HAPPY NEW YEAR, BUT NOT TOO HAPPY!
(PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE: WHY SOME OF OUR GENTLE READERS HAVE CHOSEN ABSTINENCE OVER 'FUN')
New Year's Eve Energy Links Courtesy of Consumer Energy Alliance
Calgary Herald by Lorraine Hjalte. Beyond pipeline politics and plunging oil prices that dominated Calgary business news in 2014, our annual quiz tests your recollection of other notable events from the past year. Take our quiz here!
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2014 Energy Review! Globe & Mail. Energy is serious business, and in 2014 … serious stories. … shortest booms on record, oilmen took shots at one another … survival mode … cartel tired of being the world’s oil-price …. Read more…. |
Op-ed, ADN, by Clem Tillion (NGP Photo File, Talkeetna, 9-06). 
For those of us who live by the sea, a drop in the price of oil is a joy indeed. I doubt if our Saudi allies and the rest of OPEC are going to not take action as oil reaches $50 a barrel, but for those of us who remember the price a decade ago when I could fill the old Stormbird's tanks for $800 — last year, filling the same tanks cost $5,200, and last month it came down to $4,881.
CBC. Finance Minister Joe Oliver says he is concerned that divisions within Canada over the energy sector will eventually hold back the country’s growth. In a year-end interview for The Exchange with Amanda Lang, Oliver cited opposition to fracking and to pipelines in some provinces as potential points of conflict.
Alaska Support Industry Alliance "Meet Alaska 2015 Conference"
January 9, 2015
New Year's Eve Energy Links Courtesy of Consumer Energy Alliance
Midland Reporter-Telegram: Energy revolution’s’ energy tops 2014 energy news *David Holt Op-Ed
This year the news has been full of good news and bad news for U.S. energy consumers. Major policy decisions (or lack thereof), changes in technology and emerging market forces have all played a role in influencing this year's cheers and jeers in U.S. energy news.
*Circulation/Audience: 13,804
BuildKXLNow.org: Re-Gifting False Carbon Claims on Keystone XL
This week pipeline critics are championing “new” evidence that Keystone XL will lead to carbon Armageddon. Notwithstanding abundant evidence to the contrary, a handful of anti-Keystone XL organizations presented President Obama with a memo that purports to shed new light on the carbon saga. Unfortunately, the report argues the same unsupported claims – just with a little new packaging.
The Hill: Top five stories: Energy and environment
It was a busy year on the energy and environment front, from another delay in the review of the Keystone XL pipeline to President Obama unveiling his controversial climate regulations for power plants.
Reuters: Obama move on U.S. oil exports paves way for Canadian crude, too
As the Obama administration issued landmark guidelines expected to open the door for selling more domestic shale oil abroad, it also likely smoothed the way for more Canadian crude to be shipped through U.S. ports.
Bloomberg Businessweek: Crude Exports Clarified in Commerce Department Guidelines
The Obama administration opened the door for expanded oil exports by saying a lightly processed form of crude known as condensate can be sold outside the U.S. without government approval.
UPI: House vows to deliver on energy promises
House Republicans will work to create the "architecture of abundance" needed to take advantage of North American energy leadership, a lawmaker said.
The Hill: Senate panel sets hearing on Keystone XL
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on the contentious Keystone XL oil pipeline next week. The hearing, announced Tuesday, will be the first one held by new chairwoman Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).
Platts: US crude pipeline buildout pace to slow amid lower oil prices
It may be too soon to assess the total impact of falling global crude oil prices on the US oil patch, but the lower price will likely slow the recent fast pace of pipeline buildouts and focus attention on regions where the production plays are most economic.
Wall Street Journal: Oil Prices Hit Again by Weak China Data
The rout in oil markets continued into the last day of the year as weaker Chinese economic data and a buildup in U.S. crude stockpiles fueled the bearish sentiment that drove prices off a cliff in 2014. The selloff that started midsummer wiped off nearly half of oil’s value amid growing concerns of global oversupply coupled with lackluster demand. Oil prices are set for their biggest annual loss since the recession in 2008.
Reuters: Oil price crash claims first U.S. LNG project
Excelerate Energy’s Texan liquefied natural gas terminal plan has become the first victim of an oil price slump threatening the economics of U.S. LNG export projects. A halving in the oil price since June has upended assumptions by developers that cheap U.S. LNG would muscle into high-value Asian energy markets, which relied on oil prices staying high to make the U.S. supply affordable.
Bismarck Tribune: Prices bring uncertainty to oil patch
As oil prices have decreased, conversations on what it might mean to the state have done exactly the opposite. The newest oil boom that has enveloped western North Dakota has meant new jobs, rising state tax revenues, some definite growing pains and now, a level of uncertainty.
Associated Press: No proof gas drilling tainted well water
A federal judge has ruled against nine southern New York homeowners who claimed their drinking water was contaminated by a nearby natural gas well. U.S. District Judge Charles Siragusa in Rochester decided the homeowners had failed to prove the silt and methane that befouled their water was caused by one of two gas wells drilled a half mile from their homes in 2010. The decision was filed on Dec. 17.
NPR: After New York ban, Pennsylvania renews focus on shale health impacts
At a news conference the day after New York announced its ban, Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor-elect Tom Wolf summed up his views on fracking: “I want to have my cake and eat it, too,” he said. “I don’t want to do what New York did.” Wolf wants a new tax on drilling to pay for a lot of his priorities like education. He also wants to create a health registry to measure potential impacts of heavy drilling. “In the absence of a strong concern for health, you have problems,” he said. “I think we ought to do this right.”
Associated Press: Ohio gas prices hit 5-year low
The average cost of gas in Ohio has dipped below $2 per gallon for the first time in more than five years. The average for a gallon of regular gas fell to $1.99 in Wednesday'ssurvey from auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and WEX Inc. Ohio AAA spokeswoman Kimberly Schwind says that average hasn't been below $2 since April 28, 2009, when it was $1.98. She says back then, the recession was a key factor.
WCBE 90.5 FM: Changes To Severance Tax Derailed This Year
Raising the severance tax on oil and gas drillers has been a major issue in Ohio. Just when it seemed like policymakers were poised to take a big step towards a change — other issues got in the way. Andy Chow examines the 2014 stalemate in the severance tax debate.
Star-Telegram: Will Texas reel from oil price drop?
Let’s face it: Texas has let itself get over-confident, for what must be at least the millionth time, about its oil and gas wealth. World markets are showing us, for the equally millionth time, how risky that is. Fortunately, our state’s economy is more diversified than it has been in previous energy declines. The current drop probably won’t hurt as bad as, say, the similar declines in 1985-86 and 1990-91. But the current declines are severe, especially for oil, and they will hurt.
Dallas Business Journal: State seismologist looking into quakes near Texas Stadium site
The former Texas Stadium site felt another earthquake Tuesday morning, the fifth such temblor recorded in Irving this December, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Speculation has run rampant that there's a link between the disposal of fracking fluids into injection wells and an increase in seismic activity. The Texas Railroad Commission hired Seismologist Craig Pearson to investigate whether manmade activity could trigger or induce earthquakes.
Houston Chronicle: Oil field lodging company pares jobs
An oil field lodging company's job cuts in North America are the latest harbinger of a downturn and fewer inhabitants in the Texas and North Dakota oil patches. On Monday, Houston-based Civeo Corp. said it has trimmed its U.S. workforce by 45 percent and slashed its Canadian jobs by 30 percent because it expects its oil field "man camps" to see far fewer occupants in the new world of lower oil prices. It said it will cut spending plans around 70 percent.
Blue Mountain Eagle: Commission set to vote on low-carbon fuel standard
Democrats in the Oregon legislature want to make a low-carbon fuel standard permanent, but critics say it will increase the price of fuel and will be difficult to implement.
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