of lower gasoline prices should spur the Obama administration to swiftly approve a controversial oil pipeline project that would bring more Canadian tar sands crude into the U.S. At issue is the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would allow oil sands crude from Alberta to be delivered to Gulf Coast refineries nearly 2,000 miles away. The $13 billion project would double the capacity of an existing TransCanada pipeline network that now ends in Cushing, Okla. Supporters say the Canadian crude infusion could slash the amount of oil the U.S. imports from less friendly foreign...

Democratic U.S. lawmakers have asked Congressional panels to look into whether Koch, an energy company led by brothers who are powerhouses in conservative politics, will benefit if the Obama administration approves a $7 billion pipeline to bring crude from Canada into the United States. U.S. Representatives Henry Waxman and Bobby Rush wrote a letter on Friday to Republicans chairing the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and one of its subcommittees, asking them to request documents from Koch Industries regarding the extent to which the company would benefit if the Keystone XL oil sands line would be built. Privately held...

Energy: Lack of oil volume due to administration bans on new Alaskan drilling may force the shutdown of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, denying us even the tens of billions of barrels left in already developed fields. The Trans-Alaskan pipeline is dying, another casualty of the Obama administration's war on domestic fossil fuel energy and its deliberate effort to drive up energy prices to make so-called "green" energy alternatives more attractive. It was built to handle the oil produced on Alaska's North Slope at Prudhoe Bay and was a marvel of American engineering and exceptionalism. When oil exploration began in Prudhoe Bay,...

Denali - The Alaska Gas Pipeline announced today that its open season efforts have not resulted in the customer commitments necessary to continue work on its Alaska North Slope gas pipeline project, which has an overall estimated capital cost of $35 billion (2009 dollars). Denali will withdraw its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission pre-file application and, over the next few months, close out its operations. "Denali is ending its efforts because of a lack of customer support," said Bud Fackrell, Denali President. "Denali is a market-driven company. As such, we cannot spend the billions of dollars necessary to advance the project...

Increasing U.S. energy independence is a top priority for America's Energy Citizens, and leveraging Canada's reserves - which are rivaled only by Saudi Arabia's - is crucial to achieving this goal. A pivotal part of our energy mix? Developing Canada's oil sands resources - which will help fuel our domestic energy needs, and stimulate new jobs, with particularly big gains in Indiana and the Midwest.

With an increasing air of pessimism around the prospects for a pipeline to export natural gas from the North Slope, there is talk of alternatives for monetizing the vast quantities of gas stranded in Arctic Alaska. One alternative was discussed by Deo van Wijk, chairman of Swiss company Janus Methanol AG, before the state House Resources Committee. Van Wijk described the use of natural gas to synthetically produce gasoline for export from Valdez. Gasoline production would involve two stages: production of methanol from natural gas on the North Slope, and production of gasoline from the methanol in Valdez. Methanol produced...

An Egyptian pipeline that carries natural gas to Jordan and Israel was blown up early Wednesday morning near Al-Sabil, a village in northern Sinai. In February, a gas pipeline in nearby El-Arish was set on fire by suspected terrorists. The attack came during the popular revolt that ousted former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. The pipeline was bombed today by unknown assailants, AFP reported. Large explosions were heard by local residents and fireballs shot skywards. Flames reached heights of 65 feet as armed forces tried to control the fire. Jordan, which imports nearly all of its energy supplies, imports approximately 10...

Operator BP said there is no immediate risk to the Forties pipeline from the German mine but warned the pipeline may have to be shut down for a few days later in the summer. In the meantime operations are continuing as normal. Experts are working out whether to remove and destroy the mine or leave it in place. The pipeline has a capacity of about 1 million barrels of oil per day and handles about 40% of the UK’s oil production from about 30 fields. A BP spokesman said: “The working assumption is that we would rather remove it.” He...

US SAYS NO ISSUES WITH NEW OIL PIPELINE 20 Apr 2011-US say no isues with new oil pipeline proposed $7 billion 1900 mile pipieline would carry oil from Canada to Texas...

A unit of NuStar Energy LP will join forces with another local partnership to build a gathering system in South Texas that will transport Eagle Ford shale oil and natural gas to Corpus Christi, both companies said Tuesday. TexStar Midstream Services LP will build a 65 mile, 12-inch pipeline that will be able to move 120,000 barrels a day of crude oil and natural gas from Frio County to the town of Three Rivers. TexStar also will build at least two truck unloading facilities along the pipeline that will handle Eagle Ford shale crude oil from Atascosa, Frio, La Salle,...

Energy Policy: Gasoline prices are punitively high, and many blame the administration. But prices could be lower and approval ratings higher if the president got behind an important pipeline project. The Keystone XL pipeline, proposed six years ago, is a 36-inch feed linking Alberta's oil sands fields to the refineries of Texas' Gulf Coast. It would carry not only Canadian crude, also but oil from the energy-rich U.S. states. If allowed to proceed, it would eventually transport more than a million barrels of crude each day — more, according to Heritage Foundation analyst David Kreutzer, than we now import from...

Federal transportation officials demanded Monday that pipeline companies speed up efforts to repair and replace aging oil and gas lines, saying recent deadly explosions in Pennsylvania and California highlight the urgent need for safety improvements. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced plans to strengthen oversight of companies that operate an aging, 2.5 million-mile network of pipelines that deliver oil and gas to the nation’s homes and businesses. LaHood toured the ruins of a Feb. 9 pipeline explosion in Allentown that destroyed a block of row houses and killed five people, including an elderly couple and a 4-month-old boy. Although the number...

Alberta’s traditional oil markets in the northern and Midwest U.S. are saturated, and the glut is forcing a $10-per-barrel discount and costing producers about $9 billion a year, says a Total E&P Canada vice-president. “This is the new reality,” Gary Houston told the National Buyer/Seller Forum on Thursday. He said the situation is obvious, with record amounts of oil in storage in the U.S. “We know they are swimming in oil because the price delivered in Chicago is $10 a barrel lower than the equivalent barrel floating on the ocean. So at 2.5 million barrels a day we are talking...

The Obama administration is still studying what to do about a proposed pipeline to send Canadian oil sands crude to Gulf Coast refineries. But today, a House panel launched its own deliberations. During a day of congressional events focusing on rising oil prices, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere examined whether the proposed Keystone XL pipeline could make a dent in the cost of crude or gasoline. Republicans on the panel seemed to go into the hearing with their minds made up. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fla., the subcommittee chairman, said the pipeline was essential to “replacing foreign...

Gunmen have targeted a pipeline carrying natural gas from Egypt to Israel and Jordan for the second time in under two months. A security official said six individuals overpowered a lone guard early on Sunday morning at a gas terminal in El-Sabil, a village west of the northern Sinai city of El-Arish. The men planted explosives at the facility and fled. But the timer failed detonate the explosives and soldiers were able to defuse the device. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media. A bomb placed

Tulsa-based Magellan Midstreammay reverse the direction of flow on a section of its Houston-to-El Paso pipeline for refined products and begin sending crude oil to Houston on it instead. The current Longhorn Pipeline transports about 90,000 barrels per day of refined products. But potential shippers have expressed enough interest in turning the line into a crude oil transporter that Magellan is moving forward with permitting and final engineering, said CEO Mike Mears. A section of the line from Crane, Texas, to Houston would be reversed (see map), allowing for the flow of up to 200,000 barrels per day of crude...

Environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, have raised concerns that the pipeline could foul underground and surface water supplies, increase air pollution around refineries and harm wildlife. They also have speculated about what they consider inadequate pipeline safety and emergency spill responses….. Supporters say the project could be a boon for U.S. jobs and energy production while strengthening a friendly source of oil.

The declining flow of crude in the trans-Alaska oil pipeline could be stemmed, independent companies operating in the state said Feb. 18, and illustrated to the House Resources Committee two ways that could happen. AVCG, Brooks Range Petroleum Corp. and Great Bear Petroleum LLC, testifying in favor of the governor’s proposal to increase investment by reducing oil taxes, House Bill 110, discussed two ways increased volumes of oil could be increased. AVCG LLC, formed in 2000, is the holding company for Brooks Range Petroleum Corp. BRPC was established as the operating company for AVCG and has been drilling on the...

Following January leak, pipeline regulators cite risks, hand Alyeska to-do list - - - - - The operator of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline expects to make a prompt reply to federal regulators, who on Feb. 1 issued a proposed order to address problems they say could pose a public safety risk. Michelle Egan, spokeswoman for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., told Petroleum News on Feb. 14 her company’s reply letter was “in the draft review stage.” She further said Alyeska is likely to take issue with parts of the eight-page notice it received from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration,...