In less than two decades, the United States will turn out to be a net exporter of oil in the world. By 2025, North America will become an oil exporter as well because of increasing production and energy efficiencies as predicted by Exxon Mobil Corp. Also, by 2025 the US is expected to become a leading exporter of natural gas as well as by 2035 it will develop into a self-reliant in energy. Therefore, up to 90% of Middle Eastern Oil will go to Asia by 2035.

Checkout top 5 oil-producing states of America:

Texas:
According to the US Energy Information Administration, Texas is the leading producer of crude oil and natural gas in the United States. In Texas, the production of oil increased by more than 500,000 barrels a day in the year to September. This happened because of production in two formations – Eagle Ford in South Texas and the Permian Basin in West Texas. In September, Texas crude-oil production was 2 million barrels per day.

North Dakota:
As said by the EIA, North Dakota produced 728,000 barrels of oil a day in September. Its production increased by more than 250,000 barrels per day in the year to September. This happened because of wells such as one at a site near Tioga, North Dakota and another at the Bakken formation in the Williston basin producing 90% of North Dakota’s total oil. Introduction of new technology like hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) helped produce more oil.

California:
With 524,000 barrels of oil a day in September, California bags the third position in the US oil production according to the EIA. It ranks third in refining capacity, and produces 2 million barrels per day out of 20 operable refineries – BP’S Carson refinery in Carson is one of them. California plays key role in oil producing and refining, but its gasoline retail price is one of the highest in the United States. Average cost of gasoline in the United States is $3.31 while that of California is $3.61. In the next few days, its price is expected to fall.

Alaska:
From the late 1980s, Alaska production is declining. In September, the state produced 502,000 barrels a day from its North Slope fields respectively. With an average annual production of 2 million barrels a day, it had a peak production in 1988. TransAlaska Pipe System (or TAPS) carries Alaska’s oil. North Slope oil production is expected to drop by 2025 if the prices on oil fall  piercingly. If oil production get slow down, then TAPS will be decommissioned by 2026.

Oklahoma:
Ranked as the fifth oil producing state, Oklahoma produced 250,000 barrels of oil in September. It’s a step up at the fourth position in natural-gas production. The southern site of the keystone XL pipeline is in Cushing, Oklahoma that is somehow responsible for   settling down West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prices.

After introduction of new technology in 2008, the production started to peak up again in the United States.

Image Credit: Creativecommons/Marcin Klapczynski

ONGC will try to restore the $46 billion project that is eight years behind schedule and costs twice as much as expected. “The worst for the Kashagan field, including the delays, is behind everyone,” said D.K. Sarraf, managing director of ONGC Videsh Ltd., the company’s overseas unit. “The future of this really large field is good. We’re fully prepared to participate in the field, including expansion.”

The Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan was discovered in the 2000′s and has been the biggest find in the 21st century. It is expected the field will produce 370,000 barrels of oil per day from next year.

The transaction between ConocoPhillips and ONGC is anticipated to close in the first half of 2013.  The Kazakhstan government has been informed of the Houston-based company’s plans to sell the stake for which it expects to record an after-tax impairment charge of about $400 million.

With this sale, ConocoPhillips looks ahead to buy additional stakes in emerging markets including Kazakhstan. It will also help the company meet its goal of selling $8 billion to $10 billion from divestments by the end of 2013.

“The sale of this quality asset is an important component of our ongoing strategic asset disposition program,” said Don Wallette, ConocoPhillips’ executive vice president of commercial, business development and corporate planning.

Image Credit: Creative Commons/Uwe Dedering

About thermodegradable polyolefin oil super-absorbent

To control oil spills, the thermodegradable polyolefin oil super-absorbent can soak-up 40 times its weight in oil. It’s a great innovation for cleaning up of water to prevent the oil for harvesting. This material can be used in any oil refinery where oil is extracted. The 1 lb of the polymer can absorb roughly 5 gallons of crude oil that can be transported safely and easily with the gel’s high strength. The super-absorbent swells, when it absorbs oil. This oil is converted to a liquid as well as refined like basic crude oil.

Because of its usability, it’s highly valuable devise and can increase the profitability by refining oil through the conversion process. Hence, it’s a breathtaking discovery.

Image Credit: CreativeCommons/Marine Photobank

Ahead of the US presidential election, the prices on oil drops a little bit low as investors looked forward to watch the final result.

At midnight Bangkok time, Benchmark oil expected to deliver in December dropped 8 cents to $85.57 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On 5th November, 2012, the contact increased 79 cents to come to an end at $ 85.65 a barrel on the Nymex.

The prices on international varieties of oil such as Brent crude dropped 3 cents to $107.70 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Because of uncertain result about the US Election, trading on financial and commodities markets is a bit slow this week.

Oil prices also dropped because of the economic crisis in Greece. Another reason was the Greek parliament decision to impose four-year austerity package to enforce wage and benefit cuts.

Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney said:
“It’s a big week this week, with the U.S. Election and the situation in Greece in particular. So there is the potential for volatility.”

In New York, Wholesale gasoline rose 1 cent to $2.63 per gallon; Heating oil was almost unchanged at $2.983 per gallon; Natural gas fell 1 cent to $3.544 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Image Credit: Creative commons/Rama

Oil prices fell to a three month low in New York as Hurricane Sandy forced refineries on the US East Coast to shut down operations.

Oil futures declined 0.5 percent after retreating 0.9 percent yesterday. Phillips 66, Hess Corp., NuStar Energy LP (NS) and PBF Energy Inc. shut or pulled down output in an attempt to combat Sandy. Hurricane Sandy is said to be largest storm recorded in the Atlantic although the National Hurricane Center has downgraded it to a post-tropical cyclone. Meanwhile, the decline in gasoline is the highest in almost two weeks.

Hurricane Sandy is likely to have a short term effect on the market with refineries shutting down and oil reserves building up. The grim situation is likely to curb prices on oil.

In the meantime, CME Group Inc., the owner of Nymex, said trading has ceased for today and tomorrow. Electronic trading, which sees an increased number of online traders, will continue to operate normally.

The closed refineries on the East Coast account for 1.22 million barrels of the area’s 1.29 million bc/d crude processing capacity. The closure may see East Coast gasoline supplies to the lowest level since 1990.

Image Credit: NASA

WN Photo

A proposal for construction of two pipelines in Colorado has been put forth by Nustar Energy. The pipeline will commence from the Niobrara Shale Formation, near Watkins and Platville and connect to the Nustar Crude Oil Pipeline in Denver.

This will help deliver the crude to the Nustar tank rarm in Wichita Falls, Texas.

The proposal includes construction of crude pipelines from gathering locations in Niobrara Shale to a common point in Nustar’s already existing 10-inch McKee in Texas.

The Niobrara Falls Project will also have the potential to carry Permian and Granite Wash crude, delivered in NuStar’s Dixon, Tex. tank farm for delivery to various other locations.

Additionally, shippers at Wichita Falls, will have the convenience to tap the Nederland/Beaumont, Texas  markets, through third party pipelines. The 10-inch existing pipeline will also be reversed to connect to the 14-inch pipeline at Wichita Falls, which will also be reversed.

The 10-inch Colorado pipeline will have the potential of 70,000 to 75,000 barrels per day, while the 14-inch pipeline at Wichita Falls will have the potential for 125,000 to 130,000 barrels per day.

Shippers can also have the contract for storage, at the origin, near Platteville and Watkins.

Nustar expects that the proposed Niobrara Falls Project will also connect to the Sunoco Logistics Partners Permian Express in the Phase 1 project as Wichita Falls and to the Basin System at Wichita Falls. This will enable continuous crude supply to Nederland/Beaumont, Texas markets.

Though the reports reveal that the sanctions are imposed to put a curb on Tehran’s nuclear program, the biggest player in Oil and Gas industry, Iran, says that the sanctions would never work as the country has nothing to do with nuclear program

Along with EU, the United States has also imposed restrictions on NIOC and has blacklisted the tanker company while strongly refusing to lift the major international sanctions amid growing concerns over Iran’s nuclear project.

Importing natural gas from Iran to Europe was banned by EU. It also imposed heavy measures against those companies in European Union that deal with Iran’s ship-building industry!

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Hasan Jamali

Saudi Arabia is taking pride in keeping oil prices stabilized for global economic growth despite a halving of Iranian exports because of oil embargo.  It is also confident that the kingdom will meet present and future demand for oil, easing off concerns about escalating prices and uncertain supplies.

At present, Saudi Arabia is pumping a 30-year high of 10 million BPD of crude through October to help prevent shortage of supply from Iran’s export cuts. If the need arises, the kingdom has a production capacity of more than 12 million barrels, said Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Ali al-Naimi.

The surge in supply from Saudi Arabia has seen a reverse in increasing oil prices that reached a record high of $128 a barrel in March. Ideally, Saudi Arabia would like to see oil prices fall to $100 a barrel as it feels the current prices are too high. As on Tuesday, oil was trading above $113 a barrel in London.

Ali al-Naimi also announced Aramco’s discovery of a new gas field in the Red Sea, about 26 kilometers from Duba port in Saudi Arabia. The testing of a 17,000 feet deep reservoir detected a gas flow rate of 10 million cubic feet per day. More wells would be drilled to ascertain the exact size of the field.

Al Basrah Oil Terminal

Iraq oil exports rose to the highest level in more than three decades, Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad confirmed on Monday. In September 2012, Iraq exports exceeded 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) on an average compared to 2.565 million bpd in August. Basra accounted for 2.18 million bpd in August while the remaining shipments from northern Kirkuk were 420,000 bpd, including 10,000 bpd taken by truck through Jordon.

The September exports from Iraq were the highest since 1979 when it had managed to hit the target at 3.244 million bpd. Iraq has managed to surpass all expectations after it settled a long-running oil payment dispute with the country’s autonomous Kurdistan, to continue exports.

Kurdistan has promised to continue exports at 140,000 barrels per day in September later raising it to 200,000 bpd for the rest of the year.

With each barrel priced at around $107, Iraq will reap $8.4 billion in oil revenues, Jihad said.

After crossing the 3 million bpd production mark for the first time in three decades, Iraq has overpowered Iran as Opec’s second biggest oil producer following Saudi Arabia. Iraq is also home to world’s fourth largest oil reserves.

Image Credit: US DoD

The Ifo index of business confidence in Germany has fallen for the 5th month in a row. 46% of Germany’s exports will go to its Euro currency partners. The other countries in the group are also facing a slow economic growth. The slow economies, result in low demand for oil, which lowers the prices on crude oil.

A senior market analyst, for the Price Futures Group, Phil Flynn, stated his surprise that the prices have not dropped down even further. One of the reasons for this could be because commodity funds have not bailed out on oil. The scenario in Europe has put oil prices under pressure. The dollar is stronger, whereby, the oil is cheaper for people holding other currencies.

The demand for oil is being hampered around the globe. Saudi Arabia, insists on pumping more oil, until the demand increases. However, the low price is a good sign for drivers in the US.