Oil

Pipelines from Canada Threaten America's Water, Farmland and Communities

May 28, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. -- Farmers, Steelworkers, tribes, rural citizens and environmentalists are all warning that construction of three massive pipelines designed to carry dirty oil from the Alberta tar sands into the United States would threaten communities across the West and Midwest.

An additional pipeline would carry chemical thinners from the U.S. to Canada. Today, a coalition of groups sent letters to the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration urging that the agency not approve safety plans for the pipelines.    » read more »

28 May 2009 -- Following an assessment of natural resources north of the Arctic Circle, researchers say that a full 30% of the world's undiscovered natural gas and 13% of its undiscovered oil could be found there.

The oil estimate is relatively small compared to the known reserves in major petroleum exporting countries, so researchers do not anticipate a major shift in the world's oil trade. However, they do expect the location and volume of predicted natural gas reserves inside the Arctic Circle to primarily benefit Russia.

These findings are from the first detailed, peer-reviewed, and geologically-based assessment of natural resources in that region.    » read more »

Renewable Fuels Changes to EIA's Petroleum Surveys

May 28, 2009 -- EIA has recently implemented expanded data collection efforts to better capture ethanol, biodiesel, and other renewable liquid fuel volumes, marking an important milestone in a multi-year effort to address the growing role of renewable fuels. Congress enacted a mandate for the increased use of renewable motor fuels in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. That same law also authorized EIA to collect better data on renewable fuels.

The need for better renewable fuels data became even more important when the mandate for renewable fuel use was significantly expanded by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which sets a target of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel use by 2022.    » read more »

May 28, 2009 -- BATON ROUGE – Today, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal joined officials from Denbury Resources Inc, an independent oil and gas company, to provide an update on Denbury’s Green Pipeline project. Denbury is building a "Green Pipeline" from Donaldsonville, Louisiana to a location in Texas, which will be one of the first pipelines designed to transport man-made CO2 injecting it into oil reservoirs to recover additional crude oil that would not otherwise be produced.

The Green Pipeline project will have a total capital investment of $750 million and is expected to create up to 800 jobs during construction.    » read more »

27 May 2009 -- BP and the Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR) consortium today announced that they have agreed a succession plan to appoint a new independent chief executive officer (CEO) of TNK-BP by the end of the year.

The TNK-BP board of directors unanimously supported the appointment of two experienced executives to senior positions in TNK-BP. Each has the credentials to become the new CEO.

The first is Pavel Skitovich, formerly a member of the executive board of Russian private investment firm, Interros and former general director of Polyus Gold Mining Group. The second, Maxim Barsky, will join TNK-BP from West Siberia Resources where until 2008 he served as a managing director and is currently a board member.    » read more »

SAN RAMON, Calif., May 27, 2009 - Record performance in 2008 helped enable Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) to reward its investors, fund a robust capital program and position the company to capitalize on the increase in demand for energy that will come with the global economic recovery, attendees were told today at the company's 2009 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.    » read more »

ExxonMobil to invest between $25 and $30 billion annually over the next 5 years

May 27, 2009 -- DALLAS -- Exxon Mobil Corporation’s (NYSE:XOM) financial strength and industry-leading performance continues to provide shareholders with superior value while delivering energy to fuel economic growth and protecting the environment, the corporation said today at its Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

“Despite the volatile economic times, ExxonMobil remains committed to investing in integrated solutions to the energy challenge,” said Rex W. Tillerson, chairman and chief executive officer.    » read more »

27/05/2009 -- Royal Dutch Shell plc (“Shell”) today announced a series of changes to senior management roles and responsibilities, aimed at sharper focus on operating performance and technology. The changes will be effective as of 1st July 2009.

Peter Voser, who takes over from Jeroen van der Veer as Chief Executive Officer on 1st July 2009 said “this new structure will increase accountability in the company, and improve Shell’s performance on delivering new projects and developing new technologies.”

He continued “these changes will increase our focus, accelerate our plans to reduce complexity, corporate overheads and costs, and result in faster decision-making and delivery.”    » read more »

27 May 2009 -- Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola (Sonangol) and BP Exploration (Angola) Limited today announced the 'Oberon' oil discovery in ultra-deepwater Block 31, offshore Angola.

This is the eighteenth discovery made by BP in Block 31 and is located in the southern portion of Block 31 about 335 kilometres northwest of Luanda and 4.3 kilometres to the north-east of the Dione discovery.

Oberon-1 was drilled in a water depth of 1624 metres and reached a total depth of 3622 metres TVD below sea level. The well test results confirmed the capacity of the reservoir to flow in excess of 5000 barrels/day under production conditions.    » read more »

May 26, 2009 -- Total announced last week that, within the framework of the EGAS 2008 international bid round organized by the Egyptian authorities, it has been awarded a 90% participation in and the operatorship of Block 4 (East El Burullus Offshore) in conjunction with partner ENEL (10%). This award is subject to approval by the competent authorities.

This block is located in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Nile Basin, and covers an area of 2,516 square kilometres, and is situated approximately 70 kilometres from the coast in water depths varying from 100 to 1,600 metres. The Nile basin is a prolific area where numerous gas discoveries have already been made.    » read more »

May 21, 2009 -- In the midst of heated debate over the future of the Canadian oil sands, a new report from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) says that prudent greenhouse gas regulations can safely limit emissions while allowing for robust development of the oil sands.

The report argues that oil sands production delivers both energy security benefits and climate change damages, but warns that both are often overstated. “For the near future, the economic and security value of oil sands expansion will likely outweigh the climate damages that the oil sands create,” it says, “but climate concerns cannot and must not be ignored, and will become more important over time.” Policymakers, it emphasizes, must carefully balance the two concerns.    » read more »

May 20, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- Liquid fuels from biomass and coal have the potential to reduce petroleum fuel use and CO2 emissions in the U.S. transportation sector over the next 25 years, says a new report from the National Research Council. Even with abundant resources in biomass and coal, however, substantial investments in research, development, and commercial demonstration projects will be needed to produce these alternative liquid fuels in an environmentally conscious way, and at a level that could impact U.S. dependence on imported oil.    » read more »

Springtime Transitions

May is a time of transition as days get warmer, swimming pools open, and new graduates get ready to head out into the world. It is also a time of transition for U.S. fuel markets, as gasoline suppliers prepare for summer driving. This year, May has already brought back the traditional—but lapsed—spring transition in which the average price of regular gasoline in the United States rises above the price of diesel fuel.

U.S. Retail Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Prices    » read more »

May 22, 2009 -- IRVING, Texas -- ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) today issued its 2008 Corporate Citizenship Report5 detailing actions to improve environmental, economic and social performance, while providing energy to meet the worlds’ growing demand.

The report details how ExxonMobil reduced greenhouse gas emissions, led the industry in worker safety and oil-spill prevention, and contributed more than eight times its earnings -- a record $402 billion -- to economies around the world through taxes and purchases of goods and services.    » read more »

May 19, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – President Obama today – for the first time in history – set in motion a new national policy aimed at both increasing fuel economy and reducing greenhouse gas pollution for all new cars and trucks sold in the United States.

The new standards, covering model years 2012-2016, and ultimately requiring an average fuel economy standard of 35.5 mpg in 2016, are projected to save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the life of the program with a fuel economy gain averaging more than 5 percent per year and a reduction of approximately 900 million metric tons in greenhouse gas emissions.

This would surpass the CAFE law passed by Congress in 2007 required an average fuel economy of 35 mpg in 2020.    » read more »