U.S. Department Of Defense Moves Ahead With Green Energy

03/01/17 •lweb.es/f2640 •bit.ly/2ocvx54

Clean Energy, Military, USA

The largest U.S. government agency – the Department of Defense, which is also the world’s largest single petroleum buyer – plans to forge ahead under the new administration with a decade-long effort to convert its fuel-hungry operations to renewable power. Why? In combat zones, green energy saves lives. The military’s zeal for renewable power has already had broad impacts on energy contractors, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts for solar companies and helping to reduce fuel consumption. Trump’s Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis, has long supported efforts to reduce troop dependence on petroleum.

EIA: U.S. Expected To Become Net Exporter Of Natural Gas By 2018

02/29/17 •lweb.es/f2648 •bit.ly/2peDp3W

Exports, gas, USA

The transition of the U.S. to net exporter of natural gas by 2018 is to be driven by declining pipeline imports, growing pipeline exports, and increasing exports of liquefied natural gas. The Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana became the first operating LNG export facility in the Lower 48 states in 2016. By 2021, four LNG export facilities are expected to be completed with a combined operational export capacity of 9.2 billion cubic feet per day. The EIA also projects the U.S. to become a net exporter of total energy in the 2020s.

Shale Break-Even Price Drops 55% On Average

lweb.es/f2644 02.28.2017

Shale, USA

Since 2013, the average wellhead break-even price (BEP) for key shale plays has decreased from $80 a barrel to $35/bbl. This represents a drop of over 55%, on average. The wellhead BEP decreased across all key shale plays, with Permian Midland falling by over 60% from $98/bbl in 2013 to $38/bbl in 2016 (for horizontal wells only). Rystad Energy forecasts an average WTI oil price of $60/bbl, which implies a 40% improvement in the cash from operations. This improvement will result in higher investments of the shale operators.

$70 Billion Each For Shale Plays And Offshore Projects This Year

lweb.es/f2650 02.20.2017

Investments, Offshore, Oil, Shale, USA

For every dollar invested this year in North American shale plays another dollar will be allocated for planned projects offshore racking up spending of $70 billion in each sector, analysts at Rystad Energy said: “Offshore projects that were uncommercial at $110 per barrel in 2013 are now commercial at an oil price of $50 per barrel.” However, Rigzone Data Services said offshore investment declined 30-35% in 2016 and offshore capital expenditure is expected to decline for the current year. According to Diamond Offshore, it’s difficult for deepwater operators to compete with the unconventional space.

CNPC Buys Stake In Abu Dhabi’s Largest Oil Concession

lweb.es/f2652 02.19.2017

Asia, Middle East, Oil

China National Petroleum Corp. bought a stake in Abu Dhabi’s largest oil concession as the Middle Eastern emirate with 6% of global crude reserves looks increasingly to Asia, its biggest market, for investment to raise output capacity. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. awarded CNPC an 8% stake in the onshore venture. “If you’re Abu Dhabi and looking for demand growth, China is the future and its demand is going to continue to grow”… “For the big buyers in Asia, the logical source of that future supply is the Gulf,” said Amereller Legal Consultants.

India Steps Up Efforts To Boost Domestic Oil And Gas Production

lweb.es/f2658 02.17.2017

gas, India, Oil

Following its first oil and gas field auction in six years India has decided to award the bulk of the operating licenses to new players. The operating licenses are for 31 contract areas comprising 44 oil and gas fields and have been awarded under a revenue-sharing model. These contract areas would monetize 40 million metric tons of oil and 22 billion cubic metres of natural gas over 15 years for the Indian government. India’s oil demand growth will outpace China‘s for the third year in a row in 2017.

T. Boone Pickens: True Energy Independence For America

lweb.es/f2654 02.17.2017

Oil, USA

Oil expert T. Boone Pickens says that America is in the midst of an energy renaissance, and President Donald Trump will have the opportunity to set the nation on a course toward self-sufficiency: “We are still a long way from securing our nation’s energy future and are not without risk of failing” he states. “I suggest President Trump pursue an energy plan with two parts. The first part is to not screw up what we have going for us. The second part is to not settle for what we’ve done so far.”

Gazprom And China Broadening Cooperation In Energy Sector

lweb.es/f2662 02.16.2017

China, gas, Power, Russia

Meetings have recently been held between Russia and China on energy: one between Gazprom and the State Council of the People’s Republic of China covering the collaboration between Gazprom and Chinese energy companies and financial organizations; and the other between Gazprom and CNPC which looked at the current progress and future prospects for gas deliveries from Russia to China, the possibilities for underground gas storage facilities and gas-fired power generation in China, as well as the use of LNG as a vehicle fuel along the Europe-China international transport route.

Global Wind Energy: Strong Year Ahead Expected

lweb.es/f2656 02.16.2017

Clean Energy, Wind, World

According to Renewable Energy World, the wind industry globally has good prospects for 2017 and beyond: China could push back towards 30 GW of installations and India has set a new national record with 3,612 MW of new installations; Europe’s numbers were surprisingly strong. Additionally, there are clear indications that the offshore industry could spread beyond its northern European home to North America, East Asia, India and perhaps elsewhere in the near future as a result of technological advances and growing investor confidence.

Norwegian Barents Sea Drilling Set For Record

lweb.es/f2660 02.15.2017

Norway, Oil

Explorers look set to drill a record number of wells in Norway’s Arctic waters this year. The Norwegian Barents Sea may contain as much as half the country’s unexplored resources, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. The remote area off the country’s northern tip enjoys the benefits of the Gulf Stream, meaning that unlike the rest of the Arctic, it’s largely ice-free. The prospect that industry observers will be watching most closely is Statoil’s Korpfjell well near the Russian border. It could contain as much as 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Oil Price Uncertainty: $35 To $93 For December 2017?

lweb.es/f2613 02.10.2017

Oil, prices, World

The EIA forecasts Brent prices to average $53 a barrel in 2017 and $56/b in 2018, with WTI $1/b less than Brent in both 2017 and 2018. However, “The current values of futures and options contracts suggest high uncertainty in the price outlook. For example, EIA’s forecast for the average WTI price in December 2017 of $53/b should be considered in the context of NYMEX contract values for December 2017 delivery. Contracts traded during the five-day period ending January 5 suggest the market expects WTI prices could range from $35/b to $93/b (…) in December 2017.”

Permian Basin: $60,000 An Acre, But A Gold Mine For Oil Drillers

lweb.es/f2664 02.09.2017

investors, Shale, USA

Record prices for drilling rights in the Permian Basin, the most fertile U.S. shale field – where wells can generate profit with crude selling for less than $40 a barrel – are prompting oil companies and private equity investors to look elsewhere for the next big gushers. Explorers eager to tap the basin’s mile-thick stack of oil-soaked rock layers have paid as much as $60,000 an acre. That marks a 50-fold explosion in deal prices over four years. It also pushes the cost 10 times higher than in the Bakken of North Dakota.

Saudi Oil Minister: Further Cuts? “If Needed, Absolutely.”

lweb.es/f2586 01.22.2017

Oil, OPEC, production, Saudi Arabia

Some 1.5 million of an agreed upon 1.8 million barrels per day of oil has been taken out of the market in January, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said. He noted, however, that at the same time shale oil is estimated to grow this year at 200,000 to 300,000 barrels per day – not at the 500,000 bpd estimated by the International Energy Agency. Al-Falih indicated that OPEC countries could cut oil production again this year if higher prices were not maintained due to reasons beyond the control of producers, including falling demand.

EIA Energy Outlook: The U.S. To Become Net Energy Exporter

lweb.es/f2532 01.08.2017

gas, Oil, USA

The International Energy Agency’s Annual Energy Outlook provides modeled projections of U.S. domestic energy markets through 2050, and includes scenarios with different assumptions of macroeconomic growth, world oil prices, technological progress, and energy policies. With strong domestic production and relatively flat demand, the United States becomes a net energy exporter in most Outlook cases as petroleum liquid imports fall and natural gas exports rise over the projection period under consideration. Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions decline in most of the cases, with the highest emissions projected in the “no Clean Power Plan” projection.

President Trump’s Energy Plan

lweb.es/f2585 01.20.2017

energy, Oil, USA

While the plan lacks specifics about implementation, it lays out a foundation for US energy policy for at least the next four years: “Energy is an essential part of American life and a staple of the world economy. The Trump Administration is committed to energy policies that lower costs for hardworking Americans and maximize the use of American resources, freeing us from dependence on foreign oil.” Highlights are: Eliminating “harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan”; Embracing US shale and gas; Having a commitment to clean coal technology; Eliminating US dependence on OPEC; Protecting the environment.

CO2 Captured From Coal Unit To Boost Oilfield Production

lweb.es/f2619 01.19.2017

Carbon, Clean Energy, Coal, USA

Petra Nova is the world’s largest post-combustion carbon capture system, being able to capture more than 5,000 tons of CO2 per day. It is built on an existing coal unit, and delivers captured CO2 through an 80-mile pipeline to the West Ranch oilfield. This captured CO2 will boost production at the oilfield through Enhanced Oil Recovery operations. Over the next few years, oil production at the field is estimated to increase from approximately 300 barrels per day to up to 15,000 barrels per day using captured carbon dioxide.

Oil And Gas Sector Vulnerable To Cyberattacks

lweb.es/f2584 01.19.2017

cybersecurity, gas, Oil, USA

Critical U.S. infrastructure, including oil and gas pipelines, is vulnerable to cyberattacks. Because no major breaches have recently been announced, the topic of cybersecurity in the oil and gas space has been quiet. That doesn’t mean that the threat of cyberattacks has gone away, Ken Talanian from Evercore said. The Saudi Aramco hack in 2012 – when an unleashed virus erased data from three-quarters of Aramco’s corporate personal computers – would have served as a wakeup call for the industry if the Stuxnet attack in 2010 on an Iranian nuclear facility didn’t.

Woodmac: Global Upstream Projects To Double In 2017

lweb.es/f2617 01.17.2017

Oil, Trump, World

According to Wood Mackenzie, final investment decisions are expected to double globally in 2017, rising to more than twenty in 2017 compared with just nine in 2016, while exploration and production spending will increase for the first time since 2014. Woodmac sees confidence beginning to return to the industry, with E&P spending up 3% to $450 billion and with costs expected to decline marginally. US Lower 48 spending is set to rise 23% to $61 billion, with upside if oil prices rise markedly and US independents are emboldened by a Trump presidency.

China’s Oil Production Drop Helps OPEC Cut Global Supply

lweb.es/f2609 01.17.2017

China, Iraq, Oil, OPEC, production

China’s production is forecast to fall by as much as 7 percent this year, extending a record decline in 2016. This is about the same size as the recent output cut agreed by OPEC member Iraq. China’s output slumped in 2016 as state-owned firms shut wells at mature fields that had become too costly to operate after the crash. Crude production fell 6.9 percent in the first 11 months of 2016 to about 4 million barrels a day, the first decline since 2009 and the biggest in data going back to 1990.