Archive for the 'Oil and Gas' Category

Alaska Can Meet U.S. Energy Needs
By Sean Parnell / Wall Street Journal

The United States is now facing a decision on how to meet its future energy needs. In the coming months, the U.S. Department of the Interior will weigh whether to allow oil and gas exploration on Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to be expanded. Such exploration could set the country on a clear and sustainable energy path for decades to come.

Alaska’s OCS contains an estimated 27 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. That’s more than twice the amount of oil that has been produced on Alaska’s North Slope since the Trans Alaska Pipeline System went online in 1977. Counting its OCS reserves, Alaska likely has more than 30% of the nation’s recoverable oil and gas. Developing these resources will advance our national interests in three significant ways.

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$21 Billion of Oil and Gas Deals Announced Third Quarter 2009
PR Newswire

HOUSTON, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ — PLS, Inc. (”PLS”) in conjunction with its international partner Derrick Petroleum Services (”Derrick”) reports that Global M&A activity for the 3rd Quarter 2009 totaled nearly $21 billion in 112 separate transactions. According to Brian Lidsky, Managing Director of Research at PLS, Inc., “Oil and gas deal volume increased markedly beginning in late August 2009 due to a confluence of events. These include: 1) a growing consensus that the economy bottomed in the 2nd quarter 2009 and a recovery is under way, 2) price stability of oil in the $65 - $75 per barrel range, and 3) a dramatic drop of U.S. natural gas prices in late August - early September towards the $2.50 range that signaled a buying opportunity to the U.S. markets. For perspective, the oil and gas forward 12-month strips at 3rd Quarter 2009 end were $73.00 per barrel and $5.93 per mcf (thousand cubic feet) versus year ago numbers of $99.02 per barrel and $8.15 per mcf.”

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Sweeping Rahall Bill Would Overhaul Federal Oil and Gas Leasing, Royalties
By Noelle Straub / The New York Times

House Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) introduced a bill yesterday to forge a new Interior agency to govern oil and gas leasing on federal lands and to overhaul the federal royalty system.

The far-reaching bill also includes measures to improve planning for offshore energy development, address wind and solar programs, and boost funding for ocean conservation and land acquisition. It comes largely as a response to a series of scandals and scathing government watchdog reports on the federal agencies that handle oil and gas drilling on public lands.

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Energy stocks open mixed as crude extends gains
By Jim Jelter / Market Watch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Oil and gas stocks edged narrowly higher at the open Wednesday as crude-oil futures extended their winning streak to a third straight session. Early trades sent the NYSE Arca Oil Index

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Winter may heat up natural gas prices
By Markus Ermisch / Sun Media
August, 27, 2009
Finance Minister Iris Evans says she’s not relying on winter to give depressed natural gas prices a boost, but chances are that at this point, Jack Frost is the government’s best friend.

Alberta’s government, in yesterday’s budget update, lowered its forecast for the price of natural gas to $3.75 per gigajoule, a cut of $1.75 from the forecast included in April’s provincial budget. Natural gas royalties for the fiscal year are now estimated at $1.9 billion, $1.8 billion lower than the budget estimate.

The government also adjusted the average oil price to $61 US a barrel, up from the $55.50 US contained in the budget. The higher oil price is offset by an appreciating loonie, and oil royalties are now forecast to drop $333 million to $1.9 billion.

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By Erin Ailworth / Boston.com

A state board yesterday approved plans to build a natural gas plant in Brockton, but left local officials with the power to veto the plant’s construction by choosing whether to grant the zoning exemptions needed to build the 350-megawatt facility.

The state Energy Facilities Siting Board, a division of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, did not grant the exemptions because it “concluded that the proposed project’s environmental and energy supply benefits do not outweigh expected local impacts,’’ according to a statement.

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By Madalina Iacob Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES / Wall Street Journal
July 31, 2009

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Crude-oil futures settled at a one-month high Friday as the dollar plunged against major currencies, signaling a renewed appetite among investors for assets that stand to benefit from an economic recovery.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery settled $2.51, or 3.8%, higher at $69.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange settled $1.59, or 2.3%, higher at $71.70 a barrel.

The move from the safe haven of the dollar and into crude began soon after the U.S. Commerce Department reported that the U.S. gross domestic product had dropped by 1% in the second quarter, less than economists had expected and a far milder contraction than the 6.4% decline seen in the previous quarter. Expectations that the economy is turning the corner received a second boost when a survey of Chicago-area economic activity offered its best results since September 2008. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago, which conducted the survey, predicts the recession will end by December 2009.

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Boston.com
July 17, 2009

HOUSTON—The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the United States rose by 4 this week to 920.

Of the rigs running nationwide, 665 were exploring for natural gas and 244 for oil, Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc. reported Friday. Eleven were listed as miscellaneous.

A year ago, the rig count stood at 1,928. The U.S. count is down about 55 percent since the end of August as weak energy demand has hampered oilfield activity.

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By Steven Mufson / The Washington Post

The run-up in oil prices that began earlier this year was not as steep as last summer’s record climb, but it was almost as mystifying.

Demand was low, the global economy was sagging, and the world’s oil consumers and producers were brimming with excess supply. Those factors ought to keep prices down, but the monthly average price of crude oil jumped $10 a barrel from February to April, another $10 in May and again in June. Gasoline prices in the United States rose 54 days in a row, and AAA called the increases through May “the largest five-month retail advance this century.”

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By Madalina Iacob / The Wall Street Journal

NEW YORK — Crude futures rose Tuesday, bouncing after days of decline and buoyed by renewed optimism about the pace of the economic recovery.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery traded 42 cents, or 0.7%, higher at $60.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at noon. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange recently rose 39 cents to $60.08 a barrel.

Crude’s strength followed a day in which the Dow Jones Industrial rose 185 points on hopes of strong quarterly results from banks this week. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on Tuesday beat expectations and said commodities net revenues in the second quarter topped performance in last year’s second quarter. A top commodities dealer, Goldman said its broader fixed-income, currency and commodities trading segment raked in record revenue of $6.8 billion.

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