Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A meteor's roaring crash into Antarctica -- larger and earlier than the impact that killed the dinosaurs -- caused the biggest mass extinction in Earth's history and likely spawned the Australian continent, scientists said. Ohio State University scientists said the 483-kilometer-wide (300-mile-wide) crater is now hidden more than 1.6 kilometers (one mile) beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. "Gravity measurements that reveal its existence suggest that it could date back about 250 million years -- the time of the Permian-Triassic extinction, when almost all animal life on Earth died out," the university said in a statement Thursday....

The CEO of Chevron Corp. said his company recently mothballed a $500 million ultra deep-water Gulf of Mexico development not because the oil reservoir was too small to develop - but because it had better places to spend its money. Namely, the Permian Basin in West Texas. "There are tough choices being made," Chevron CEO John Watson told investors on Friday, after the San Ramon, California oil giant posted its first quarterly loss since 2002. The $588 million loss - worse than analysts had expected - was driven by a series of special charges in the fourth quarter, including Chevron's...

New federal data shows that the Energy Department expects drillers in the Permian Basin to push oil production in the shale play above 2 million barrels per day for the first time ever this November. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s monthly Drilling Productivity Report released Monday, which covers seven of the biggest shale plays in the country, projects production in the Permian to jump by 17,000 bpd this month. That increase would bring the play above the 2 million bpd mark. In December, the EIA expects the play to grow again by 11,000 bpd. But the Permian is one of...

Two hundred and seventy-eight million years ago, the world was a different place. Not only were the landmasses merged into the supercontinent of Pangaea, but the land was home to ancient animals unlike anything alive today. But until now, very little information was available about what animals were present in the southern tropics. In a study published in Nature Communications, scientists from The Field Museum and colleagues from around the world describe several new amphibian species and a reptile from northeastern Brazil that help fill this key geographic gap and reveal how animals moved among regions in the supercontinent. "Almost...

Dr. Daniel Fine, associate director of the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy, discusses the impact of falling oil prices on the domestic energy industry.

Market analysts have a keen interest in understanding how crude oil production in key states has been affected by recent changes in crude oil prices and drilling activity. EIA develops state-level production estimates for selected states that are based in part on state-level data. However, data published by state agencies are often incomplete when first published because of a combination of late reporting and processing delays, mainly due to the filing of production reports that do not contain all required information. Because EIA's methodology for state-level production estimates aims to anticipate and account for expected revisions to data collected by...

Around 250 million years ago, a huge volcanic eruption triggered a deadly series of events that wiped out 95% of all species on Earth. Scientists have been piecing together the story of what happened. Our planet has a troubled and turbulent past: five catastrophic natural events have caused mass extinctions of life on Earth. Perhaps the most famous one is the asteroid impact that caused the demise of the dinosaurs. But the most extensive extinction event occurred even before dinosaurs were around. In the Permian era, about 250 million years ago, a destructive volcanic eruption radically altered conditions on Earth...

Earth has seen its share of catastrophes, the worst being the “big five” mass extinctions scientists traditionally talk about. Now, paleontologists are arguing that a sixth extinction, 260 million years ago, at the end of a geological age called the Capitanian, deserves to be a member of the exclusive club. In a new study, they offer evidence for a massive die-off in shallow, cool waters in what is now Norway. That finding, combined with previous evidence of extinctions in tropical waters, means that the Capitanian was a global catastrophe. “It’s the first time we can say this is a true...

Much of the Permian Basin’s oil boom eluded the world’s supermajor oil companies like Chevron, who took their corporate offices and large management teams from the area in the 1990s as common perception held the region was slowly dying. But during this downturn, the supermajors see opportunity again in the Permian Basin. Chevron, and to a lesser extent Exxon Mobil, plan to pursue aggressive drilling and completion programs this year. In the short-term, that offers some relief for the oil service companies and rig crews hammered by oil prices hovering below $50 per barrel. But it also reflects a long-term...

A new out-of-this-world theory links mass extinctions with exotic astrophysics and galactic architecture Every once in a great while, something almost unspeakable happens to Earth. Some terrible force reaches out and tears the tree of life limb from limb. In a geological instant, countless creatures perish and entire lineages simply cease to exist. The most famous of these mass extinctions happened about 66 million years ago, when the dinosaurs died out in the planet-wide environmental disruption that followed a mountain-sized space rock walloping Earth. We can still see the scar from the impact today as a nearly 200-kilometer-wide crater in...

The number of rigs drilling for oil in the United States fell by 17 this week, as energy companies facing lower crude prices reduced the rig count for the fourth straight week, data from oil services firm Baker Hughes showed on Monday. The oil rig count dropped to 1,482 in the week to Jan. 2, its lowest level since March, the data showed. The number of oil rigs has declined in nine of the last 12 weeks since hitting a record high of 1,609 in mid-October. The number of rigs remains up more than 100 from the same time last...

The U.S. shale boom has drawn thousands of workers to the remote oil fields of states like North Dakota and Texas, enticing laborers with lucrative pay packages and flooding sparsely populated towns with new residents. That’s been the pattern since 2007, but analysts say labor needs for drilling companies could fall off dramatically as crude oil prices continue to plunge. On Tuesday, a Redditor under the screen name “oil_trash,” who said he was a flowback operator in the Midland Basin region of Texas, started an “Ask Me Anything” thread on the social networking site. For several hours, Reddit users filled...

What are the most active crude oil-producing regions in the United States? The Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's rig counts. Among more than 1,500 oil rigs in operation around the nation as of early November, more than 560 were in the Permian Basin and more than 200 were in the Eagle Ford Shale. By comparison, about 190 rigs were operating in the Bakken Shale. And at third quarter's end, the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale housed 7,787 and 3,541 wells, respectively, while 2,062 wells were located in the Williston Basin, which...

U.S. crude oil production will rise 115,000 barrels of oil per day in January, according to Energy Information Administration data released Monday. Next month’s total will be nearly 2,000 bpd more than December’s rise. Drilling efficiencies in the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Permian Basin shale plays account for most of the production increase. EIA data showed that rigs in these plays will get about 50 bpd more than they did last month, good for a total increase of 103,000 bpd. The Permian Basin is still the largest U.S. shale play, increasing to 1.87 million bpd. The Eagle Fored is second...

Six years ago Bryan Sheffield had no energy industry experience. Today he’s on track to become a billionaire before his 40th birthday. How it happened is one of the greatest Texas oil stories of all time. The Great American Energy Boom is responsible for some of the most incredible roughneck-to-riches stories in business history. Aubrey McClendon built Chesapeake Energy CHK -0.87% into a land-grabbing juggernaut, lost his shirt (and his spot on The Forbes 400) from too much borrowing and is now clawing his way back. Harold Hamm envisioned using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technology to bring up oil...

The Eagle Ford Shale is expected to make 1.61 million barrels of oil per day in November, up 42 percent from the year before, according to a new government report. The field is making around 1.58 million barrels of oil daily this month, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The EIA shows production from the Eagle Ford and other major shale fields increasing even as the price of crude oil dips. The Permian Basin remains the nation’s most prolific oil field. It’s expected to make 1.8 million daily barrels of oil in November, up 30 percent from the same...

    3 0iJim Cramer on the Stock Market: What the Fall in Oil Means BY Jim Cramer  Oct 13, 2014 | 12:03 PM EDT   NEW YORK (Real Money) -- Blame it on the Permian. That's where the oil is flooding into the markets right now. Sure, it is absolutely true that the Bakken and the Eagle Ford shales are responsible for the lion's share of new oil being produced in this country. Sure, the Bakken in North Dakota is amazing with its 1.1 million barrels a day, double what it was when I went there a couple of...

Drilling companies in the booming Permian Basin may soon have an option to power their heavy-duty equipment with the same stuff they’re pumping from the ground. Stabilis Energy, a Beaumont-based company that has been marketing liquefied natural gas to oil field companies, plans to partner with Flint Hills Resources to build a LNG plant in Odessa tailored toward providing fuel for high horsepower engines in drilling rigs and pressure pumpers. The companies did not disclose the cost of the project, which is expected to have a capacity of about 100,000 gallons of LNG per day. Pending final approval by the...

Spurred by drilling across Texas and led by the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin, crude oil production in Texas rose more than 23 percent in August compared to August 2013, according to the Texas Petro Index. Oil production totaled an estimated 95.56 million barrels in August compared with 77.6 million barrels in August 2013, according to economist Karr Ingham, who developed and maintains the Texas Petro Index. In addition, the 307,700 employees who are estimated to work for drilling and oil-field service companies surpassed 300,000 for the second time since the index was launched in 1995. Employment rose 8.3...

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM) has entered into a non-monetary exchange agreement with LINN Energy LLC (NASDAQ: LINE) to add 17,800 net acres in the Permian Basin to its US oil and natural gas portfolio managed by subsidiary XTO Energy Inc. “Our operated-acreage position in the Midland Basin Wolfcamp core is now around 120,000 net acres. We continue to increase drilling activity in the play, currently operating six horizontal rigs, and are very encouraged by initial well results.” In the exchange, LINN Energy will receive interest in about 500 net acres from ExxonMobil’s South Belridge Field near Bakersfield, California. In the...