Reliability of the Athabasca River,Canada as the water source for oil sands mining lweb.es/f532
Risk assessment in the oil sands industry should consider the repeated decadal droughts that are a common feature of the regional hydroclimate but have not occurred since the industry was established. The long-term trends and variability in river flow examined in this paper extend beyond the Athabasca River Basin, and thus the lessons for water resource management are transferrable to watersheds across Canada’s western interior.
OEF REVIEW: Decline rates in conventional fields will play a critical part in rebalancing the oil market and determining where oil prices settle in the longer term. Decline rates will cut output by several million barrels a day in 2016 and 2017 unless oil producers invest to maintain production levels from existing fields and develop replacement fields.
Baker Hughes Incorporated announced that the worldwide rig count for August 2015 was 2,226, up 59 from the 2,167 counted in July 2015, and down 1,416 from the 3,642 counted in August 2014. The average U.S. rig count for August 2015 was 883, up 17 from the 866 counted in July 2015, and down 1,021 from the 1,904 counted in August 2014.
Crude oil production for October from seven major U.S. shale plays is expected to drop 80,000 barrels a day to 5.21 million b/d.
“Drillers will increasingly contend with diminished backlogs,rig values,fleet sizes, and margins if oil prices do not bounce back to the $70-80/bbl range, which we believe could support an increase in shallow-water, deepwater, and ultra-deepwater drilling”, says Moody’s in an industry report.
Total has entered a special licensing agreement with Eni for use of Eni Slurry Technology (EST), which has been developed by the Italian operator to convert heavy bottom-of-the-barrel feedstock into lighter, high-value products.
U.S. Federal waters in offshore Alaska are estimated to hold around 27 billion barrels of oil and 132 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the vast majority of which is located in the Arctic. Experts believe that the Chukchi Sea may represent one of the world’s largest sources of untapped oil and gas.
The OPEC Reference Basket fell to average $45.46 a barrel in August. This was mostly attributed to sell-offs amid enduring oversupply and Chinese economic turbulence. Demand for OPEC crude is estimated at 29.3 million barrels per day in 2015, up 0.4 million barrels per day from the previous year.
Venezuela started importing light crude last year for the first time in its history. Most of the oil is being used as a diluent to formulate exportable blends.