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Handing environmentalists a breakthrough victory, New York plans to prohibit fracking for natural gas because of what regulators say are its unexplored health risks and dubious economic benefits. New York, which overlies part of the gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation that has led to a drilling boom in Pennsylvania and other nearby states, has banned shale gas development since 2008, when the state began an environmental review of the drilling technique also known as hydraulic fracturing. Wednesday's announcement, though not final, means a ban is all but etched in stone. "Never before has a state with proven gas reserves banned fracking,"...

ALBANY — The Cuomo administration announced Wednesday that it would ban hydraulic fracturing in New York State, ending years of uncertainty by concluding that the controversial method of extracting gas from deep underground could contaminate the state’s air and water and pose inestimable public-health risks... That conclusion was delivered publicly during a year-end cabinet meeting called by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in Albany. It came amid increased calls by environmentalists to ban fracking, which uses water and chemicals to release natural gas trapped in deeply buried shale deposits.

Three days after the newly elected Senate majority leader opened the door to negotiations on a natural gas drilling tax, industry leaders reiterated their stand that such a tax would harm the state's economy. Additional taxes would have a "crippling effect on jobs" said Stephanie Wissman, executive director of the Associated Petroleum Industries of Pennsylvania. "It threatens to stifle energy production and the jobs that go with it," Wissman said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday. The prospect of a severance tax on gas production in the lucrative Marcellus Shale - an issue dormant since Gov. Ed Rendell left...

When it comes to crude oil and other hydrocarbons, the United States is bursting at the seams. The United States has very rapidly become a powerhouse as an exporter of finished petroleum products, natural gas liquids, other oils including ethanol, and even crude oil — with total gross exports of all of these combined expected to reach 5 million barrels per day (mb/d) or more by the end of this year, up a stunning 4 mb/d since 2005. Total oil exports in 2014 pushed the commodity to the top of the list of U.S. exports by category, far surpassing all...

U.S. energy major Chevron plans to withdraw from a $10 billion shale gas deal with Kiev, a senior Ukrainian presidential official said on Monday. Ukraine signed a shale gas production-sharing agreement with Chevron amid great fanfare in November 2013, just months before mass protests in Kiev ousted former president Viktor Yanukovich, plunging the country into a major crisis with Russia. "There is information that they (Chevron) are planning this decision," Valeriy Chaliy told journalists, referring to a report by local media that Chevron had told the government it was pulling out of the deal. Chaliy declined to give further details....

Germany’s plan to phase out nuclear energy and switch to renewables by 2022 is unrealistic as the country is doomed to remain dependent on fossil fuels like oil and gas for the next 70 years, energy expert Matthias Dornfeldt told RT. Renewables can’t replace fossil fuels overnight because there’s not enough infrastructure, said Dornfeldt in an interview with RT. He believes the 21st century will be the century of gas, as the 20th century was the century of oil. “We are going to be dependent on oil as well as on gas, as I see, for the next 50, 60,...

The downturn in crude oil prices in recent months will not last forever, and what the market is experiencing now is not the old boom and bust period, an energy industry analyst told Rigzone. “I’m still incredibly bullish on the industry, and I do think it’s far more stable and resilient than it was in decades past,” KPMG’s Regina Mayor, an advisor for the consulting practice, said. “That’s not to say that it won’t experience a contraction or two, but it’s not the boom and bust cycle we’ve seen.” Already, there are signs that the future remains bright for the...

The U.S. chemical industry is expanding at a healthy clip thanks to a domestic drilling renaissance that has flooded the world with cheap oil and gas. The industry grew by 2 percent this year and is expected to swell further next year as advances in drilling and completion technologies unlock vast new supplies of hydrocarbons that chemical companies rely on to make products and fuel their plants, according to the American Chemistry Council’s annual year-end review of the industry. “The wind is back in our sails,” Kevin Swift, chief economist for the trade group, said in a statement. “During the...

“Lack of transparency was really critical to getting it passed,” former Obamacare consultant Jonathan Gruber explained. The Democrats cleverly exploited the American voters’ “lack of economic understanding.” Now President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency is using secretive, duplicitous science, and exploiting people’s lack of scientific understanding, to impose punitive regulations cleverly labeled the “clean power plan.” The agency claims the clean power plan will prevent “dangerous manmade climate change” by reducing carbon dioxide and “encouraging” greater use of renewable energy. Its real goal is forcing coal-fired power plants to reduce operations significantly or shut down entirely. The EPA also claims that...

Stand on the sea wall next to the port in Varna and you can see the bits and pieces of South Stream piled up in front of you. Hundreds of long black sections of piping - some on the dockside, and others still stacked on cargo ships. They were supposed to have been laid beneath the gloomy waters of the Black Sea, bypassing Ukraine and bringing Russian gas directly to south-eastern Europe. But - suddenly and unilaterally - Vladimir Putin has declared the project dead. Gas, he said, will be sent to Turkey instead. "It's really not clear what's going...

The world’s energy markets will change dramatically in around 2020, when North America shifts from a major energy importer to an important fuel source for the world’s middle class, according to Exxon Mobil Corp.’s annual energy forecast. The Irving, Texas-based company’s report predicted that global energy demand would by grow 35 percent through 2040, driven by 2 billion new people and the rise of an energy-hungry middle class in developing countries. The report also outlined how supply growth in North America and global efficiency gains, would be critical to meeting the future’s energy needs. Exxon’s vision of the future was...

The latest, spectacular “Exit South Stream, Enter Turk Stream” Pipelinistan gambit will be sending big geopolitical shockwaves all across Eurasia for quite some time. This is what the New Great Game in Eurasia is all about. In a nutshell, a few years ago Russia devised North Stream – fully operational – and South Stream – still a project – to bypass unreliable Ukraine as a gas transit nation. Now Russia devises a new sweet deal with Turkey to bypass the “non-constructive” (Putin’s words) approach of the European Commission (EC) concerning the European “Third Energy Package”, which prohibits one company from...

When Jack Ekstrom joined Whiting Petroleum Corporation in 2008, the company had 450 employees. Six years later, the company has 1,100 employees, said Ekstrom, vice president of corporate and government relations at Whiting. “At any given time, we have about 250 approved positions that we need to fill during a 12-month period,” Ekstrom said, “even though we are not recruiting for all of them at the same time.” Whiting Petroleum’s surge in hiring reflects a larger hiring boom within the oil and gas industry that is playing out across the nation. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that 119,800 people...

Working gas in storage was 3,410 Bcf as of Friday, November 28, 2014, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net decline of 22 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 227 Bcf less than last year at this time and 372 Bcf below the 5-year average of 3,782 Bcf. In the East Region, stocks were 183 Bcf below the 5-year average following net withdrawals of 34 Bcf. Stocks in the Producing Region were 145 Bcf below the 5-year average of 1,247 Bcf after a net injection of 11 Bcf. Stocks in the West Region were 44 Bcf below the...

The United States has enough shale gas to supply the surge of recently announced petrochemical expansions and, despite anemic prices, producers have no plans to stop pumping as long as demand exists, a Southwestern Energy executive said Thursday. Gas prices collapsed two years ago and while they have recovered somewhat, some drillers have turned their focus to more lucrative regions rich in oil and other liquids. But companies that specialize in natural gas production continue to produce more, spurred on by technological advances and cheaper drilling and completion costs that allow them to produce more with less. “Looking at the...

Colorado's growth in crude oil reserves ranked third behind North Dakota and Texas in the latest survey of the amount of oil buried in fields across the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Nationally, crude oil reserves — oil that can be pumped from the ground under current economic conditions using existing technology — grew by 9 percent, or 3.1 billion barrels, in 2013 compared to 2012, the federal agency said. It's the fifth year in a row the U.S. oil reserves have grown, the EIA said, evidence that the proliferation of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing...

Governor Sarah Palin weighs in on consumerism, Christmas, and other issues including Russia and energy production with Fox Business host Stuart Varney.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAHc0hXGZk4#t=230

And they say there's no good news in the paper. But when it comes to oil, oil prices, oil diplomacy and just about everything else connected to this country's shale-oil boom, there's little but good news to report either at home or abroad. From the gas pump to international conferences, it's all good. Unless you're a gigantic corporation that's exploited this country's addiction to petroleum for years at immense profits. Or a rapacious oil sheik or dictator who's exploited not only his own people but the rest of the world. In that case, it couldn't happen to a more deserving...

Fresh off his 72% reelection victory in New York’s 27th District, Congressman Chris Collins has set to work attempting to deliver on his promises to the voters. One of the biggest challenges he faces is the effort to help turn things around in the Empire State on the energy front. New York, just like Pennsylvania and West Virginia, sits on two major shale oil reserves. But unlike their neighbors to the south, where jobs have multiplied and personal wealth has moved upward, New Yorkers have not been able to benefit from these opportunities. Democrats in charge of the state...

What does it take to build up a new region for oil and gas development? Obviously, the resources have to be in place and economically recoverable. But it is not as easy as just sticking a drill into the ground and pumping out oil and gas. Even with significant oil and gas reserves trapped in shale, a variety of factors need to come together to turn a given region into a significant producer. To begin with, there needs to be enough companies willing to take risks on major drilling projects. Next, there needs to be enough capital behind those companies...