Light, sweet crude oil dropped modestly on the New York market Nov. 9 with the front-month closing at its lowest since February. The December contract settled under $60.20/bbl, and analysts attributed recent price drops to ample oil supply expectations. US oil future prices have dropped for 10 trading sessions, which the Wall Street Journal called the […]
Watching Government: Defeat of Colorado’s Prop 112
Colorado voters rejected Proposition 112, which would have imposed severe setback requirements on oil and gas producers, when the voters went to the polls on Nov. 6. Source: News
Ethylene furnaces delivered for ZPC complex in China
Wison Engineering Services Co. Ltd. completed delivery of all nine ethylene-cracking furnaces to be installed as part of the naphtha cracking unit at the first phase of Zhejiang Petrochemical Co. Ltd.’s 800,000-b/d integrated refining and petrochemical complex currently under construction in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, China. Source: News
BLM’s state offices prepare to hold 4Q lease sales
US Bureau of Land Management state offices are in the final stages of preparing for upcoming fourth-quarter oil and gas lease sales. The US Department of the Interior agency now conducts lease sales online at www.energynet.com. Source: News
Trump administration imposes oil, other sanctions against Iran
On Nov. 5, the US government imposed oil and other sanctions against Iran that were lifted under a 2015 multinational nuclear arms control agreement, the Trump administration announced. Source: News
Sanctions revisited
Effects on the oil market of US sanctions reinstated against Iran depend on depth and duration of the restriction and on the availability of compensating supply. They are, at this point, unknowable. Source: News
Regulation and recycling
By now we know the outcome of the Nov. 6 US midterm elections. Held in an environment in which the most extreme detractors of each party described their counterparts as bent on establishing a nationalist dictatorship on one hand or a communist pogrom on the other, most who went to the polls viewed it as […]
Federal judge halts Keystone XL construction for further NEPA review
A federal district court judge in Montana vacated a Mar. 23, 2017, US Department of State Record of Decision authorizing construction of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline and ordered further environmental reviews of the project. Source: News
OGA: UKCS reserves could last another 20 years
The Oil & Gas Authority estimates the UK Continental Shelf’s proved and probable reserves as of Dec. 31, 2017, were 5.4 billion boe, which could sustain production for at least another 20 years or more based on current production rates. The report said 400 million boe were added to the categories of proved and probable […]
FAR’s Samo-1 well off Gambia comes up dry
Perth-based FAR Ltd.’s much-anticipated Samo-1 wildcat well drilled offshore Gambia has been plugged as a dry hole. FAR said the well had reached a total depth of 3,240 m, but interpretation of wireline logs suggested the main target horizons were water-bearing. Source: News