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Highlights The spot price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil increased from $122 per barrel on June 4 to $145 per barrel on July 3. Global supply uncertainties, combined with significant demand growth in China, the Middle East, and Latin America are expected to continue to pressure oil markets. WTI prices, which averaged $72 per barrel in 2007, are projected to average $127 per barrel in 2008 and $133 per barrel in 2009. Regular-grade gasoline is expected to average $3.84 per gallon in 2008, more than $1 per gallon above the 2007 average price. The U.S. average regular-grade gasoline...

The Arctic holds as many as 90bn barrels of undiscovered oil and has as much undiscovered gas as all the reserves known to exist in Russia, US government scientists have said in the first state assessment of the region. The estimates could fuel the race among polar nations, such as Russia, the US, Denmark, Norway and Canada, vying for control of the region, though the study said Russia and the Alaska platform appeared to have the most undiscovered resources. Alaska's large estimated holdings are likely to stir the debate about opening protected areas of the state to development. The 90bn...

NEW YORK: The race for petroleum resources above the Arctic Circle is likely to speed up in coming years, as the polar ice cap melts and access to oil and gas reserves in many other places around the world becomes more challenging. The lure of the Arctic as oil's next big frontier was vindicated this week as a major geological survey found the region might hold as much as a fifth of the world's yet to-be-discovered oil and natural gas reserves. Many of these new resources, according to the survey, are to be found in Russia. If true, that would...

WASHINGTON, DC – Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, gave a floor speech on America’s energy policy today. Selected Excerpts of Inhofe’s Energy Speech “I believe that America is not running out of oil and gas or running out of places to look for oil and gas.  America is running out of places where the Democrats in Congress are allowing us to look for oil and gas. Again I ask, why should producing America's own resources be a partisan issue?  It shouldn't be, but it is.  The Democrats in Congress refuse to increase our...

The area north of the Arctic Circle has an estimated 90 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 1,670 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas, the U.S. Geological Survey announced Wednesday. The USGS said technically recoverable resources are those produced using currently available industry practices and technology. The Arctic accounts for about 13 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and 30 percent of the undiscovered natural gas, the USGS reported.

Emergency Petition To Congress:“Lift The Offshore Drilling Ban Before Congress’ Summer Recess” Total signers: 103,761  Your Sponsor:  Grassfire.org The gas crisis threatens to cripple our economy because our nation’s leaders have failed to move America toward energy independence. The first vital step is to expand our domestic capacity. The President has lifted the Executive Order banning additional offshore oil drilling, but Congress continues to drag its feet. Grassfire is launching this National Petition demanding that Congress lift the legislative and funding ban on Offshore Oil Drilling BEFORE the August recess. No Summer Holiday For Congress Unless The Offshore Drilling...

Alaska House Approves $26.6B TransCanada Gas Pipeline Plan by Cassandra Sweet Dow Jones Newswires 7/23/2008 URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=64567 SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones Newswires), July 23, 2008 The Alaska House of Representatives approved a bill late Tuesday that would award TransCanada Corp. (TRP) an exclusive license to build a $26.6 billion natural gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope to Alberta, Canada. The proposal, by Republican Gov. Sarah Palin, could go up for another vote by the state House on Wednesday, under what's called "reconsideration." If the bill doesn't fail in a reconsideration vote, it would proceed to the state Senate, which has...

Oil companies and offshore drillers continued evacuating workers from facilities in the western Gulf of Mexico Monday as Tropical Storm Dolly tested the companies' storm procedures for the first time in the 2008 hurricane season. Shell removed 60 workers from production platforms Monday after evacuating 125 the day before. Drillers including Rowan Companies, Diamond Offshore, Noble Corp. and Pride International pulled employees off drilling rigs. Oil refiners with facilities on the Gulf Coast, including Valero Energy, Citgo Petroleum and Flint Hills Resources, said they also were monitoring the storm closely but had not halted fuel production or removed workers. The...

Oil prices could hit $300 a barrel if the United States does not take drastic action to reduce its heavy dependence on foreign oil, but neither of the top presidential candidates is addressing the crisis, Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens said Monday. To prevent economic bankruptcy as a result of sending $700 billion a year overseas to unstable oil producers in the Middle East and Africa, the nation needs to mobilize behind a plan to shift toward domestic energy sources such as natural gas, wind and solar power, he told reporters and editors of The Washington Times. * * *...

Get Kathy Phillips talking about oil exploration off the Mid-Atlantic, and she conjures a scene right out of the Gulf of Mexico, with drilling platforms, pipelines and pumping stations overwhelming the shoreline. "People here on the East Coast don't have a clue what it means to have offshore drilling," said Phillips, an environmental activist with the Assateague Coastal Trust. "It's dirty business. The water is dirty, and your beaches end up being dirty, and you're dealing with globules of oil and globs of tar. "I'm not even talking about oil spills. I'm talking about day-to-day operations." With energy costs continuing...

As if paying $4-plus for gasoline isn't bad enough, some of Colorado's political leaders seem bound and determined to spread pain at the pump to the cost of heating our homes this winter - and for decades to come. Ours is a beautiful state with an abundance of natural resources: silver and gold lured early pioneers, mountain vistas and ski slopes keep visitors coming year after year, and abundant energy sources fuel our economy and our way of life. Not long ago, political leaders of both parties understood that the energy sector is vital to the economic health of our...

Despite the pessimistic headlines on energy, a beneficial long-term trend is underway called decarbonization. In his 2005 book, The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, writer James Howard Kunstler declared that when peak oil hits, “We will have to downscale every activity of everyday life, from farming, to schooling, to retail trade….Epidemic disease and faltering agriculture will synergize with energy scarcities to send nations reeling.” Nobel Prize winner Al Gore has said that global warming will likely result in “a string of terrible catastrophes.” And in his Academy Award–winning movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” he implies that...

WASHINGTON, DC - Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, today introduced the Drive America on Natural Gas Act to promote the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) vehicles. Inhofe also introduced the American Affordable Fuels Act to relieve pain at the pump. "As Americans continue to suffer from high gas prices, we need to take advantage of our abundant domestic supply of natural gas for use as a transportation fuel," Senator Inhofe said. "The Drive America on Natural Gas Act adds flexibility to the current Renewable Fuels Standard...

GANDHINAGAR: A 100 billion dollars! That's the valuation CM Narendra Modi declared on Thursday for the natural gas find by Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) in Krishna-Godavari basin. Modi said the valuation was based on the assessment of top experts in the field. Modi said GSPC would now be able to fulfil energy requirements of Gujarat for a long time to come. Modi and his ministers flew on Thursday to the KG-22 well near Kakinada, which has created a lot of excitement as its estimated gas reserve of three trillion cubic feet (TCF) is said to be the highest ever...

At a press conference in Chicago, Rep. Rahm Emanuel today announced plans to introduce legislation that will compel automakers to make 10 percent of their fleet vehicles that run on natural gas by the year 2018. Emanuel’s proposal also includes incentives and tax credits that will result in the addition of natural gas pumps at 20,000 fueling stations across the country. The legislation will be formally introduced later this week. “This proposal is a hat trick for America: it's good for our environment, good for our national security and good for drivers who are suffering at the pump. Natural gas...

In the Rockies today, a lawsuit is filed to stop energy leasing on Colorado's Roan Plateau, the public gets more time to weigh in on a change in national parks' gun policy, and the BLM rounds up hundreds of horses in Nevada. Ten environmental groups have sued the Bureau of Land Management to keep energy leases on Colorado's Roan Plateau from being auctioned off on Aug. 14. The leases are opposed by hunters and anglers who said wells present a danger to the plateau's wildlife habitat.Groups sue to stop energy leases on Colorado plateauA proposal to change gun policy in...

Link to ABQ Journal:http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/14115016state07-14-08.htm

ROYAL, Pa. -- Inside the Elk Diner, a turkey sandwich goes for $2.65, and Claire the waitress has her own ashtray near the register. When regulars take a seat at the smallish L-shaped counter topped with bottles of ketchup and Aunt Jemima syrup, Claire serves hot coffee without them saying a word. Across the restaurant, a woman concentrates on one of a handful of Dodge City video poker machines. But conversation at the diner often centers on what could be described as another game of chance -- one with significantly better odds to make many residents of Northeastern Pennsylvania quite...

Government estimates of recoverable oil and natural gas in the central and western Gulf of Mexico, and in areas now off-limits to drilling including most of the East and West coasts, parts of Alaska and the eastern Gulf of Mexico: * Total oil 85.9 billion barrels * Total gas 419.9 trillion cubic feet * Oil in off-limits areas 18 billion barrels * Gas in off-limits areas 76 trillion cubic feet Source: U.S. Minerals Management Service Offshore oil and gas projections based on decades-old data By Brett Clanton Houston Chronicle The debate over whether to lift a 27-year-old ban on offshore...

Gazprom Offers to Buy All of Libya’s Gas By REUTERS The Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom wants to buy any available natural gas produced by Libya and some of the country’s oil, the top Libyan oil official said on Wednesday. Gazprom’s latest bid to strengthen its grip on gas supplies around Europe comes as no surprise, said David Cox, the president of Poyry Energy Consulting.

I don't find this by search, had just seen it on Fox. He's not tilting Obama is he?

High natural gas costs expected to boost heating bills this winterBy THOMAS CONTENT tcontent@journalsentinel.com Posted: July 6, 2008 Consumers should expect energy price sticker shock to continue well past the summer driving season, as pain at the pump is poised to give way to furnace frustration next winter. The price of gasoline, above $4 for the past month, is on people’s minds — and it’s visible at nearly every major intersection. But another energy jolt may be coming as the price of natural gas, the primary fuel used to heat Wisconsin homes, is at historic highs for this time of...

You would think that this story is right out of science fiction. But the facts appear to be that the US Democrat-controlled Congress intends to destroy the Republican middle class with $11 per gallon gasoline. The Democrats’ base -- wealthy white “limousine liberals”, and very poor people -- won’t be harmed, but the families who live in suburbia will be devastated. The multi-millionaires like billionaire Senators John Kerry & Jay Rockefeller, financial speculator George Soros, filmmaker Michael Moore, and actors George Clooney & Meg Ryan can easily pay for their auto and private jet fuel. Poor people are forced to...

What's the cause of $4 for a gallon of gasoline? To listen to Democrats in Congress and on the campaign trail -- and also some Republicans -- the answer is "price gouging," "speculation," "oil companies" or "the failed policies of George Bush and Dick Cheney." Everything is getting blamed except the well-documented obvious: the law of supply and demand. The history of U.S. energy policy is that Democrats have refused to increase supply and Republicans have refused to curtail demand. They are both to blame for $4 gasoline -- and they'd better get together to keep Americans from paying $200...

Link only per posting guidelines: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080703/NEWS01/807030324/1060

HOUSTON, June 30 -- The US had 9 of the top 10 jurisdictions worldwide that oil and gas executives ranked favorably as attractive destinations for upstream investment, according to results of a survey conducted by Fraser Institute, an independent research and educational organization. Arizona, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Ohio were ranked as the states having the lowest barriers for upstream oil and gas investment. They were joined by Texas, the US offshore, Kansas, and New York. Saskatchewan was ranked sixth in the top 10 out of 81 jurisdictions in terms of having low barriers to investment. It was the only...

Having their S.U.V.'s and converting them, too by Fara Warner New York Times, 4/11/04 ------------------------------ KEVIN RICHARDSON, who at 32 is the oldest member of the Backstreet Boys, took delivery last week of his 2004 GMC Yukon sport utility vehicle. He raves about its "F.B.I. look" - all black and chromeless, with lacquered wheel rims - and the 5.3-liter V-8 engine that puts close to 300 horsepower under the hood. And he dreams of ordering a customized license plate for this, his perfect Hollywood ride. It would read "CLEAN." That may sound as contradictory as Mr. Richardson himself - an...

You could have taken a nostalgic drive through the past on Thursday night, through the dreamy green landscape at the outer edges of the Catskills, past sleepy fishing towns like Roscoe and Downsville, to the lovingly restored Walton Theater, built in 1914 for vaudeville acts, honored guests like Theodore Roosevelt and community events of all shapes and sizes. And, if you got there, you would have received a distinctly less dreamy glimpse of the future. You would have heard an overheated mix of fear and greed, caution and paranoia, of million-dollar gas leases that could enrich struggling farmers, of polluted...

US drilling activity continued climbing to 1,913 rotary rigs working this week, up by 7 from the previous week, vs. 1,775 units drilling in the same period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported. That's the highest rig count since the week ended Jan. 3, 1986, when 1,915 rotary rigs were drilling in the US. Land operations accounted for the latest gain, up 15 rigs to 1,827 working this week. Inland water drilling lost 1 rig to 22. Offshore drilling was down 7 rigs to 64 in the Gulf of Mexico, the only US offshore area in which there is...

Dear Member of Congress: With energy prices and supplies foremost in the minds of many Americans, we thought it useful to provide some perspective on these issues as you return home for the Fourth of July. Crude oil prices remained above $130 a barrel last week, keeping the price of a gallon of crude oil – the raw material used to make gasoline, diesel, and other fuels – well above $3.00. Rising world demand, lagging growth in supply, and tight spare production capacity are the main drivers of these increases. Speculation – whatever its impact – currently reflects the view...

U.S. Gulf’s largest discovery producing after delays; just one well online; commissioning will be after steady state production The BP-operated Thunder Horse field, the largest-ever oil discovery in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, is finally onstream and headed toward higher production following repeated startup delays dating back to 2005. First oil was achieved June 14 from a single well, BP confirmed. “We have a lot yet to do as we prepare other wells for production and continue to drill and complete other wells,” BP spokesman Ronnie Chappell told Petroleum News June 17. The Thunder Horse platform, on a multitract development...

It's easy enough for us flatlanders to favor offshore drilling to increase oil supplies and bring down gasoline prices. But what if the "offshore" we're talking about is drilling in Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes? Picture drilling rigs in the lake within sight of Chicago and North Shore towns. Imagine oil spills and near-dead, crude-oil-soaked birds flopping about on Oak Street Beach. Imagine the disappearance of smelt and salmon. Imagine poisoned water supplies. Imagine the end of the world. Well, at least that's the kind of exaggerated rhetoric we'll hear from the East, West and Gulf Coasts in...

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/florida/election_2008_florida_presidential_election Rasmussen Reports conducted a special Florida survey to measure the immediate impact of the offshore drilling issue on the Presidential race. As one part of the survey, respondents were told that McCain favored offshore drilling and said it would bring down the price of gas and oil. They were also told that Barack Obama opposed offshore drilling and said it would not bring down the price of gas and oil. After hearing the views of both McCain and Obama, most Florida voters agreed with McCain--61% said it was likely that offshore drilling would reduce gas prices. Only 34% disagreed...

Turns out McCain’s offshore drilling proposal is a big winner in Florida. Voters also believe (unlike Obama) 61% to 34% that drilling will reduce the price of gas. That is because voters in Florida are not all retarded and understand the law of supply and demand.

Will $4 Gasoline Trump a 27-Year-Old Ban?SHERYL GAY STOLBERG Published June 19, 2008 WASHINGTON — One was an oilman from Texas, the other a high-paid energy executive. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, for seven years George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have been unable to persuade Congress and the public that domestic oil drilling is an answer to America’s energy needs. With the clock running down on his presidency, Mr. Bush made one last push Wednesday by calling on Congress to end the 27-year moratorium on most offshore drilling. With oil at more than $130 a barrel, gasoline...

President Bush called yesterday for lifting the 27-year-old ban on U.S. offshore oil drilling, joining Sen. John McCain in endorsing an idea that Republicans hope will gain traction in Congress and on the campaign trail as the price of gasoline soars. In a Rose Garden appearance, the president challenged Democrats to drop their "obstruction" of proposals to expand domestic energy production.

Suppose for a moment that Congress listens to President Bush's remarks Wednesday and removes the decades-old ban on offshore drilling for oil and natural gas on the Outer Continental Shelf. Who wins, aside from the oil industry? Uncle Sam, of course. Why? Because the U.S. government collects royalty payments and upfront cash from oil companies that lease federal lands for oil and gas exploration and production. The U.S. Interior Department's royalty rate for deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is 18.75%--up from 12.5% two years ago. This move helped the government take in $7 billion in offshore royalties, rents...

The El Paso County Commission today voted 4-1 to approve a resolution opposing any potential oil and gas drilling on Otero Mesa, across the state line in southern New Mexico, the El Paso Times is reporting. Commissioners supported a movement to seek federal protection in the U.S. Congress for the mesa ... The lone vote against the measure came from Commissioner Dan Haggerty, who said the country is currently in a gas crisis, the paper said. Environmentalists told commissioners that Otero Mesa is a potential water source for El Paso County ... The U.S. Bureau of Land Management had proposed...

Skyrocketing energy prices are hammering Americans. Five years ago this week, gasoline cost an average of $1.43 a gallon at the pump; this week, it's $3.94. And home electricity averaged 5.43 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2003; it was up to 10.31 cents in December. The underlying cause, of course, is that oil, coal and natural-gas prices have all gone berserk - with no relief in sight. What to do? Individually, of course, most of us will start conserving - people are already driving less, buying more fuel-efficient cars, etc. We'll keep on finding ways to save as prices stay high....

IN 2004, ARJUN N. MURTI, A TOP ENERGY ANALYST AT GOLDMAN SACHS, published a report predicting "a potentially large upward spike in crude oil, natural gas and refining margins at some point this decade." It was a controversial call, with crude around $40 a barrel at the time. But it was right on the money... ...We are getting closer to the end game here, where despite eight years of rising energy prices, supply looks like it is going to barely grow this year. We have been bullish, but we didn't expect such a slow growth rate of supply. And demand...

The Marcellus Shale play is the latest huge thing in natural gas, considered by some to be a "super giant" gas field. Read more here http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/246893563.shtml The edge of the Marcellus Shale in Northeast PA and NY is about 100 miles from NYC, which means the gas needs only a very short trip by pipeline to the major metropolitan centers. Natural gas is the cleanest of the fossil fuels and also is a source for hydrogen for hydrogen powered vehicles. So here are a bunch of "concerned citizens" planning to oppose it with all their might. "The Damascus group has...

HOUSTON, June 4 -- Having peaked above $12/MMbtu in intraday trading in three recent sessions, natural gas finally closed above that level June 3 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, leaving the door open for possible advances, analysts say. However, crude prices fell below $125/bbl to the lowest level in 3 weeks as the US dollar rallied against other top currencies. The surge in natural gas prices was "attributed to hotter temperatures in various regions of the US, a percolating tropical weather environment, and continued fund short-covering [in the commodities market]. Forecasters see conditions in place for an active tropical...

When uttered with respect to energy, the statement “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” should make Americans shudder. For almost four decades, with just a brief interregnum under part of the Reagan Administration, the government has created our energy problems and then tried to convince Americans to yield their liberties to the government to make things better. Nothing has been solved; since the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, it has only gotten worse. North America has enormous supplies of energy. But wherever they exist, producing them has become more a matter of controversy than of common sense,...

LA PAZ, Bolivia - President Evo Morales signed a decree nationalizing all assets of gas pipeline company Transredes on Monday, saying the foreign companies that owned half of it had been too slow in negotiating. Morales' decree gives the government full ownership of Transredes SA, which transports Bolivia's natural gas to clients in Brazil and Argentina. Terms of the nationalization were not announced. The company had been half-owned by Royal Dutch Shell PLC (nyse: RDSA - news - people ) and Ashmore Energy International. Morales said Ashmore executives had initially agreed to sell some of their 25 percent stake in...

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich’s petition to Congress demanding the removal of government obstacles to increasing our energy supplies is gathering momentum by the minute, while the Democrats’ do-nothing Congress wants to raise fuel prices. Actually, labeling Congress a bunch of “do-nothings” is almost right, but not quite. They’re doing their best to create more obstacles to growing our energy supply. And while the price of energy is already unreasonably high, they’re working hard on a liberal agenda that will raise the prices consumers pay for gasoline, diesel fuel, natural gas and home heating oil. With the summer upon us (and...

Company's Eastern Division will remain in capital city. CHARLESTON -- Nine months after breaking ground on its Eastern Division headquarters building in Charleston, Chesapeake Energy Corp. announced May 29 it has scrapped those plans. In a prepared statement, Scott Rotruck, vice president for corporate development, said a May 22 decision by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to not hear an appeal in the case of Tawney v. Columbia Natural Resources caused company officials to rethink locating the headquarters in West Virginia. Chesapeake had projected the cost of the building at $35 million. “This decision was stunning, as it...

The US Minerals Management Service is proposing regulations to distribute qualified federal Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas revenues to four Gulf Coast states and their eligible coastal governmental subdivisions. The distributions will take place under the 2006 Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, which established federal OCS revenue sharing for affected coastal states and communities, MMS said on May 27. The law authorized that 37.5% of all federal OCS revenue from new leases in the gulf, including bonus bids, rentals, and production royalties, would be shared with Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas and their coastal communities and counties (or,...

DALLAS, Texas (AFP) - Oil giant ExxonMobil tried Wednesday to placate ecology-minded shareholders by promoting energy efficiency while insisting that oil and gas remain the answer to near-term global energy demand. Outlining his environmental strategy for the first time, ExxonMobil chairman and chief executive Rex Tillerson said the company was focused on "safely and reliably meeting the growing energy demand while working to reduce our impact on the environment." "It is important to note that the way to deliver meaningful environmental improvements in the short-term is to improve the efficiency by which we use traditional fuels," Tillerson told shareholders gathered...

Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal strongly editorializes against the Warner-Lieberman cap-and-trade plan that allegedly will solve our alleged problem with global warming — now called climate change. This plan is very similar to the one Sen. John McCain announced two weeks ago. The Journal argues that cap-and-trade “would impose the most extensive government reorganization of the American economy since the 1930s,” including a huge tax increase, higher prices across-the-board, and significant losses to economic growth in the decades ahead. But why do we need a planned economy for energy or anything else? Why not a fully deregulated free market for energy...

HOUSTON, May 23 -- US drilling activity broke a 22-year record the week ended May 23, with 1,889 rotary rigs working, the most since Jan. 3, 1986 when Baker Hughes Inc. reported 1,983 units active. The latest weekly count is 27 units more than the previous week, and up from 1,760 during the same period a year ago. Land operations accounted for the latest increase, up 31 rigs to 1,799 drilling. Inland waters activity dipped by 2 rigs to 23 working. Offshore drilling was down by 2 rigs to 67 rigs in US waters, including 64 in the Gulf of...