US commercial crude inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), fell by 6.3 million barrels from the week ended Aug. 25 to the week ended September 1, showed the latest report on the state of oil from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The country’s crude oil inventories, excluding the SPR, stood at 416.6 million barrels on September 1, 422.9 million barrels on August 25 and 427.2 million barrels on August 2. September 2022, according to the report. “At 416.6 million barrels, U.S. crude inventories are about four percent below the five-year average for this time of year,”…
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The US Department of the Interior (DOI) has terminated seven oil and gas leases awarded by the Trump administration to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge due to alleged legal deficiencies in environmental permitting. The decision announced by the department in a news release Wednesday means that the nine leases issued under the Coastal Plain Lease Program have been canceled after a review ordered by the Biden administration. The leases covered over 430,000 acres and were to last for 10 years. But on January 21, 2021, one day after his inauguration, President Joe Biden ordered the DOI to review the program…
Hoegh LNG AS and Aker BP ASA have entered into a strategic partnership to develop a comprehensive carbon transport and storage (CCS) offering for industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) emitters in Northern Europe, with the aim of developing maritime transport solutions and greenhouse gas injection. Hoegh LNG said in a press release that the deal “combines the companies’ respective strengths, experience and technologies to establish a strong value chain for CCS on the Norwegian continental shelf.” CCS initiatives include the collection, transport and safe injection of carbon dioxide for permanent storage in subsea reservoirs, Hoegh LNG said. “Hoegh LNG welcomes the…
The oil market is confused. That’s what Bjarne Schieldrop, SEB’s chief commodity analyst, explained in a report sent to Rigzone on Thursday, adding that he can’t quite figure out whether the latest extension of Saudi Arabia’s unilateral cut until the end of the year is a reflection of the weakness to come, and an effort to preemptively try to keep oil prices from falling below $85 a barrel amid the coming weakness, or an effort to bring the oil price at $100-110 per barrel by the end of the year. “If the IEA’s latest calculations for global demand in the…
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $150 million in funding for the development of new ways to produce minerals and critical materials, with the goal of reducing reliance on imports. Projects sought are the research, development and demonstration at bench or pilot scale of new technologies for the extraction, production, separation and processing of minerals and critical materials in an environmentally responsible and affordable manner. The grant also supports work exploring substitutes for scarce minerals and critical materials that can be used for clean energy generation. It also supports projects that aim to make possible the production of…
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $13 million in funding for research and development (R&E) projects to enable existing dams to generate electricity and accelerate the deployment of hydroelectric storage by pumping (PSH). “The funding supports organizations to accelerate hydropower research and development for non-motorized dam and PSH technologies to make them more affordable, environmentally responsible and deployable,” the DOE said in a recent press release. Of the more than 90,000 dams in the US, less than three percent produce power, he noted. “These dams serve a variety of purposes, from flood control and irrigation to water storage…
Workers at Chevron Corp.’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities. in Australia have decided to extend their planned strike to at least three weeks, accusing the energy giant of evading negotiations. “Offshore Alliance lawyers have sent Chevron a new Notice of Protected Industrial Action which will commence after our first 7 days of PIA commences on Thursday 7 September,” the union said in a statement on Facebook. “The new Protected Industrial Action Notice will increase work bans and OA [Offshore Alliance] will have 24 x 1-hour stops, every day for 14 days from Thursday 14 September”. The Offshore Alliance, which comprises…
What a difference a year makes! The summer of 2022 was a golden age for US E&Ps who embraced a dramatic shift in their business model from prioritizing growth to focusing on maximizing cash flows and emphasizing profitability of the shareholders. Oil prices above $90/bbl and gas prices around $7/MMBtu filled their coffers and funded lavish increases in share buybacks and dividends. But those golden days quickly faded as oil prices retreated and gas prices fell 66% above $2/MMBtu. In today’s RBN blog, we explain how E&Ps are struggling to maintain shareholder return programs in the face of shrinking cash…
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) is allocating up to $30 million to support the development of advanced technologies to reduce or eliminate the need for twisting natural gas at oil production sites. The funding targets technologies that would convert unused and wasted natural gas in blasting activities into value-added products such as sustainable chemical fuels, the DOE said in a news release Wednesday. Natural gas flaring is a known source of methane emissions, which is the second most abundant planet-warming greenhouse gas, accounting for 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions,…
Lukoil PJSC’s business unit Litasco SA is launching an operation in Mexico as the oil giant seeks new markets for Russian products under a sweeping sanction. Litasco hired oil products trader Yuri Carreno for its new office in Mexico City, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Carreno, who previously spent 25 years as a senior gasoline trader at the trading arm of Petroleos Mexicanos, PMI, started in July, said the people, who asked not to be identified, were discussing internal matters. Lukoil and Carreno did not return multiple requests for comment. The expansion into Mexico, which is Latin…