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 →

In 2021, proved reserves of natural gas set a new record in the United States, and proved reserves of crude oil and lease condensate increased, but not quite to pre-pandemic levels, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Energy demand rose from the 2020 lows that resulted from the... Read more →

Chevron U.S.A. Inc., a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, signed a definitive agreement to acquire full ownership of Beyond6, LLC (B6) and its network of 55 compressed natural gas (CNG) stations across the United States from Chevron’s current B6 co-owners, a subsidiary of Mercuria Energy Trading (Mercuria) and B6 CEO Andrew... Read more →

bp has successfully loaded the first LNG cargo from Mozambique’s offshore Coral Sul FLNG (floating liquefied natural gas) facility, the country’s first LNG project and first floating LNG facility deployed in the ultra-deep waters of the African continent. FLNG vessels are floating LNG production, storage and offloading units. The Coral... Read more →

NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission is mapping the prevalence of key minerals in the planet’s dust-producing deserts—information that will advance our understanding of airborne dust’s effects on climate. But EMIT has demonstrated another capability: detecting the presence of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. In the data... Read more →

Oil and gas producers rely on flaring to limit the venting of natural gas from their facilities. New research led by the University of Michigan shows that in the real world, this practice is far less effective than estimated, releasing five times more methane in the US than previously thought.... Read more →

FPT Industrial, the global powertrain brand of Iveco Group, has entered into an agreement to make a minority investment in Blue Energy Commercial Vehicles Private Ltd, a zero-emission truck technology company headquartered in Pune, India, engaged in the manufacturing of clean energy trucks under the brand Blue Energy Motors. The... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects higher-than-average natural gas prices globally as demand remains high this winter in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and inventories remain low. According to EIA’s September 2022 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the US natural gas spot price at the Henry Hub will continue... Read more →

The Department of the Interiorawarded an initial $560 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to 24 states to begin work to plug, cap and reclaim orphaned oil and gas wells. Eligible states have indicated that there are more than 10,000 high-priority well sites across the country ready for immediate remediation... Read more →

PACCAR will work with Cummins to offer the new Cummins X15N natural gas engine (earlier post) in Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks. The X15N is the first natural gas engine to be designed specifically for heavy-duty truck applications with up to 500 horsepower output. The engine will include the integration of... Read more →

HP Taxis, Prins Alternative Fuel Systems and SBL-Automotive revealed https://bi-fuel-taxis-lcvs.com of the plug-in hybrid range-extended electric LEVC TX taxi and VN5 van allowing the range extender engine to run on LPG and CNG and their renewable counterparts of biopropane and biomethane. The LEVC TX and VN5 are manufactured by London... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $32 million in funding (DE-FOA-0002616) toward the research and development of new monitoring, measurement, and mitigation technologies to help detect, quantify, and reduce methane emissions across oil and natural gas producing regions of the United States. The United States has more... Read more →

A team of researchers from CoorsTek Membrane Sciences and SINTEF in Norway, and Universitat Politècnica de València in Spain, has demonstrated a 36-cell well-balanced proton ceramic reactor stack enabled by a new interconnect that achieves complete conversion of methane with more than 99% recovery to pressurized hydrogen, leaving a concentrated... Read more →

The United States became the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter during the first half of 2022, according to data from CEDIGAZ. reported by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Compared with the second half of 2021, US LNG exports increased by 12% in the first half of 2022,... Read more →

OptiFuel Systems has signed a Collaboration Agreement with the Argentina Ministry of Transportation through Ferrocarriles Argentinos Sociedad del Estado (FASE). The objective of this agreement is to develop a project to repower and put into service 400 switcher and line-haul freight locomotives, all 100% powered by compressed natural gas (CNG)... Read more →

Hyliion and Cummins are partnering to optimize the Cummins natural gas engine as the generator for the Hyliion Hypertruck ERX powertrain (earlier post). The Hyliion Hypertruck ERX is an electric range extender semi-truck powertrain solution using onboard power generation to recharge the batteries. Together the companies plan to obtain key... Read more →

Shell and Dow have started up an experimental unit to heat ethylene steam cracker furnaces electrically at the Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam, The Netherlands. This represents a key milestone in the companies’ joint technology program to electrify steam cracking furnaces, bringing the companies one step closer to decarbonizing one of... Read more →

Chevron USA, a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, announced definitive agreements to supply fuel linked to renewable natural gas for a Walmart Inc. demonstration of Cummins’s new 15-liter natural gas engine for heavy-duty trucks (earlier post). As part of the agreements, Walmart will provide heavy-duty trucks for Cummins to integrate with... Read more →

As demand for new energy sources grows, the wastewater co-produced alongside oil and gas (produced water) shows no signs of slowing down: The current volume of wastewater—the result of water forced underground to fracture rock and release the deposits—is estimated at 250 million barrels per day, compared to 80 million... Read more →

Net withdrawals of natural gas from US storage totaled 2,264 billion cubic feet (Bcf) this winter (November 2021 through March 2022). This amount is the most natural gas withdrawn from storage since the winter of 2017–18 and 10% more than the previous five-year (2016–17 to 2021–22) average, according to EIA’s... Read more →

The technology group Wärtsilä, and its collaborators WEC Energy Group, (WEC), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Burns & McDonnell (B&McD), have been contracted to carry out hydrogen fuel testing at the A.J. Mihm power plant in Michigan. The project supports WEC’s ambition to reduce the CO2 emissions from... Read more →

Canada-based Nutrien Ltd. is evaluating Geismar, LA as the site to build the world’s largest clean ammonia facility. Building on the company’s expertise in low-carbon ammonia production, clean ammonia will be manufactured using innovative technology to achieve at least a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions. Source: Nutrien The project will... Read more →

A development team from CoorsTek Membrane Sciences, in collaboration with international research partners, have successfully used ceramic membrane technology to develop a scalable hydrogen generator that makes hydrogen from electricity and fuels including natural gas, biogas and ammonia with near zero energy loss. A paper on the work is published... Read more →

Austria-based OMV, an international, integrated oil, gas and chemicals company, announced its intention to become a net-zero (Scope 1, 2 and 3) company by no later than 2050. In keeping with this strategic shift of business, OMV will reduce its oil and gas production by around 20% by 2030 and... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) Annual Energy Outlook 2022 (AEO2022) Reference case forecasts that US energy consumption will grow through 2050, primarily driven by population and economic growth. In this case—which reflects only current laws and regulations—renewable energy is the fastest-growing energy source through 2050, while petroleum remains the... Read more →

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) will collaborate with the University of Michigan (UM) to use additive manufacturing and machine learning to create an advanced burner that will eliminate 99.5% of the methane encountered during oil production. SwRI’s Metering Research Facility (MRF) will serve as a test bed for a new ARPA-E... Read more →