Why Texas isn’t ready for another deep freeze Nov 01, 2021 It’s been more than eight months since a glacial chill — the magnitude of which nobody quite anticipated — crept across Texas, forcing power plants offline, freezing natural gas wells and wreaking havoc on every part of the state’s…
UGI Utilities gets approval from Pennsylvania commission for RNG pilot program
UGI Utilities gets approval from Pennsylvania commission for RNG pilot program October 25, 2021 UGI Utilities got the okay from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to purchase renewable natural gas (RNG) as part of a five-year pilot program. The pilot program seeks to explore how UGI Utilities can integrate renewable…
Climate-driven weather disasters threaten global energy infrastructure, IEA says
Climate-driven weather disasters threaten global energy infrastructure, IEA says Energize Weekly, October 20, 2021 Energy and infrastructure systems built over the last century are becoming more vulnerable to the ravages of climate change-driven extreme weather events, according to a series of reports. “Extreme weather events over the past year have…
World energy consumption to rise 50 percent by 2050 with fossil fuels still dominant, EIA says
World energy consumption to rise 50 percent by 2050 with fossil fuels still dominant, EIA says Energize Weekly, October 13, 2021 Global energy consumption is forecast to increase 50 percent over the next 30 years if no policies or new technologies are introduced to curb demand, according to the U.S.…
OPEC+ Holds Both the Knife and the Cake
OPEC+ Holds Both the Knife and the Cake October 05, 2021 OPEC+ holds both the knife and the cake in the oil market, especially as the group boasts the lion’s share of the remaining unused supply capacity in the world. Read more
Offshore Drilling Rigs Eyed for LNG Conversion
Offshore Drilling Rigs Eyed for LNG Conversion September 24, 2021 Aberdeen-based offshore rig inspection company ADC Energy has said it has won a contract with an unnamed U.S.-based LNG company to help it identify and select offshore drilling rigs suitable for conversion for LNG operations. Read more
Oil and gas sector shows recovery in second quarter led by private companies, higher prices
Oil and gas sector shows recovery in second quarter led by private companies, higher prices Energize Weekly, September 22, 2021 The U.S. onshore oil and gas industry saw the beginnings of a rebound in the second quarter of 2021 buoyed by strong commodity prices, strategic mergers, and increased efficiency, according…
Oil Glut That Covid Built All But Gone
Oil Glut That Covid Built All But Gone September 14, 2021 Global crude inventories that ballooned during the pandemic have shrunk to the lowest level in 20 months as an economic rebound in top consumers China and the U.S. drive a robust recovery in fuel demand. Read more
DOE to invest $10 million to reduce natural gas supply constraints, improve energy consumption
DOE to invest $10 million to reduce natural gas supply constraints, improve energy consumption September 13, 2021 A new funding opportunity announcement from the United States Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) will offer approximately $10 million in funding for cost-shared research and development projects…
Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico After Ida Linked to Abandoned Pipeline
Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico After Ida Linked to Abandoned Pipeline Sept 7, 2021 More than a week after Ida hit the Gulf of Mexico, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the hurricane made a huge mess of the oil and gas activities there. The government is investigating hundreds of reports of oil spills…
Gas Prices Unlikely To Skyrocket As Oil Companies Assess Hurricane Ida Damage
Gas Prices Unlikely To Skyrocket As Oil Companies Assess Hurricane Ida Damage August 31, 2021 Oil companies are still assessing the damage at the oil rigs, platforms and refineries that were struck by Hurricane Ida. Read more
USA Holds Largest Oil Reserves Sale in 7 Years
USA Holds Largest Oil Reserves Sale in 7 Years August 24, 2021 The U.S. is holding its largest sale of oil from strategic reserves since 2014 at a time when the outlook for fuel demand is darkening amid the resurgent Covid-19 virus. Read more
U.S. shale sector rebounds in 2021 on higher oil prices and market discipline
U.S. shale sector rebounds in 2021 on higher oil prices and market discipline Energize Weekly, August 25, 2021 After years of red ink and a string of bankruptcies, the U.S. shale oil sector is staging a rebound, buoyed by higher oil prices and continued financial discipline, according to analyses by…
API Files Lawsuit Against Biden Administration
API Files Lawsuit Against Biden Administration August 17, 2021 The American Petroleum Institute (API) has announced that it, along with 11 other energy industry trade groups, has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI’s) indefinite pause on…
Permian Gets Confidence Vote with Infrastructure Plan
Permian Gets Confidence Vote with Infrastructure Plan August 10, 2021 The region at the heart of the once-booming U.S. shale industry is signaling confidence in a nascent recovery after the pandemic crushed demand and curtailed oil and gas drilling. Read more
Devon and Conoco Study $10B Shell Permian Assets
Devon and Conoco Study $10B Shell Permian Assets August 03, 2021 Devon Energy Corp. and ConocoPhillips are among potential suitors studying Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s portfolio of Permian Basin oil fields, which could be worth as much as $10 billion in a sale, people familiar with the matter said. Read…
Oil industry mergers and acquisitions bounce back in the second quarter of 2021
Oil industry mergers and acquisitions bounce back in the second quarter of 2021 Energize Weekly, July 21, 2021 Mergers and acquisitions among oil and gas producers rebounded in the second quarter of 2021 with more than 40 deals totaling $33 billion, with seven deals each worth more than $1 billion,…
Activists Demand Biden Kill More Pipeline Projects
Activists Demand Biden Kill More Pipeline Projects June 14, 2021 Environmentalists emboldened by this week’s defeat of Keystone XL are pressuring President Joe Biden to revoke permits for other oil and gas pipelines, warning their votes depend on the administration blocking fossil fuel infrastructure. Read more
U.S. shale oil companies keeping production and budgets tight 2021 and beyond
U.S. shale oil companies keeping production and budgets tight 2021 and beyond Energize Weekly, June 9, 2021 U.S. shale drillers are continuing to limit production and spending with the return to pre-pandemic levels years off, according to Oslo-based energy analyst Rystad Energy. Oil output is projected to drop 5.2 percent, about…
Biden to Suspend Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling
Biden to Suspend Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling JUNE 1, 2021 The pendulum has swung again in the decades-long battle over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Biden administration is moving to suspend oil-and-gas leases in the sensitive Alaskan habitat, blocking a last minute rush by the Trump administration to…
Oil and gas market rebound underpinned by market discipline at home and abroad
Oil and gas market rebound underpinned by market discipline at home and abroad Energize Weekly, May 26, 2021 Oil and natural gas have seen a rebound in 2021 but those gains are delicately balanced on market discipline in both global and domestic markets, according to an assessment by industry analyst…
U.S. shale oil output to climb for first time in 3 months in June – EIA
U.S. shale oil output to climb for first time in 3 months in June – EIA May 18, 2021 The biggest increase is set to come from the Permian, the top producing basin in the country, where output is expected to rise by 54,000 bpd to about 4.59 million bpd,…
Black Hills Energy joins ONE Future Coalition, commits to reduce methane emissions
Black Hills Energy joins ONE Future Coalition, commits to reduce methane emissions May 03, 2021 by Chris Galford Black Hills Corp., operating utilities as Black Hills Energy, became the latest natural gas company to join the Our Nation’s Energy Future (ONE Future) Coalition last week, committing to reducing methane emissions throughout…
Collapse of the natural gas system from wellhead to turbine fueled Texas’ blackout
Energize Weekly, February 24, 2021 The near collapse of Texas’ electric grid was caused in the main by a failure of the natural gas system from the wellhead to pipeline to gas turbine, according to an analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA). “Texas has a power shortage because it…
U.S. energy consumption will take years to rebound from pandemic, EIA says
Energize Weekly, February 10, 2021 It will take years for U.S. energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions to return to 2019 levels after the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s economy and the global energy sector, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). Energy consumption in…
Oil and gas activity rebounds in the Permian Basin but economic pressure persists
Energize Weekly, January 13, 2021 After a punishing year, oil and gas activity in a swatch of oil county from Louisiana through Texas to New Mexico rebounded in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to a survey by Dallas Federal Reserve Bank. The bank queried oil company executives in its…
Gas flaring is a problem from Texas’ Permian Basin to Russia’s Siberian oil fields
Energize Weekly, January 6, 2021 The U.S set a record for flaring of gas at well sites in 2019 and was part of a global pollution problem created by a handful of oil-producing countries, according to two energy agencies. An average of 1.48 billion cubic feet of gas was vented…
Colorado adopts sweeping oil and gas rules, banning flaring, creating a 2,000-foot setback
Energize Weekly, December 2, 2020 Colorado has adopted the strongest oil and gas regulations in the country and reoriented its oversight agency from “fostering” oil and gas development to “regulating” the industry to protect public health, safety, the environment and wildlife. After more than a year of hearings and negotiations,…
Voters weigh in on local and state energy issues from renewable energy to oil and gas taxes
Energize Weekly, November 11, 2020 Election returns on state and local energy issues were both literally and figuratively all over the map last week on issues ranging from renewable energy to oil and gas taxes. Voters in Alaska rejected a tax on oil operations while the industry was denied a…
Weak oil and gas markets forcing mergers and bankruptcies among shale operators
Energize Weekly, November 4, 2020 After weak third quarter in 2020 for oil and gas industry mergers and acquisition, one of the worst in 10 years, the fourth quarter opened with a string of big deals – a sign that the sector remains under pressure to consolidate, according to analysts.…
Pandemic and weak prices drive shale oil companies back into the red and debt
Energize Weekly, October 7, 2020 After trying to cut spending and debt, shale drillers are seeing a wave of red ink and increasing liability in 2020 as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the weak oil and gas prices it has spawned, according to two financial analyses. In…
The ongoing pandemic and weak economy led to across-the-board energy production cuts
Energize Weekly, August 19, 2020 Projections for U.S. energy production in 2020 – from oil to natural gas to coal – continued to fall as the novel coronavirus pandemic and global recession depress economies. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has lowered its estimate for domestic crude oil production by…
Almost a third of shale drillers at risk of bankruptcy or acquisition at current oil prices
Energize Weekly, July 1, 2020 The picture remains grim for shale oil and gas companies as nearly a third risk bankruptcy or acquisition at current oil prices. A survey of industry executives finds that most don’t expect a rebound until 2021 – if ever. The problems for the sector have…
Hedges will help U.S. drillers survive Russian-Saudi price war and coronavirus
Energize Weekly, March 18, 2020 The oil market is set for a long price war, falling consumption, a shake-out among U.S. shale drillers and a missed opportunity for Asian economies, according to industry analysts. Yet even as depressed prices lead to fewer drilling rigs and a slowing in U.S. production,…
Natural gas overtakes coal as a source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and Europe
Energize Weekly, December 18, 2019 Natural gas – while helping to lower overall greenhouse gas releases – has overtaken coal as a source of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. and the European Union, according to a report from the Global Carbon Project. While total fossil fuel emissions are projected…
U.S. shale oil production to remain strong, shale gas production cools due to weak prices
Energize Weekly, December 18, 2019 U.S. shale oil production will continue to grow over the next few years, despite weak investment and commodity prices, while increases in shale gas production will slow. That is the picture drawn by an analysis of shale oil by Rystad Energy, an Oslo-based energy consultant,…
Bankruptcies and red ink will not mar the future for U.S. shale drilling, Rystad says
Energize Weekly, October 9, 2019 Despite a string of bankruptcies and red ink, the future for U.S. shale drillers is not bleak, according to Oslo-based energy analyst Rystad Energy. “In a nutshell, we do not believe the recent bankruptcies that have beset a number of shale players are indicative of…
