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The global increase in production of heavier, more expensive crude oil has created the need for technology to reduce crude oil viscosity while allowing pipelines to operate more efficiently and at lower costs. Save The World Air (STWA), a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based developer of energy efficiency technology, in October conducted a successful field test of its Applied Oil Technology (AOT), which reduces the viscosity of crude oil. The field tests, conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center near Casper, Wyo., showed that AOT delivered immediate pipeline efficiency gains of 13.14 percent to 13.55 percent when...

A looming deadline for a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline is ratcheting up political pressure on President Barack Obama, who will anger key supporters regardless of his decision. Calgary-based TransCanada Corp.’s proposed 1,700-mile pipeline would carry tar-sands crude from Alberta to Texas refineries in Port Arthur and Houston. It appeared late last year that the administration had found a way to delay the permitting decision past this year’s election. But the pipeline’s Republican supporters raised the stakes by negotiating inclusion of a 60-day decision deadline as part of the two-month payroll tax cut extension enacted Dec. 23. The Feb....

Gas prices are continuing to move upward with a gallon of regular at $3.38, up 8 cents from a week ago, the Energy Department’s U.S. Energy Information Administration said today. The weekly national average increased almost 30 cents from a year ago, and rose for the third consecutive week, adding to predictions that 2012 might be an uncomfortably expensive year for drivers across the country. Last year was a record year for gas prices but 2012 is forecasted to surpass its annual average. The real annual average for a gallon of regular gas last year hit $3.56, up from $2.90...

Through most of 2011, Canadian energy officials in politics and industry watched with bewildered helplessness and some shock as Washington allowed environmentalists to seize control of TransCanada’s $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline issue. They stood by aghast as President Barack Obama, a captive of U.S. green activists and Hollywood movie stars, caved in to political pressure and postponed a decision to approve the project, a potential economic bonanza that promised to deliver thousands of jobs to Americans and billions of barrels of Canadian oil sands production to Texas. No such green hijacking is going to take place in Canada, at least...

TransCanada Corp. has released a detailed job breakdown for the Keystone XL pipeline and said it will create 13,000 construction employment opportunities and 7,000 in manufacturing for Americans. The company has provided the job breakdown in response to critics who argue that the company’s job creation estimates for the project are too high and will only lead to ‘a few hundred’ temporary jobs.

The oil minister of the United Arab Emirates has announced that a new oil pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz is nearly complete. The Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline project would ship crude from the UAE’s main oil producing region to the port of Fujairah on the country’s eastern coast, bypassing the vital Strait. The timing of the announcement could not be more prescient; Iranian officials have recently made their most threatening remarks to date about “closing” the Strait of Hormuz as fresh U.S. and international sanctions have put the regime on the defensive. In recent weeks alone, the head...

I was part of the Footloose generation. I used to shake my ass to the theme song countless times at junior high school dances, and have followed your career with some interest through the years (full disclosure: Tremors is still my favorite Bacon flick). How disappointing it was then to read this morning of your recent slide into the cult of EnviroCelebs regarding the protesting of Alberta’s oil sands and their associated proposed Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipelines. We as Albertans are used to seeing certain celebrities getting face time in front of the camera protesting against our energy...

A proposed pipeline project that could transport up to 190,000 barrels of ethane from Appalachian shale fields to the Texas Gulf Coast has secured enough customers to move forward, Enterprise Products Partners announced today. The Houston company, which revealed two months ago that it had lined up its first long-term contract to use the pipeline, now says it has enough in place to make the project financially feasible. The 1,230-mile line is expected to be running in early 2014, taking advantage of the increased production of natural gas liquids and their lower price relative to oil-based liquids. “The willingness of...

Greens say President Obama has no choice but to kill Keystone XL pipelineBy Andrew Restuccia - 12/28/11 12:20 PM ET Republicans who lobbied aggressively for a measure to force President Obama to make a speedy decision on the Keystone XL pipeline have ensured the project’s demise, environmental groups say. The activists said Obama will be forced to reject the pipeline — which would carry oil sands crude from Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Gulf Coast — under a measure in the two-month payroll tax cut extension that requires the administration to make a decision on the project within 60...

Energy Independence: As our enemy Iran threatens to close a vital waterway for the shipping of oil, plans for a secure, job-creating supply from our ally Canada gather dust on the president's desk. The blustering threat from the quite mad Iranian mullahs and their supremely mad leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, may be just a bluff, but then again it might not. It may just be an attempt to intimidate and poke the eye of an American president perceived as weak and whose failure to support and exploit the "Iranian Spring" of 2009 may come back to bite us. These are not...

Islamabad has stepped up work on its bilateral agreements with Tehran including the implementation of a Pak-Iran gas pipeline project despite US threats. “Construction work on the pipeline in Iranian area was completed. And on remaining portion that was to be constructed in Pakistani area the survey has been completed. Pakistan is bearing losses due to energy crises and it would go ahead with different options including Iran,” The Nation quoted a Pakistani official as saying on Thursday. The Pakistani source added Islamabad had not backed down from its trade agreement with Iran. On December 19, high-ranking Islamabad diplomats said...

Enbridge Inc. has received regulatory approval for its Bakken Pipeline project, adding much needed capacity out of the prolific and pipeline-constrained U.S. play. The $180-million pipeline will move crude from the Bakken and Three Forks formations in Montana and North Dakota to Cromer, Man., via a new pump station at Steelman, Sask. “We’re pleased to receive the board’s approval of our Canadian Bakken project and to be able to move forward with this component of our broader expansion plans in the Bakken in both Canada and in North Dakota,” Perry Schuldhaus, Enbridge vice-president of regional pipeline development, said today. “The...

Energy Policy: Canada's prime minister restates that if there's no Keystone XL pipeline in the works, not to worry. Our northern ally will still be our friend as it sends its tar sands oil to Asian markets. 'I am very serious about selling our oil off this continent, selling our energy products off to Asia. I think we have to do that," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a Monday interview with Canada's CTV National News. It was the latest warning from our impatient northern neighbor that has used its energy resources to advance job creation and growth and...

So the rumblings about a cave-in were apparently true. Can’t find anything on the wires yet, but Guy Benson of Townhall hears from a “senior GOP source” that it’s a done deal and Fox News’s Chad Pergram quotes Lamar Alexander as saying, “We’re very pleased with the decision on the Keystone pipeline.” Benson: Round one of this fight went to Obama. Round two, to the GOP. Round three? A TKO decision for Republicans. A senior GOP source tells me that Democrats have agreed to a two-month extension of the temporary payroll tax cuts — plus unemployment benefits and the “doc...

To recap:  Some 160 million Americans will watch their taxes rise about $1,000 each, if the current payroll-tax cut ends on January 1.  Millions of jobless Americans will see their unemployment benefits run out, if the federal government does not extend them by year’s end.  The Iranian government this week threatened to shut the Strait of Hormuz and bottle up a key route that oil tankers use to deliver petroleum to an energy-hungry planet.  President Obama could fix the first two problems and ameliorate the dangers of the third, if he would sign legislation to extend the tax cut...

<p>Senate leaders reached a tentative agreement Friday night on legislation to extend Social Security payroll tax cuts and jobless benefits for two months while requiring President Barack Obama to accept Republican demands for a swift decision on the fate of an oil pipeline that promises thousands of jobs.</p>

Dem Keystone support creates tougher fight for Reid, ObamaBy Alexander Bolton - 12/16/11 04:08 PM ET Republicans want to jam Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the Keystone oil sands pipeline and the Democratic leader will have a tough time resisting, given support within his caucus for the project. GOP leaders have made clear to Reid that they will not approve an extension of the payroll tax holiday unless it includes language to speed up construction of the pipeline. Senate Republicans estimate as many as 14 Senate Democrats support the project. Labor unions have also voiced strong backing, complicating...

House Speaker John A. Boehner “guaranteed” Friday that the House version of legislation to extend the current payroll tax break would include a provision for quick action on the massive Keystone oil pipeline project, a provision that President Obama strongly opposes. The Ohio lawmaker’s unwavering position came as tensions on Capitol Hill had subsided significantly in the wake of a bipartisan compromise announced late Thursday to keep federal agencies funded into next year — a move needed to avoid a government shutdown on Saturday. The House already has passed legislation that extends the 2 percent payroll tax cut into 2012,...

Shell Pipeline Co. said today it received customer support for a new pipeline that would move crude oil from St. James, La. to the refining hubs around Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas. The Westward Ho should allow refineries to access the growing supply of domestic and foreign crude oil coming through St. James, the company said. The new pipeline would also complement new storage and logistics infrastructure that are currently being built in the St. James and Clovelly, La. areas. The new pipeline would allow for the distribution of about 600,000 bbls per day of crude across the region depending...

We've largely ignored the not-so-great payroll tax debate on the assumption that it would pass in any case and won't matter much to the economy. But now things are getting interesting: If Republicans hang tough, they might even get a useful policy victory in return for giving President Obama his political fillip. Keep in mind that the payroll tax "cut" is nothing more than a tax holiday. All the political palaver is about extending it for one more year, through 2012, so Mr. Obama can claim he did something for middle-class voters before Election Day. Because it is temporary, the...