Low on Labor?
How employers in the energy sector can address the labor shortageEarlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor released data showing that the U.S. economy had 7.6 million unfilled jobs while only 6.5 million people were looking for employment. The energy sector is not immune to this phenomenon. In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) reports that, according to one study, the industry will “need 105,000 new workers in the smart grid and electric utility industry by 2030, but expects that only 25,000 existing industry personnel are interested in filling those positions.
US Oil Export Boom Sparks Battle to Build Texas Ports
Booming U.S. oil exports have set off a scramble to build Gulf Coast ports to handle more than 3 million barrels per day in new supplies expected over the next five years.Of seven proposed oil-export projects, nowhere is the opportunity greater or the competition more fierce than in Corpus Christi, Texas, where three firms are vying to open the state's first deepwater port.Commodities trader Trafigura has taken an early lead with a planned offshore facility that has an easier path to regulatory approval and faces fewer objections from environmentalists.Its…
Cheniere to Commission 1st Corpus Christi LNG Cargo
Cheniere Energy will commission the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from its new Corpus Christi export terminal on Nov. 15, the Texas port's chief executive said on Tuesday.The commissioning of the cargo, months ahead of schedule, will mark the start of operations at Cheniere's second LNG export facility and only the third major export facility in the United States.The Corpus Christi terminal had been undergoing commissioning work since the summer and while it was scheduled to come onstream in the first half of next year, Cheniere had said previously first LNG would come before the end of the year.Sean Strawbridge…
Oil Traders Ready for Musical Chairs as China Tariffs Loom
Oil markets are bracing for a reshuffle of global trade flows as China threatens to impose tit-for-tat tariffs on imports of U.S. energy products, including crude.China, which has bought an average 330,000 barrels per day (bpd) of U.S. crude oil this year, is threatening to place a 25 percent tariff on various U.S. commodity exports, including crude oil, although it is so far unclear when such a measure would come in place.The decision came in response to U.S. President Donald Trump saying he was pushing ahead with hefty tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports.And it triggered an aggressive response by Trump…
Trafigura to Ship Oil from Permian to Corpus Christi
Commodities trading house Trafigura said on Tuesday it signed a new agreement with Plains All American Pipeline to transport 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Permian basin to the port of Corpus Christi, in a move aimed at boosting exports. Trafigura said it would transport the oil via the Cactus II Pipeline, which is targeted for service in the third-quarter of 2019. (Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Oil Up as US Rigs and Refineries Brace for Hurricane
Oil prices rose on Friday as the U.S. petroleum industry braced for Hurricane Harvey, which could become the biggest storm to hit the U.S. mainland in more than a decade. Harvey became a category 2 storm as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico with winds of 110 mph (175 kph), 145 miles (235 km) off port O'Connor, Texas, the National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane is forecast to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday between Corpus Christi and Houston, both important oil refining centres. U.S. light crude futures were up 10 cents at $47.53 a barrel by 1319 GMT, having hit a session high of $47.87. Brent crude was 37 cents higher at $52.41 after touching a high of $52.60.
Emco Wheaton Plays Key Role in First US Crude Oil Shipment
Emco Wheaton has played a pivotal role in the transfer of the first shipment of U.S. crude oil for export in 40 years, after the Theo T tanker set sail from the Port of Corpus Christi bound for Europe. The Greek oil tanker was loaded on New Year’s Eve by NuStar Energy LP at its North Beach Terminal at Port Corpus Christi in Texas using three Emco Wheaton Marine Loading Arms. To cost effectively and safely supply crude oil to the global market, Nustar Energy LP made significant investments in its Corpus Christi terminal operations in 2014 with the purchase of new equipment.
ConocoPhillips, NuStar Rush to Export 1st US Crude Oil
On the heels of the U.S. government's recent lifting of the federal ban on the export of crude oil produced in the United States, NuStar Energy and ConocoPhillips announce they are loading what they believe to be the nation's first export cargo of U.S.-produced light crude oil since the 40-year-old ban was lifted on December 18. ConocoPhillips committed to sell Eagle Ford light crude oil/condensate to international trading company Vitol. The cargo is expected to complete loading at NuStar's North Beach Terminal located in the Port of Corpus Christi on December 31, 2015.
US, ATP-IP Reach Settlement over Unauthorized Oil Discharges
Under a settlement agreement with the United States, ATP Infrastructure Partners, LP (ATP-IP) will pay a $1 million civil penalty and perform corrective measures to resolve claims by the U.S. under the Clean Water Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) of unauthorized discharges of oil and chemicals from an oil platform into the Gulf of Mexico, announced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Justice, and the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). This is the…
New Corpus Christi Oil Loading Dock Sees First Tankship
NuStar Energy says it has completed construction of a private marine loading dock at its North Beach Terminal in Corpus Christi, Texas, and has its first ship at the dock to be loaded with crude oil. Originally scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of this year, NuStar expedited the project in order to meet strong customer interest in using the dock to transport shipments of Eagle Ford crude oil by water. The new dock project includes a series of 30-inch and 12-inch pipelines that move the crude oil from incoming pipelines or tanks within the terminal to the new dock…
