U.S. oil production continues to rise relentlessly, frustrating efforts by OPEC and non-OPEC oil exporters to rebalance the global market and secure an increase in the price of crude.
After a devastating slump in 2015 and 2016, the U.S. oil industry has returned to strong growth, with drilling and output rising rapidly
Russian energy major Rosneft and the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq have signed a number of oil exploration and production agreements. It is the biggest deal made by a Russian company so far at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2017).
In the western United States 160,000 abandoned mines contaminate soils in the region. Researchers hope to solve this problem with biochar, a charcoal-like substance that can reduce the toxic consequences of mining for metals.
If you’re in the energy business, here is a new manual for you that lays out the essentials of what energy is and how it shapes geopolitics today. Professor and long-time European Commission official Samuele Furfari has condensed his 39 years of experience in the energy sector into a two-volume tome of more than 1,250 pages that goes right from the fundamentals of physics through Britain’s rule of the Middle East to modern day realities such as “Rosatom, the undisputed nuclear leader”, “Biofuels, a subsidised reality”, smart cities and the latest gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean. Energy Post spoke with the author about his new book.
The fuel-hungry country has been pursuing the energy source, located at the bottom of oceans and in polar regions, for nearly two decades. China’s minister of land and resources, Jiang Daming, said Thursday that the successful collection of the frozen fuel was “a major breakthrough that may lead to a global energy revolution,” according to state media.
Experts agree that flammable ice could be a game changer for the energy industry, similar to the U.S. shale boom. But they caution that big barriers — both technological and environmental — need to be cleared to build an industry around the frozen fuel, which is also known as gas hydrate.
The United States has a broader array of energy options than China does. However, China is innovating and investing heavily in what it has, and some of the transformations it is achieving already are truly impressive.
China’s leaders have made a strategic choice about the direction of the country: They are aiming to shift from an economy based on heavy, polluting industries to one driven by technology and innovation. The political will for this upgrade has roots in both international geostrategic ambitions and domestic popular grievances about lagging standards of living—and it is beginning to bear fruit. In the process, however, vested interests and technical stumbling blocks have wasted resources and acted as a ballast against Chinese progress. China has the potential to do much more, and the international community should push it to achieve that potential.
OPEC said that one producer in particular is to blame: The U.S., where shale producers have continued to ramp up their drilling despite lower crude prices.
by Olivier Appert, Président du Conseil Français de l’Energie
in Connaissance des Energies, 10 mai 2017
Depuis la découverte du colonel Drake en 1859, le pétrole a joué de façon continue un rôle majeur dans la politique économique américaine et sur le plan international, il a été un outil clé du leadership américain. Au fil du temps, cette politique a dû composer avec une modification des rapports de force sur le marché pétrolier. La révolution récente des hydrocarbures non conventionnels a été un game changer majeur.Au fond, la politique pétrolière du nouveau président américain n’est qu’un retour aux sources.
Anyone with doubts about China’s demand for energy including for thermal coal needed to sustain its gigantic economy should cast their eyes over the latest statistics for power generation from Beijing’s National Statistics Bureau.
These data are a treasure trove in terms of revealing trends in China’s energy production and appetite for thermal coal sourced from both inside China and from imports shipped from countries including, Australia, Indonesia and Russia.
L’ Agence internationale de l’énergie (AIE) a fait part hier de son inquiétude sur le niveau historiquement bas des découvertes de nouvelles réserves de pétrole « conventionnel ». Le schiste américain pourra-t-il à lui seul compenser le déséquilibre résultant de la baisse des investissements sur le marché ?
The Department of Energy gave a Texas-based energy company permission Tuesday to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries with which the U.S. does not have free trade agreements.
While low U.S. natural gas prices are currently a drag on production and reserve growth, they also provide an advantage to domestic gas producers. U.S. natural gas is extremely competitive in the global market.
The Bossier and Haynesville Formations of the onshore and State waters portion of the U.S. Gulf Coast contain estimated means of 4.0 billion barrels of oil, 304.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 1.9 billion barrels of natural gas liquids, according to updated assessments by the U.S. Geological Survey. These estimates, the largest continuous natural gas assessment USGS has yet conducted, include petroleum in both conventional and continuous accumulations, and consist of undiscovered, technically recoverable resources.
L’ Agence Internationale de l’Énergie (AIE) a élaboré plusieurs scénarios de l’évolution prévisible du mix énergétique d’ici 2035. Le scénario moyen (« New policies scenario ») met en évidence l’augmentation de la demande en énergie primaire, qui passe de 13 000 Mtep en 2011 à 17 400 en 2035. La part des énergies fossiles (pétrole, gaz, charbon) restera largement dominante : elle passerait de 81 % en 2011 à 76 % en 2035. Les énergies renouvelables (y compris hydraulique et biomasse) seront en croissance : de 13 % en 2011 à 18 % en 2035
The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill did $17.2 billion in damage to the natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico, a team of scientists recently found after a six-year study of the impact of the largest oil spill in US history.
This is the first comprehensive appraisal of the financial value of the natural resources damaged by the 134-million-gallon spill.
A l’origine de la révolution industrielle, le charbon demeure au XXIe siècle une énergie privilégiée dans le monde. Il permet d’assurer les besoins énergétiques de l’équivalent de presque un homme sur trois (le charbon satisfait 29% de la consommation d’énergie finale en 2012 selon l’AIE). Il est la première source d’énergie utilisée pour produire de l’électricité (environ 40% de l’électricité mondiale est produite à partir de charbon).
China’s natural gas production surged to a record last month and coal output rebounded as economic growth accelerated power use in the world’s largest energy user.
Natural gas production in March rose 8.2 percent from the average of the first two months of the year to a record 13.6 billion cubic meters, according to data Monday from the National Bureau of Statistics. Coal output rose almost 13 percent over the same period to average 9.67 million tons a day, the highest daily level since December, according to Bloomberg calculations based on the data.
La puissance économique et industrielle de l’Afrique du Sud classe naturellement ce pays au premier rang des consommateurs d’énergie en Afrique. L’Afrique du Sud consomme 30 % de l’énergie primaire et 37 % de l’électricité produites sur le continent africain. Les fréquents dysfonctionnements des infrastructures d’électricité constatés ces dernières années ont placé la question de l’énergie au centre des débats publics.
L’EIA américaine a publié récemment ses données officielles relatives à la consommation et à la production d’énergie aux États-Unis en 2016. Elle constate entre autres un recul du charbon dans le mix électrique américain. État des lieux.
Énergies fossiles : 81% de la consommation américaine d’énergie
La consommation d’énergie primaire des États-Unis a été quasiment stable en 2016 (+ 0,1% par rapport à 2015). Les énergies fossiles ont encore compté l’an dernier pour près de 81% de cette consommation (contre 86% en 2005). Le pays a consommé davantage de produits pétroliers dans les transports en 2016, de gaz pour la production d’électricité et dans le secteur industriel mais significativement moins de charbon (- 9%) pour la troisième année consécutive.
The resurgence is due to the industry making itself more competitive, in much the same manner that the shale oil & gas players made themselves more competitive in response to a collapse in commodities prices.
by Jean-Louis Schilansky, Président du Centre Hydrocarbures Non Conventionnels, 3 Avril 2017
Le début du XXIe siècle connaît une période inédite d’abondance et de diversité énergétique, marquée par d’importantes avancées technologiques dans la production d’énergie. Les développements les plus notables concernent l’essor des énergies renouvelables et des ressources d’hydrocarbures non conventionnels, en particulier de pétrole et de gaz de schiste en Amérique du Nord
Chinese engineer and inventor Feng Weizhong has an easy answer to how China plans to keep slashing coal use and power-station emissions while relying on coal to provide at least 55 per cent of its massive energy demand for decades to come. The effervescent Professor Feng, who is also general manager of a large Shanghai power plant, explained to The Australian how the country can contrive to do both at the same time. “Simple! It’s clean coal!”
Believe it or not, America has been fracking oil wells since right around the time of the Civil War. That said, modern oil well fracking didn’t start taking shape until the 1940s, and it wasn’t until the 1990s when it was combined with horizontal drilling to unleash the shale gas boom. The industry eventually transferred those two techniques into oil drilling when Continental Resources (NYSE:CLR) drilled the first commercially successful well in the North Dakota Bakken.
In 2016, U.S. crude oil exports averaged 520,000 barrels per day (b/d), 55,000 b/d (12%) above the 2015 level, despite a year-over-year decline in domestic crude oil production. Even though oil exports have increased, growth in U.S. crude oil exports has slowed significantly from its pace from 2013 to 2015, when annual U.S. crude oil production grew rapidly.
La géologie, une science plus que passionnante … et diverse