Tropical Storm Barry Forms in Gulf of Mexico
Tropical Storm Barry formed on Thursday with heavy rains expected across the north-central U.S. Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said.Barry, the second named storm of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season, was located about 95 miles (150 kilometers) south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River at about 11 a.m. EDT with maximum sustained winds of 40 miles (65 km) per hour, the Miami-based weather forecaster said. (Reuters, Reporting by Swati Verma in Bengaluru Editing by Bill Trott)
Tellurian to Start Building Louisiana LNG Export Terminal in 2019
U.S. liquefied natural gas company Tellurian Inc said on Wednesday it remains on track to begin construction of its Driftwood LNG export terminal in Louisiana in the first half of 2019 and begin operations in 2023.Tellurian President and CEO Meg Gentle said in the company's second-quarter earnings release that Tellurian is on schedule to announce its partners in the Driftwood project in the third or fourth quarter.Driftwood is one of more than two dozen LNG export projects under development in the…
Eni to Invest $1.8 Bln in Offshore Mexican Oil Fields by 2040
Italian oil major expects to invest $1.795 billion in three offshore Mexican oil fields by 2040, according to a development plan approved by Mexico's oil regulator on Tuesday.The plan covering the Amoca, Mizton and Tecoalli shallow water fields is the second one approved by the regulator, known as the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), following a landmark 2013 energy opening that has led to more than 100 oil and gas contracts being awarded in a series of auctions.Eni sees initial crude oil production of 8…
Fall from Grace: Batista Gets 30-Years for Corruption
Eike Batista, the former mining and oil magnate who was once Brazil's richest man, was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison for bribing Rio de Janeiro state's disgraced ex-governor, according to a court document published on Tuesday.Batista's conviction and sentencing by federal judge Marcelo Bretas are the latest in a wave of graft investigations that have sent scores of powerful businessmen and politicians to jail.The eccentric former billionaire's meteoric rise and fall mirrored the recent fortunes of Brazil, where the commodities boom faded as his energy, mineral and logistics empire fell apart earlier th
Big Gas Exporter Nations Blast Unilateral Sanctions in US Dig
Representatives from a group of major energy-exporting nations on Friday said they oppose the use of unilateral sanctions on any of their members - an apparent dig at the United States for its moves against Russia, Iran and Venezuela. The Gas Exporting Countries Forum, which also includes members like Libya, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria, expressed their "profound concern" about sanctions affecting the gas sector that are not authorized by the United Nations, according to a communique signed by GECF's 12 members after the group's summit in Bolivia this week. The U.S.
Harvard Researchers Say Exxon Misled Public on Climate Science
Two Harvard University researchers said in a study published on Wednesday they had collected data proving that Exxon Mobil Corp made "explicit factual misrepresentations" in newspaper ads it purchased to convey its views on the oil industry and climate science. In an article in the journal Environmental Research Letters, researchers Geoffrey Supran and Naomi Oreskes said they examined 187 documents, including internal memos, peer-reviewed papers by Exxon scientists and "advertorials" that ran in The New York Times - paid advertisements in the style of opinion pieces.
Pemex Seeks Oil Projects in Americas
Mexico's Pemex is looking for oil projects in the United States, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina to keep up output after an energy reform that means it is sharing more domestic production, a top executive from the state-run oil company said on Wednesday. Exploration chief Jose Antonio Escalera mentioned Argentina's giant Vaca Muerta shale play as an interesting project where Pemex could jump into a partnership. "We are willing to participate in projects even with minimum stakes," Escalera said in an interview at the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit.
Mexico Auctions Two-thirds of Blocks in Shallow Water Oil Tender
Mexico on Monday auctioned two-thirds of the shallow water oil and gas blocks up for grabs in the latest round of its energy market opening, surpassing the cautious estimates of officials last week. Italy's Eni, Colombia's Ecopetrol and Capricorn Energy, a unit of Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy , were among the companies at the forefront of the bidding for 15 blocks in the southern Gulf of Mexico. Ten of the 15 blocks were taken up in the auction. Eni took one of the blocks by itself and two in consortium with other companies. One comprised Capricorn and Mexican oil firm Citla, the other was with Citla alone.
Venezuela to use Non-Aligned summit to Push Oil Consensus
Venezuela will use this weekend's Non-Aligned Movement summit to meet fellow oil producers and gather support for a global deal to strengthen oil prices at a gathering in Algeria this month, Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino said on Friday. "Obviously we are going to use this meeting to build consensus," Del Pino told reporters, saying leaders from OPEC nations from the Gulf to Ecuador would be present at the 120-nation bloc's meeting on Margarita island. "The focus for the consensus is Algeria, where…
Pemex Appoints New Director for Commercial Arm
Mexico's state oil company Pemex said on Tuesday it had named Isaac Volin Bolok as head of its commercial arm, PMI Comercio Internacional. Volin Bolok will replace Jorge Sanchez and start the post on June 27. He previously served as the director of BlackRock in Mexico and corporate commercial director of now bankrupt airline Mexicana, according to his LinkedIn profile. (Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez and Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein; Editing by Bill Trott)
Trump Would consider Halting U.S. Oil purchases from Saudis
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump told the New York Times he would consider stopping U.S. oil purchases from Saudi Arabia unless the Saudi government provide troops to fight Islamic State. Trump's comment on Friday was included in a lengthy foreign policy interview published by the newspaper on Saturday and came in response to a question about whether, if elected president, he would halt oil purchases from U.S. allies unless they provided on-the-ground forces against Islamic State. "The answer is, probably yes," Trump said, according to a transcript.
Oil Majors Pay Mexico Regulator $80 Mln for Deepwater Data
Oil companies have paid Mexico's oil regulator nearly $80 million for seismic data ahead of an auction for deep water fields, suggesting robust interest in the tender despite a lasting slump in the price of crude. Thirteen companies, including Exxon Mobil, BP and BHP Billiton, have paid a total of 1.38 billion pesos ($78 million) to date for licenses to use deep water data, according to a document from national oil regulator CNH seen by Reuters. Company executives say the sum reflects only a fraction of their spending in the past year to acquire geological data ahead of the Dec.
Crude Tanker Backlog in US Gulf Eases on Robust Imports
A backlog of tankers off the shores of the U.S. Gulf Coast that swelled in the final quarter of 2015 is easing, with the volume of crude waiting to discharge declining by more than half in just a month's time. There currently are 27 vessels offshore in the U.S. Gulf Coast waiting to discharge an estimated 15 million barrels of crude, compared to 36 million barrels at the start of December, ClipperData said on Tuesday. There are typically 10 million to 12 million barrels of oil waiting to discharge at any one time, Clipper said.
Republican Presidential Candidates Denounce Iran Deal
U.S. Republican presidential candidates on Tuesday roundly condemned President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, with Florida Senator Marco Rubio suggesting he would re-introduce sanctions if elected to the White House next year. The agreement reached between Iran and six major world powers will now be debated in the U.S. Congress, but Obama said on Tuesday he would veto any measure to block it. "It will then be left to the next president to return us to a position of American strength and re…
Shell Rig Departs for Arctic Despite Protest
U.S. Coast Guard and police boats cleared a way through protesters in kayaks at a Seattle-area port on Tuesday so a drilling ship could head for the Arctic on behalf of Royal Dutch Shell. The Noble Discover is the second drilling ship Shell has sent to the area in recent days. The activists, who have staged frequent demonstrations during the past two months against Royal Dutch Shell's oil exploration in the Chukchi Sea off mainland Alaska, said 21 protesters in kayaks took to the waters just beyond the Port of Everett north of Seattle where the oil rig launched for sea.
Fracking Poses Little Risk to Drinking Water -US EPA
Fracking has not led to widespread, systematic pollution of drinking water, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will say on Thursday in a long-awaited study, sources who have seen the assessment said. The study, five years in the making, found some drinking water vulnerabilities to hydraulic fracturing, such as where supplies were scarce, but overall saw little impact from the drilling technique. In its review of data sources "available to the agency," the EPA found specific instances where…
US Approves Shell's Plan to Drill for Oil in Arctic
Royal Dutch Shell's return to oil drilling in the U.S. Arctic for the first time since 2012 took a big step forward on Monday when the Obama administration approved the company's exploration plan. The Department of Interior conditionally approved Shell's plan to explore for oil in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska. Shell has already spent about $6 billion on exploration in the Arctic. The Arctic is estimated to contain about 20 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and natural gas, but its recovery could be decades away.
US Proposes Higher Royalty Rates for Drilling Federal Land
The U.S. government would get a larger share of oil and gas revenue from federal land under a proposal the Interior Department is expected to announce on Friday. The federal government is entitled to a 12.5 percent share of oil and gas sold from federal land, chiefly in Western states. The stake for offshore drilling is usually set at 18.75 percent. Friday's move will open a discussion with the energy industry, environmentalists and other stakeholders about how to set future royalty rates for onshore drilling, said a government official briefed on the proposal.
BNSF Railway Faces Fines Over Spills
Washington state regulators have recommended BNSF Railway be fined $700,000 for not properly disclosing that its trains had spilled crude oil and other hazardous materials on 14 occasions over four months, officials said on Friday. BNSF rail cars leaked hazardous material in 16 separate incidents between November and March but in only two cases were the spills reported to state officials correctly, according to a formal complaint by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. In eight incidents, the leaks were not reported at all, commission spokeswoman Amanda Maxwell said.
U.S.Appeals Ruling on Size of BP Oil Spill
The U.S. government is appealing a federal court ruling that reduced the potential penalty BP Plc must pay for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill by almost $4 billion. The appeal, which was filed on Friday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, challenges a January decision by U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier that set the size of the spill at 3.19 million barrels. The appeal did not detail what aspects of Barbier's ruling it was challenging. The government had estimated the size of the spill at 4.09 million barrels and BP at 3.26 million.
