A research team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has found a way to thwart deactivation of catalysts for the dry reforming of methane. Dry reforming of methane converts methane and carbon dioxide into syngas, a valued mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide used by oil... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a final rule to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. The rule facilitates implementation of Congress’s directive in the Inflation Reduction Act to collect a Waste Emissions Charge. Congress established the charge on large emitters of methane if their emissions... Read more →

China is a major natural gas importer by pipeline and the world’s largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG). In the last 10 years, the Chinese government has actively supported the development of unconventional natural gas resources to reduce import dependence and enhance energy security, notes the US Energy Information... Read more →

Hycamite TCD Technologies, a leader in emissions-free methane-splitting technology, is opening Europe’s largest methane-splitting plant in Kokkola, Finland. Once fully operational, the nominal capacity of Hycamite’s Customer Sample Facility (CSF) will reach 2,000 tonnes of low-carbon hydrogen and 6,000 tonnes of high-quality carbon annually. The decarbonization capacity of the CSF... Read more →

Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborating institutions have engineered a highly selective catalyst that can convert methane, a major component of natural gas, into methanol, an easily transportable liquid fuel, in a single, one-step reaction. As described in a paper just published in... Read more →

The Department of the Interior announced the availability of $775 million for 21 states to clean up legacy pollution. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Department is delivering the largest investment in tackling legacy pollution in American history, including $4.7 billion to plug orphaned wells—of which more than $1 billion has already... Read more →

A team from Tianjin University in China has expxlored the combustion and flame development characteristics of ammonia at different excess air ratios (λ) in an optical spark ignition (SI) engine employing high-speed natural flame luminosity (NFL) imaging, OH* chemiluminescence imaging and flame spectra measurement. The combustion performance and flame development... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that applications are open for $850 million in federal funding for projects that will help monitor, measure, quantify and reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sectors. (DE-FOA-0003256) Oil and natural gas facilities are the... Read more →

TotalEnergies, operator of OML 58 onshore license in Nigeria with a 40% interest, together with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd (NNPCL, 60%), have taken the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the $550-million development of the Ubeta gas field. Located about 80 km northwest of Port Harcourt in Rivers state,... Read more →

National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) researchers recently scaled up hydrogen production tests by increasing the catalyst load from 500 grams to 4.5 kilograms, a significant step toward advancing hydrogen production technology. The patented NETL catalyst helps to enable a process called catalytic methane pyrolysis (CMP), which breaks down methane into... Read more →

After years of either declining or stable domestic natural gas production, the Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo Brazzaville, began exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the first time when the first phase of a two-phase floating LNG (FLNG) project began operating in February 2024, according to the... Read more →

The US Department of the Interior is awarding $35.2 million to continue reclaiming and restoring orphaned oil and gas wells in California. With this new funding, the state of California expects to plug and remediate 206 high-risk orphaned oil and gas wells and decommission 47 attendant production facilities with approximately... Read more →

Researchers from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Russia explored the conversion of methane into hydrogen in the gas reservoir with zero oil saturation via steam methane reforming initiated by in situ gas combustion. A paper on their work is published in the journal Fuel. In the experimental... Read more →

DNV, the independent energy expert and assurance provider, is executing hydrogen blending feasibility studies for Enbridge and FortisBC Energy. The two individual studies will determine the percentage of hydrogen that can be safely transported through existing natural gas pipeline infrastructure, including Enbridge’s transmission system and FortisBC’s distribution system, both located... Read more →

Southwest Research Institute has developed a natural-gas-fueled medium-duty truck outfitted with a hybrid powertrain that achieved a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) over standard diesel powertrains. The vehicle uses an SwRI-designed, spark-ignited natural gas engine coupled with a hybrid powertrain and a 40-kilowatt-hour battery pack. The project was... Read more →

GILLIG delivered the first 35 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses to Albuquerque’s ABQ RIDE, with an additional 18 scheduled for mid-2024. This inaugural purchase marks a major transition for the agency as they replace old diesel-hybrid buses with new, eco-friendly, and cost-effective GILLIG buses. These buses are designed to provide... Read more →

Sitting on an estimated 203 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, Nigeria is on a mission to monetize its gas resources and become a leading LNG exporter to global markets. Its most notable project—the $5-billion Nigeria LNG Train 7 expansion—is set to boost processing capacity by 35% from 22 million... Read more →

Lake Charles Methanol II, LLC (LCM) plans to invest $3.24 billion to construct a new manufacturing plant that will produce low-carbon intensity methanol and other chemicals at the Port of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The company plans to use advanced auto thermal gas reforming technology and employ carbon capture and secure... Read more →

Verde Clean Fuels and Cottonmouth Ventures LLC, a subsidiary of Diamondback Energy executed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) for the proposed development, construction, and operation of a facility to produce commodity-grade gasoline utilizing associated natural gas feedstock supplied from Diamondback’s operations in the Permian Basin. The JDA provides a pathway... Read more →

Hycamite, the developer of a proprietary process for the thermocatalytic decomposition (TCD) of methane to produce hydrogen and solid carbon (earlier post) has begun construction of the new Customer Sample Facility (CSF) building in Kokkola, Finland. Hycamite has developed a family of catalysts that lowers the temperature needed for methane... Read more →

Equinor will supply Germany’s state-owned energy company SEFE (Securing Energy for Europe) with 111 terrawatt hours (ca 10 billion cubic meters - bcm) of natural gas per year from 1 January 2024 until 2034, plus an option for another 5 years, at terms reflecting market prices. The annual volumes are... Read more →

Independent oil and gas company Harbour Energy reached an agreement with BASF and LetterOne, the shareholders of Wintershall Dea AG, for the acquisition of substantially all of Wintershall Dea’s upstream assets for $11.2 billion. The target portfolio includes all of Wintershall Dea’s upstream assets in Norway, Germany, Denmark, Argentina, Mexico,... Read more →

The United States and Canada are on track to reach a new high in oil and gas production in 2023 and extend North America’s lead as the top oil and gas producing region in the world, according to a new report, “The North American advantage: Secure oil and gas production”,... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) regularly publishes international energy information, including overviews, rankings, data and analyses of various countries and regions. EIA has now released a briefing on emerging hydrocarbon (oil and natural gas) producers in Africa. The EIA briefing focuses on Namibia, Kenya, Uganda, Mauritania, Senegal, and Mozambique—countries... Read more →

California officially launched a new international climate initiative that creates a partnership of subnational governments that are committed to reducing methane at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) hosted in Dubai. The effort, which was initially announced in September during Climate Week, has expanded to 15 signatories, which include... Read more →

Researchers in Japan have mimicked the process of photosynthesis to produce methane from CO2 water and sunlight. An open-access paper on their work is published in the journal ACS Engineering Au. Previously, corresponding author Kazunari Domen from the University of Tokyo and colleagues developed a system that used sunlight to... Read more →

Chevron Corporation entered into a definitive agreement with Hess Corporation to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Hess in an all-stock transaction valued at $53 billion, or $171 per share based on Chevron’s closing price on 20 October 2023. Under the terms of the agreement, Hess shareholders will receive... Read more →

Southwest Research Institute has been selected to receive a $1.5-million contract from the US Department of Energy to evaluate the safety and efficiency of a full-scale compressor system for hydrogen-natural gas blends containing up to 20% hydrogen by volume. SwRI will collaborate with the Gas Machinery Research Council (GMRC) on... Read more →

Freightliner is working with Cummins to offer the new Cummins X15N natural gas engine (earlier post) in its heavy-duty Freightliner Cascadia trucks. The X15N is the first natural gas engine to be designed specifically for heavy-duty and on-highway truck applications, with 400 to 500 hp and 1,450 to 1,850 lb-ft... Read more →

The United States exported more natural gas in the first half of 2023 (1H23) than it did in the same period of any previous year, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Natural gas exports averaged 20.4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), 4% (0.8 Bcf/d) more than in... Read more →

NW Natural, Oregon’s largest gas utility, and Kokkola, Finland-based Hycamite TCD Technologies have signed a letter of intent to explore applications for Hycamite’s novel methane pyrolysis technology to produce and distribute clean hydrogen. Hycamite’s proprietary technology is based on the thermocatalytic decomposition (TCD) of methane molecules. The process developed by... Read more →

During a research expedition led by Linnaeus University and Stockholm University to the deepest parts of the Baltic Sea in the Landsort Deep researchers recently discovered an area with extensive emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane from the bottom sediments. The area where the methane leak was discovered is... Read more →

University of Maryland Chemistry and Biochemistry Assistant Professor Leah Dodson received a 2023 Early Career Research Award from the US Department of Energy (DOE). The highly competitive five-year grant, awarded through the DOE’s Gas Phase Chemical Physics program, recognizes rising stars in science. The grant supports researchers who show great... Read more →

Koppö Energia has commissioned MAN Energy Solutions to deliver the front-end engineering design (FEED) for the methanation reactor of an industrial-scale power-to-X plant. The plant, with a total input capacity of 200 MW, will be built in Kristinestad, Finland for the production of green hydrogen and synthetic natural gas (SNG).... Read more →

Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, released the Inefficient Fossil Fuel Subsidies Government of Canada Self‑Review Assessment Framework and the Inefficient Fossil Fuel Subsidies Government of Canada Guidelines, which were jointly developed by Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Department of Finance Canada. The Government of... Read more →

A new study by researchers from Washington State University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has found that a catalyst using a single or just a few palladium atoms removed 90% of unburned methane from natural gas engine exhaust at low temperatures. The work is published in the journal Nature Catalysis.... Read more →

More than three-fourths of all oil and gas production in the US Gulf of Mexico has a lower greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity than the basin-wide average, according to a new S&P Global Commodity Insights analysis. The analysis is the latest in an ongoing series that utilizes a new comprehensive model... Read more →

MAN Engines is now offering pre-chamber spark plugs adapted to the respective combustion chamber to all turbocharged natural gas engines of the current MAN E3262, E3268, E0836 and E0834 series as an option, as well as MAN E3872 as obligatory. Due to backward compatibility, existing combined heat and power plants... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and US Department of Energy (DOE) are partnering to provide more than $1 billion in funding to help reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector through the creation of the Methane Emissions Reduction Program. This collaboration will leverage EPA and DOE’s shared... Read more →

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and bp p.l.c. have begun production from the MJ field, following testing and commissioning activities. The MJ field represents the last of three major new deepwater developments the RIL-bp consortium have brought into production in block KG D6 off the east coast of India. The start... Read more →

Constellation Energy has set an industry record for blending high concentrations of hydrogen with natural gas, further evidence that hydrogen can be an effective tool to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Working with Siemens Energy and EPRI, the hydrogen blending test was conducted at Constellation’s Hillabee Generating Station, a three-unit, 753-megawatt... Read more →

The legislation signed by President Biden to raise the debt ceiling also ratified and approved all permits and authorizations necessary for the construction and initial operation of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and directed the applicable federal officials and agencies to maintain such authorizations. Further, and not later than 24... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed new CO2 standards for coal and natural gas-fired power plants. The proposal for coal and new natural gas power plants would avoid up to 617 million metric tons of total CO2 through 2042—equivalent to reducing the annual emissions of 137 million passenger... Read more →

Nacero will transition its current pre-construction, multi-billion USD facility in Penwell, Texas—designed to produce low carbon gasoline—to the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and lower carbon aviation fuel (LCAF). When fully completed, Nacero’s facility in Texas will be the largest commercial scale facility in the US for producing SAF... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions’ MAN 49/60DF dual-fuel engine has received its Type Approval after a five-day program on the testbed at company HQ in Augsburg, Germany. The Type Approval Test (TAT) was witnessed by inspectors representing the ABS, BV, CCS, DNV, LR and RINA classification societies, who signed the test protocol... Read more →

A pre-print study by European environmental scientists assesses the direct impact of the recent sabotage of the undersea Nord Stream pipelines on marine ecosystem. The explosions that ripped open the gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea last September released more than 100,000 tonnes of methane—which was widely covered in the... Read more →

In 2022, US natural gas consumption averaged a record 88.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d)—the highest annual natural gas consumption, according to records beginning in 1949, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). US natural gas consumption last year increased 5% (4.5 Bcf/d) from 2021, the second-fastest year-over-year... Read more →

Using blends of hydrogen and methane as fuels in internal combustion engines is a promising strategy for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. However, the undesirable phenomenon of super-knock, which can severely and instantaneously damage an SI engine, limits its widespread adoption. Unlike normal knock, super-knock is caused by a detonation wave... Read more →

Proved reserves of natural gas in the United States grew to a new record of 625.4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2021, a 32% increase from 2020, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) recently released Proved Reserves of Crude Oil and Natural Gas in the United States, Year-End... Read more →

The floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the bp-operated Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) liquefied natural gas (LNG) project has started its journey towards the project site off the coasts of Mauritania and Senegal in West Africa. GTA—a bp-Kosmos partnership—is an offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) project based on... Read more →