bp has agreed to sell its 50% interest in the Sunrise oil sands project in Alberta, Canada, to Calgary-based Cenovus Energy, the other owner of the Sunrise project. As part of the deal, bp is acquiring Cenovus’s interest in the Bay du Nord project in Eastern Canada, adding to its... 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 →

Glencore International pled guilty in the Southern District of New York to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). In addition, as part of a separate resolution, Glencore Ltd., pled guilty in the District of Connecticut to a commodity price manipulation conspiracy. Together, Glencore and Glencore Ltd., both part... Read more →

Together with its partner Nordic Marine Oil, Neste is piloting a new Neste Marine 0.1 Co-processed marine fuel in Scandinavia, a solution helping the maritime sector to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The ISCC PLUS-certified marine fuel enables up to 80% GHG emission reduction over the lifecycle compared to... Read more →

Parkland, an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator, plans to increase renewable fuel production at its Burnaby Refinery in British Columbia. The company said it will expanding existing co-processing volumes to approximately 5,500 barrels per day, and build a stand-alone renewable... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has released the draft 2022 Climate Change Scoping Plan—the third update to the state’s initial 2008 Scoping Plan. It identifies a path to achieve carbon neutrality over the next two decades while also assessing the progress the State is making towards reducing its greenhouse... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that US crude oil production will average 11.9 million barrels per day this year and 12.8 million barrels per day in 2023, which would surpass the record average production of 12.3 million barrels per day set in 2019. Despite the increases in production,... Read more →

China processed record amounts of crude oil in 2021 to meet rising domestic consumption of petroleum products, according to analysis by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). In the second half of the year, China processed slightly less crude oil and began exporting significantly less gasoline and diesel than in... Read more →

ExxonMobil has made three new discoveries offshore Guyana and increased its estimate of the recoverable resource for the Stabroek Block to nearly 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels. (Earlier post.) The three discoveries are southeast of the Liza and Payara developments and bring to five the discoveries made by ExxonMobil in Guyana... Read more →

ExxonMobil has made a final investment decision for the Yellowtail development offshore Guyana after receiving government and regulatory approvals. The company’s fourth, and largest, project in the Stabroek Block is expected to produce approximately 250,000 barrels of oil per day starting in 2025. Yellowtail production from the ONE GUYANA floating... Read more →

In an effort to address the rapidly increasing cost of gasoline, President Biden authorized the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day for the next six months—more than 180 million barrels—from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The Biden Administration had earlier in March authorized a drawdown of 30... 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 →

President Joe Biden issued an executive order banning the importation from Russia of crude oil; petroleum; petroleum fuels, oils, and products of their distillation; liquefied natural gas; coal; and coal products. The ban is effective immediately; the US is blocking any new purchases of Russian energy. The US will allow... 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 →

ExxonMobil is discontinuing operations at Sakhalin-1, and will make no new investments in Russia. ExxonMobil operates the Sakhalin-1 project on behalf of an international consortium of Japanese, Indian and Russian companies. (Earlier post.) In response to the situation in Ukraine, the company is beginning the process to discontinue operations and... Read more →

The bp board announced that bp will exit its shareholding in Rosneft, a Russian state-controlled oil and gas company. bp has held a 19.75% shareholding in Rosneft since 2013. Additionally, bp chief executive officer Bernard Looney is resigning from the board of Rosneft with immediate effect. The other Rosneft director... Read more →

In 2021, the United States returned to importing more petroleum (which includes crude oil, refined petroleum products, and other liquids) than it exports following its historic shift to being a net exporter of petroleum in 2020, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). According to EIA’s February 2022 Short-Term... Read more →

ExxonMobil has started production at Guyana’s second offshore oil development on the Stabroek Block, Liza Phase 2, bringing total production capacity to more than 340,000 barrels per day in only seven years since the country’s first discovery. Production at the Liza Unity floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is... Read more →

by Michael Sivak, Sivak Applied Research. In this analysis, I examined the relation between crude-oil production and crude-oil reserves in the world overall and in the United States alone. The variable of interest was the amount of crude oil produced as a percentage of proved reserves of crude oil. (This... Read more →

After declining in 2020, the combined production of US fossil fuels (including natural gas, crude oil, and coal) increased by 2% in 2021 to 77.14 quadrillion British thermal units. Based on forecasts in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects US fossil fuel production... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) selected four new projects to receive up to $8.4 million to establish new geothermal energy and heat production from abandoned oil and gas wells. With this funding, DOE is partnering with existing well owners and operators to use their idle or unproductive wells to... Read more →

Global oil consumption outpaced oil production for the six consecutive quarters ending with the fourth quarter of 2021 (4Q21), which has led to persistent withdrawals from global oil inventories and significant increases in crude oil prices. Crude oil production remained restrained as a result of curtailments by OPEC+ members, investment... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that US oil production will average 12.4 million barrels per day during 2023, surpassing the record high for domestic crude oil production set in 2019. In its January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), EIA forecasts US crude oil production will increase for nine consecutive... Read more →

ExxonMobil made two oil discoveries at Fangtooth-1 and Lau Lau-1 in the Stabroek block offshore Guyana. These discoveries will add to the previously announced recoverable resource estimate for the block, of 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels. The Fangtooth-1 well encountered approximately 164 feet (50 meters) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. The... Read more →

Underinvestment in oil and gas development extended into a second year in 2021 even as global energy demand rebounded, raising the prospect of price shocks, scarcity and growing energy poverty, according to a new report by the International Energy Forum (IEF) and IHS Markit. The report underlines concerns about the... Read more →

The price of US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is near its highest level since 2014, increasing rapidly from low prices in mid-2020 as demand returns faster than supply, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Because of the economic effects, government and business responses, and personal... Read more →

Phillips 66 plans to convert its Alliance Refinery in Belle Chasse, La., to a terminal facility. The refinery suffered significant damage from flooding from Hurricane Ida in August. The conversion is expected to take place in 2022. We made this decision after exploring several options and considering the investment needed... Read more →

New research led by Mohammad Masnadi, assistant professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, offers a closer look at the relationship between decreasing demand for oil and a resilient, varied oil market—and the carbon footprint associated with both. An open-access paper on... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing comprehensive new regulations to reduce methane emissions from the oil and natural gas industry—including, for the first time, reductions from existing sources nationwide. Source: EPA Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that traps about 30 times as much heat as carbon dioxide... Read more →

Petroleum refining produces approximately 13% of US industrial greenhouse gas emissions and approximately 3% of all US emissions. While the US is seeking to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels rapidly, some demand will remain for petroleum refinery products in the coming decades. For the US to meet its current... Read more →

TotalEnergies E&P Angola has exercised an option for the 7th-generation drillship Maersk Voyager to drill the ultra-deepwater Ondjaba-1 exploration well in Angola’s Block 48. The Ondjaba-1 well will be drilled at a new world record water depth of 3,628 m (2.25 miles). The current world record is 3,400 m, set... Read more →

Every year, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) posts an Annual Crude Average carbon intensity calculation, using the the Oil Production Greenhouse Gas Emission Estimator (OPGEE) Model. Crude oil from California, Alaska and 11 countries account for 95% of the volume supplied to California in any given year. Source: CARB... Read more →

ExxonMobil increased its estimate of the discovered recoverable resource for the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana (earlier post) to approximately 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels. The updated resource estimate includes a new discovery at the Cataback-1 well, which brings the total significant discoveries to more than 20 within the Stabroek Block. The... Read more →

INEOS will invest an additional £1 billion (US$1.4 billion) in Grangemouth, its integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex in Scotland, in the next phase of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045. Grangemouth Grangemouth, one of Scotland’s largest manufacturing sites, is owned and operated by INEOS and Petroineos, a... Read more →

For the first time, the IHS Markit base case scenario for refined products expects total global demand in 2050 to be lower than 2019 levels. However, other more drastic scenarios for falling demand remain unlikely under present conditions. The findings are part of a new analysis by the Refining and... Read more →

ExxonMobil has made a discovery at Pinktail in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana. The Pinktail well encountered 220 feet (67 meters) of net pay in high quality hydrocarbon bearing sandstone reservoirs. In addition to successful appraisal of the Turbot discovery, the Turbot-2 well encountered 43 feet (13 meters) of net... Read more →

Anglo-Australian BHP Group is merging its oil and gas business with Woodside Petroleum Ltd. The all-stock merger will create a global top 10 independent energy company by production, and will also allow BHP to focus more intently on “future-facing commodities” that are most positively leveraged towards population growth, rising living... Read more →

On Wednesday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan issued a statement calling on OPEC+ to increase oil production: While OPEC+ recently agreed to production increases, these increases will not fully offset previous production cuts that OPEC+ imposed during the pandemic until well into 2022. At a critical moment in the... Read more →

ExxonMobil said it made a discovery at Whiptail in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana. The Whiptail-1 well encountered 246 feet (75 meters) of net pay in high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. Drilling is also ongoing at the Whiptail-2 well, which has encountered 167 feet (51 meters) of net pay in high-quality... Read more →

Despite volatility in global oil markets, US crude oil exports reached a record high in 2020, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). As of 9 July 2021, US crude oil exports have averaged 3.00 million barrels per day (b/d). The most recent four-week rolling average of US crude... Read more →

A new study from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and WWF finds that nearly 20% of tropical Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs) overlap with concessions for extractive industries such as mining, oil and gas. The total area of overlap is 376,449 square miles (975,000 square kilometers), about the size of Egypt. The... Read more →

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected both consumer and commercial transportation, but global oil demand will probably continue to grow through 2030, according to a new study. Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and the University of California, Davis Institute of Transportation Studies analyzed four scenarios to understand how... Read more →

bp released the 70th annual edition of the bp Statistical Review of World Energy; the data collected in this year’s edition includes energy data for 2020. The Review captures the significant impact the global pandemic had on energy markets and how it may shape future global energy trends. Both primary... Read more →

Canada-based TC Energy Corporation has filed a Notice of Intent to initiate a legacy North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) claim under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to recover economic damages resulting from the revocation of the Keystone XL Project’s Presidential Permit. TC Energy says it will be seeking to recover... Read more →

bp announced the safe start-up of the Manuel project in the US Gulf of Mexico, the fourth of five major projects expected to be delivered globally in 2021. Manuel includes a new subsea production system for two new wells tied into the Na Kika platform. The wells are expected to... Read more →

In the June Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that rising global production of petroleum and other liquid fuels (driven by OPEC, Russia, and the United States) will limit price increases for global crude oil benchmarks Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI). EIA forecasts production... Read more →

In 2020, net petroleum imports (total imports minus exports) were negative for the first time since the US Energy Information Administration began tracking them—i.e., the United States exported more petroleum than it imported. This includes crude oil and petroleum products. Net imports peaked in 2005 at 12.5 million barrels per... Read more →

Each year, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) posts the Annual Crude Average carbon intensity for crude oil delivered to California refineries. In 2020, although the volume of crude supplied to refineries dropped to 476,730,992 barrels from 584,313,143 the year before, the average carbon intensity (CI) rose to 13.41 gCO2e/MJ... Read more →

ExxonMobil announced an oil discovery at the Uaru-2 well in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana (earlier post). Uaru-2 will add to the previously announced gross discovered recoverable resource estimate for the block, which is currently estimated to be approximately 9 billion oil-equivalent barrels. Drilling at Uaru-2 encountered approximately 120 feet... Read more →