The light, sweet crude oil price for February rose above $48/bbl on the New York market Jan. 7 while Brent crude oil price for March settled above $57/bbl, which analysts attributed to production-cut plans by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and others. OPEC officials told the Wall Street Journal that Saudi Arabia plans to […]
New market variables
Upheaval in the Middle East confounds forecasts of energy markets, such as Oil & Gas Journal’s annual Forecast & Review (p. 18). The political nature of that upheaval is well-documented and important. Less reported but no less important is its economic dimension. Source: News
Watching energy in 2019
What should industry expect to happen this year relating to oil and gas? That is a million-dollar question if ever there was one. It’s also a question that analysts and think tanks alike ponder about this time every year. Source: News
Energy transition strongly subject to politics of climate
Political developments this year and last will influence the much-discussed energy transition in little-discussed but powerful ways. Source: News
UK offshore exploration gains momentum
Westwood Global Energy Group estimates 17 exploration wells could be drilled on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) within 18 months, testing unrisked resources estimated by oil companies to total more than 2 billion boe. Source: News
ExxonMobil drills first of two wildcat wells off Guyana
ExxonMobil Corp. reported the start of drilling of the Haimara-1 exploration well offshore Guyana—the first of two planned wells in January. The Stena Carron drillship is drilling the well, which is 19 miles east of the Pluma-1 discovery in the southeast Stabroek block. Source: News
US Chamber study estimates ‘keep-it-in-the-ground’ economic costs
Antienergy activists’ “keep-it-in-the-ground” efforts have prevented at least $91.9 billion in domestic economic activity and eliminated nearly 730,000 job opportunities, a new study by the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute (GEI) concluded. Source: News
API state councils are bridges between local issues, national advocacy
Colorado Petroleum Council (CPC) Executive Director Tracee Bentley did not consider it an oil and gas industry victory on Nov. 6, 2018, when voters across the state resoundingly rejected Proposition 112. The initiative would have established production setback requirements so stringent that new exploration and production in the state effectively would have been stifled. Source: […]
Woodside enters FEED for Pluto Train 2
Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Perth, has let a contract to Bechtel for the front-end engineering design stage for the Pluto LNG Train 2 project on the Burrup Peninsula of Western Australia. FEED work includes activities needed to finalize the costs and technical definition for the proposed second train at the onshore facility. Source: News
Prelude floating LNG project comes on stream
Shell Australia’s Prelude floating LNG (FLNG) project in the Browse basin off northwest Western Australia has started production. The company reported it had opened the subsea wells in the field to enter the project’s start-up and ramp-up phases, the initial stages during which gas and condensate is produced and moved through the giant facility. […]