Archive for March, 2015

Ted Cruz, author of American Energy Renaissance Act, launches White House bid

Ted Cruz, author of American Energy Renaissance Act, launches White House bid

American Energy Renaissance Act will be important part of Cruz presidential campaign Oil and gas production and exploration – thanks to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s American Energy Renaissance Act – just became a central component of the Republican presidential race. Cruz opened the first major campaign of the 2016 presidential season Monday with a kickoff speech […]

Meagre western US snowpack contributes to waning hydro power

Meagre western US snowpack contributes to waning hydro power

Snowpack in the Sierra Nevada at 12 per cent of average Flying over the Sierra Nevada as California entered its fourth year of drought, the state’s energy chief looked down and saw stark bare granite cloaked in dirty brown haze, not the usual pristine white peaks heaped with snow that would run the state’s hydroelectric […]

Keeping the US oil boom going with new technology, lower costs

Keeping the US oil boom going with new technology, lower costs

US oil finding new ways to remain competitive OPEC and lower global oil prices delivered a one-two punch to the drillers in North Dakota and Texas who brought the U.S. one of the biggest booms in the history of the global oil industry. Now they are fighting back. Companies are leaning on new techniques and […]

Texas loses rigs, 6 states gain in latest rig count

Texas loses rigs, 6 states gain in latest rig count

Texas leads oil-producing states with 538 rigs Texas is losing drilling rigs as oil prices continue to drop, but a few oil-producing states actually gained rigs, according to the latest Baker Hughes rig count. Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. tumbled […]

Lawsuit dismissed over ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline spill

Lawsuit dismissed over ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline spill

Pegasus pipeline ruptured March 29, 2013, in Mayflower, spilling more than 200,000 gallons of crude oil A federal class-action lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corporation over a 2013 Pegasus pipeline spill in central Arkansas has been dismissed by a federal judge, who acknowledged in his ruling that his decision seems unfair. U.S. District Judge Brian Miller on […]

Obama’s hydraulic fracturing regulations in court hours after launch

Obama’s hydraulic fracturing regulations in court hours after launch

Critics of new hydraulic fracturing rules say States already properly regulate the industry Only hours after the Obama Administration introduced new rules for hydraulic fracturing on federal lands, the energy industry sued in federal court to stop what it says is unnecessary regulation. Two groups, the Independent Petroleum Association of America and the Western Energy Alliance, […]

China, US carbon negotiations – countries closer, more co-operative

China, US carbon negotiations – countries closer, more co-operative

Two largest greenhouse gas emitters working on carbon negotiations A U.S. envoy for climate change said Friday that China and the U.S. are working more closely than ever ahead of a conference this year in Paris that raises hopes for a global plan to cut greenhouse emissions. Special Envoy Todd Stern told reporters in Beijing […]

US Oil, natural gas drillers must disclose fracking chemicals

US Oil, natural gas drillers must disclose fracking chemicals

Changes to fracking chemicals rules take effect in June The Obama administration said Friday it is requiring companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, the first major federal regulation of the controversial drilling technique that has sparked an ongoing boom in natural gas production […]

US petroleum consumption reaches 19.3 million barrels/day in February

US petroleum consumption reaches 19.3 million barrels/day in February

US crude oil production in Feb. was 9.3 million bbls/day, up 14.5% from year earlier Total US petroleum deliveries (a measure of demand) rose 1.5 percent from Feb. 2014 to average 19.3 million bbls/day, according to the American Petroleum Institute. This was the highest February demand since 2008. “Greater demand for gasoline and jet fuel […]

American refineries ready for surge of light sweet crude – survey

American refineries ready for surge of light sweet crude – survey

Survey represented 60% of American refineries A new survey of American refineries shows the domestic industry has plenty of capacity to handle the growing U.S. oil supply. Veris Consulting conducted the voluntary survey (data was collected Nov.-Dec. 2014) of American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers members and found that refiners have more than enough processing capacity for the increased influx of light […]