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Mapped: North Korea’s oil routes North Korea takes Russian oil while China's crude cut-off seems increasingly unlikely North Korea has stepped up oil imports from Russia with a growing fleet of tankers plying the country’s Far Eastern ports and terminals, NK News can reveal after a two-month investigation into the DPRK’s vessel movements and oil trading activities. The growing trade with Russia comes amid continuing reports that China has cut-off crude oil deliveries to North Korea. However, NK News has also found at least one North Korean crude oil tanker still regularly visiting Chinese terminals, indicating that trade is ongoing...

Several months ago, when Russia announced the much anticipated "Holy Grail" energy deal with China, some were disappointed that despite this symbolic agreement meant to break the petrodollar's stranglehold on the rest of the world, neither Russia nor China announced payment terms to be in anything but dollars. In doing so they admitted that while both nations are eager to move away from a US Dollar reserve currency, neither is yet able to provide an alternative. This changed in late June when first Gazprom's CFO announced the gas giant was ready to settle China contracts in Yuan or Rubles, and...

Record-setting liquid fuels production growth in the United States has more than offset the rise in unplanned global supply disruptions over the past few years, although differences in quality and location suggest that the substitution may not be exactly 1-for-1. U.S. liquid fuels production, which includes crude oil, hydrocarbon gas liquids, biofuels, and refinery processing gain, grew by more than 4.0 million barrels per day (bbl/d) from January 2011 to July 2014, of which 3.0 million bbl/d was crude oil production growth. During that same period, global unplanned supply disruptions grew by 2.8 million bbl/d. U.S. production growth, the main...

A U.S. court on Aug. 25 threw out an order to seize some 1 million barrels of disputed Iraqi Kurdish crude oil from a tanker near Texas, a move that could allow the cargo to be delivered and end a nearly month-long impasse. The United Kalavrvta tanker, carrying about $100 million worth of Kurdish crude, has been anchored in the Gulf of Mexico for weeks, as the Iraqi region of Kurdistan wages a legal battle over ownership with the central government of Iraq. At the request of Baghdad, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in July...

In a preview of priorities for the next legislative session, state lawmakers at a hearing on Tuesday examined the ways the oil boom is changing life in Texas. Since the legislature last convened in 2013, budget officials have reported an unexpectedly large windfall from taxes on the petroleum industry, filling state coffers with a multi-billion dollar opportunity to address issues like the water shortage, transportation gridlock and troubled public schools. But industry practices have also wrecked roads, strained infrastructure, vexed police departments, drained water resources, polluted the air and set off knotty disputes among landowners, royalty claimants and oil companies....

Since about 2009 and until just recently, Saudi Arabia shipped discounted crude to the U.S. in growing volumes even as total U.S. waterborne imports fell. But while Saudi Arabia isn’t about to exit the U.S. market, cheaper domestic crude oils are beginning to displace Saudi imports. Daily U.S. crude imports fell from 11.8 million barrels in 2010 to 9.8 million barrels in 2013. Over roughly the same period, U.S. daily oil imports from Saudi Arabia rose from an annual average of just under 1.1 million barrels to about 1.5 million barrels, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration....

FARGO, N.D. — The furious pace of energy exploration in North Dakota is creating a crisis for farmers whose grain shipments have been held up by a vast new movement of oil by rail, leading to millions of dollars in agricultural losses and slower production for breakfast cereal giants like General Mills. The backlog is only going to get worse, farmers said, as they prepared this week for what is expected to be a record crop of wheat and soybeans. “If we can’t get this stuff out soon, a lot of it is simply going to go on the ground...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "Oil boom" is probably the first phrase that comes to mind when one thinks about North Dakota. Yet North Dakotans see their state as much more than oil. They are highly satisfied with their schools, their air quality, their ability to find a quality job, and their overall standard of living. In Gallup's comprehensive survey of all 50 states, North Dakota ranks No. 1 on a variety of indicators spanning economics, public affairs, education, the environment, and well-being. In 2014, North Dakota is a complex, thriving state that is adapting rapidly to the economic and social factors...

3 Reasons Why Pioneer Natural Resources Stock Could Rise By Matt DiLallo | More Articles | Save For Later August 25, 2014 | Comments (0) Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD  ) stock has gone up nearly 600% in just the past five years. That has crushed the market, which is up just over 92% over that same time period. Despite the market-crushing returns, there's still a lot of fuel left in Pioneer Natural Resources' tank. Here are three reasons why the stock could continue to rise.It's sitting on nearly 10 billion barrels of recoverable oil and gas Pioneer Natural Resources believes...

<p>Texas has surpassed 300,000 jobs in the oil and natural gas sector as the oil boom drives job growth for a fourth straight year.</p> <p>According to the data released this week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the state gained more than 20,000 oil and gas jobs since July 2013, its largest increase since April 2013.</p>

The Price of Oil Crushed Russia Once. Is It About to Happen Again? By Aimee Duffy | More Articles | Save For Later August 23, 2014 | Comments (0) Russian oil pump. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons/AcoderIn case you hadn't heard, Russia has an oil problem. The country is heavily dependent on oil tax revenue to fill its coffers, and trouble is brewing given today's low price for Russian crude. Consider these recent headlines from Reuters and The Moscow Times:"Russian oil prices fall below $100/barrel, straining budget""Struggling with Sanctions, Russia Faces Oil Price Crash"And if you go all the way back...

Ending ban on oil exports would mean cheaper gasoline, energy executive says Posted on August 22, 2014 at 7:51 pm by Vicki Vaughan in Crude oil, Eagle Ford, Gasoline, LNG, Markets EmailPrint2 inShare (Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty) Should the government end its 40-year-old ban on exporting crude oil, the nation would enjoy benefits ranging from jobs to a decline in gasoline prices, an oil industry economist said in a talk this week in San Antonio.ConocoPhillips senior economist Helen Currie, citing a study by the energy consulting firm IHS Inc., said prices at the pump would fall by about 8 cents a gallon...

Valero Energy Corp.’s Memphis, Tenn., refinery will begin receiving more low-cost domestic crude oil in two years as part of a plan by another company to build a pipeline to the plant. Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline LP said Thursday it plans to build a pipeline that would deliver as much as 200,000 barrels a day of crude oil to Valero’s Memphis plant when it’s completed in late 2016. The 440-mile, 20-inch pipeline will link Plains’ Cushing, Okla., terminal to Valero’s plant and cost an estimated $900 million. Locally based refiner Valero holds an option until January 2016 to buy...

Islamic State's thirst for blood has the world on edge, but its equally insatiable yearning for oil could prove a "catastrophe" for the global economy if the terror organization isn't stopped, experts say. The jihadist group, formerly known as ISIS, now controls seven oil fields and two small refineries in northern Iraq, bringing in as much as $2 million per day by selling up to 40,000 barrels via middlemen in illicit deals. The black market oil sells for roughly $25 to $60 per barrel, compared to the current market rate of $102, according to Luay al-Khatteeb, founder and executive director...

Scio Township and the West Bay Exploration Company are preparing to wade into uncharted legal waters after the township’s Board of Trustees passed a six-month moratorium banning oil exploration activity and drilling. The board passed the moratorium, along with a plan of action, by a vote of 7-0 at a special meeting Wednesday night at Scio Township Hall. According to the resolution, “during the moratorium period, no drilling operation shall be allowed in the township.” West Bay Exploration began drilling a 5,000-foot exploratory well at the corner of West Delhi Road and Miller Road this week and as of Wednesday...

Must-know: Tighter-than-expected oil supply in the future By Russ Koesterich, CFA - Disclosure • BlackRock  • Aug 21, 2014 10:08 am EDT First, here’s a quick look at my expectations for oil supply and demand. Currently, oil prices remain elevated because global demand has continued to climb, despite slower growth in China (FXI), and supply overall has been unexpectedly constrained by both geology and geopolitical unrest. Looking forward, oil supply is likely to remain constrained and oil demand is likely to continue to grow.Oil supply: There’s a good chance that future oil supply may be tighter than expected. Currently, oil prices...

A referendum to roll back an oil production tax change made in 2013 was defeated by voters in the state’s primary election held Aug. 19. Ballot Measure 1, which would have reinstated the state’s previous tax known as ACES that was repealed in 2013, was voted down 52 percent to 48 percent, or a margin of about 6,800 votes, the Division of Elections reported in late results with 98.6 percent of the votes counted. Earlier in the evening of Aug. 19 the “yes” votes had a thin majority of a few hundred for repeal with about 25 percent of the...

Petroleum engineers experienced the highest increase in median annual salary since 2011, according to a recent report from the American Geosciences Institute (AGI). In 2013, the median average salary for petroleum engineers was $132,000, and had increased by more than $10,000 since 2011, according to the Aug. 12 report, which quoted data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since 2011, all geoscience occupations – with the exception of atmospheric and space scientists, geographers, environmental science and protection technicians, engineering postsecondary teachers, and atmospheric, earth, marine and space sciences post-secondary teachers – recorded increases in their median annual salaries, while...

Refracking brings 'vintage' oil and gas wells to life Aug 20, 2014, 10.43AM IST (The development highlights…) HOUSTON/WILLISTON, NORTH DAKOTA: A fracking boom isn't enough for U.S. oil and gas producers - they're now starting the re-fracking boom.Wells sunk as little as three years ago are being fracked again, the latest innovation in the technology-driven shale oil revolution. Hydraulic fracturing, which has upended global energy markets by lifting U.S. crude oil output to a 25-year high, has been troubled by quick declines in oil and gas output. The development highlights how producers must constantly invest and tinker, both to...

Turn natural gas into gasoline for $1 per gallon The clear liquid flowing from a collection of pipes and wires in a Hayward industrial park smells just like gasoline, and for all practical purposes, it is.But it wasn’t made from crude oil. Instead, it came from natural gas, the fuel whose sudden abundance in America is reshaping the country’s energy landscape.Siluria Technologies says it can produce large quantities of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and chemicals at a lower cost than traditional refineries and chemical plants. At today’s natural gas prices, Siluria’s technology could make gasoline at roughly $1 per gallon, according to...