Tag Archives: Gulf Coast

Air Force drone crash closes remote Florida highway

An Air Force drone being tested at a nearby base crashed on takeoff Wednesday near a remote stretch of a Florida Panhandle highway. Officials say no one was injured but the road would be closed into Wednesday night.

The Air Force closed Highway 98 west of Panama City and east of Mexico Beach because of possible fires from the crash. Officials said the drone has a limited, 24-hour battery life and would be inactive after the battery depleted.

According to an Air Force fact sheet, the QF-4 is tested at nearby Tyndall Air Force Base and at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. The plane is a modified F-4 Phantom aircraft, which has been in use since the 1950s.

Public information officials at Tyndall released a brief statement about the crash and declined to answer specific questions about the drone or the reason for the crash.

James Lewis is a military technology expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and said the QF-4 was likely used for target practice by Tyndall’s F-22 Raptor pilots.

“It is an older fighter plane they have modified for use as a target,” Lewis said. “The QF-4 is not a drone in the way we normally think of drones. It is not used for anything other than to be shot down. It is an old aircraft that would otherwise be sold for scrap.”

The Air Force fact sheet said the plane is controlled remotely, simulates enemy aircraft maneuvers and missiles are fired at it. An explosive device in the plane destroys it if it becomes uncontrollable, the fact sheet said.

Highway 98 hugs the Gulf Coast and is a popular route for tourists looking for scenic drive from Panama City to Florida’s Big Bend region.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Capture of Zetas leader unlikely to quell violence

The capture of the notoriously brutal Zetas leader Miguel Angel Trevino Morales is a serious blow to Mexico’s most feared drug cartel but experts cautioned that taking down the group’s command structure is unlikely to diminish violence in the border states where it dominates through terror.

Trevino Morales, 40, was captured before dawn Monday by Mexican Marines who intercepted a pickup truck with $2 million in cash on a dirt road in the countryside outside the border city of Nuevo Laredo, which has long served as the Zetas’ base of operations. The truck was halted by a Marine helicopter and Trevino Morales was taken into custody along with a bodyguard and an accountant and eight guns, government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez told reporters.

It was the first major blow against an organized crime leader by a Mexican administration struggling to drive down persistently high levels of violence. Experts on the Zetas said that the arrest, at least the eighth capture or killing of a high-ranking Zeta since 2011, could leave behind a series of cells scattered across northern Mexico without a central command but with the same appetite for kidnapping, extortion and other crimes against innocent people.

“It’s another link in the destruction of the Zetas as a coherent, identifiable organization,” said Alejandro Hope, a former member of Mexico’s domestic intelligence service. “There will still be people who call themselves Zetas, bands of individuals who maintain the same modus operandi. There will be fights over illegal networks.”

The Zetas remain active in Nuevo Laredo, the nearby border state of Coahuila, the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, parts of north central Mexico and Central America, although Trevino Morales’ arrest means the gang has become “a franchise operation not a vertical organization,” said George Grayson, an expert on the Zetas and professor of government at the College of William & Mary.

The Zetas leader and his alleged accomplices were flown to Mexico City, where they are expected to eventually be tried in a closed system that usually takes years to prosecute cases, particularly high-profile ones.

Trevino Morales, known as “Z-40,” is uniformly described as one of the two most powerful cartel heads in Mexico, the leader of a corps of special forces defectors who went to work for drug traffickers, splintered off into their own cartel in 2010 and metastasized across Mexico, expanding from drug dealing into extortion, kidnapping and human trafficking.

Along the way, the Zetas authored some of the worst …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

BP sets up anti-fraud hotline for spill claims

BP has set up a hotline for people to report alleged fraud involving claims arising from the company’s massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Monday’s launch of the hotline comes a week after a federal appeals court heard BP’s argument that it has been forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in settlement money to businesses with inflated or fictitious claims.

Earlier this month, a judge appointed former FBI Director Louis Freeh to investigate alleged misconduct by a lawyer who helped administer BP’s multibillion-dollar settlement with Gulf Coast residents and businesses.

BP said calls to the hotline can be anonymous and could entitle a caller to a reward if a tip leads to an indictment, recovery of money or denial of a claim.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Keystone XL State Department Hearing In Nebraska Features Passionate Pleas

By The Huffington Post News Editors

When Evan Vokes stepped to the microphone during a public hearing on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline on Thursday afternoon, one might have guessed he supported the plan to send Canadian tar sands oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Like most of the pipeline supporters at the hearing, Vokes wore a polished suit. But the engineer informed those gathered in the Heartland Event Center in Grand Isle, Neb., that he’s actually a former employee of TransCanada, the pipeline operator, who has since turned whistleblower. Vokes described shoddy practices, cut corners and a “culture of intimidation and coercion.”

“TransCanada management has not demonstrated the moral fiber to ensure compliance,” Vokes told the three-member State Department panel considering the environmental impact of the pipeline ahead of the White House decision on the project.

Read More…
More on Keystone Pipeline

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/keystone-xl-hearing-state-department-hearing_n_3113223.html

Approach Resources Inc. Announces Preliminary Production for First Quarter 2013 and Schedules First

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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Approach Resources Inc. Announces Preliminary Production for First Quarter 2013 and Schedules First Quarter 2013 Conference Call for Friday, May 3, 2013

FORT WORTH, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Approach Resources Inc. today announced preliminary production for first quarter 2013 of 754 MBoe (8.4 MBoe/d), compared to 654 MBoe (7.2 MBoe/d) produced in first quarter 2012, a 15% increase. Estimated oil production for first quarter 2013 increased 63% to 310 MBbls, compared to 191 MBbls produced in first quarter 2012. Estimated production for first quarter 2013 was 41% oil, 28% NGLs and 31% natural gas, compared to 29% oil, 33% NGLs and 38% natural gas in first quarter 2012.

As previously reported, estimated production for first quarter 2013 was impacted by a third-party NGL fractionation facility repair and maintenance, decreasing our average volumes by approximately 6.1 MBoe/d beginning the second week in March. As of April 6, 2013, substantially all production was back online. Turnaround activity for NGL fractionators along the Gulf Coast typically occurs during the spring season. We currently do not expect further downtime as a result of this activity, but will provide an update if conditions change.

Beginning April 3, 2013, we began flowing oil down our joint venture pipeline, which is a 38-mile pipeline primarily in Crockett and Reagan counties. We expect that the oil pipeline will enable the Company to efficiently transport our crude oil production to market, reduce our transportation differential and provide optionality for accessing markets with superior price realizations.

Conference Call Scheduled for May 3, 2013

Approach will host a conference call on Friday, May 3, 2013, at 10:00 a.m. Central Time (11:00 a.m. Eastern Time) to discuss first quarter 2013 financial and operating results. The Company plans to issue first quarter 2013 results after market close on Thursday, May 2, 2013.

To participate in the conference call, domestic participants should dial (866) 783-2138 and international participants should dial (857) 350-1597 approximately 15 minutes before the scheduled conference time. To access the simultaneous webcast of the conference call, please visit the Calendar of Events page under the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website, www.approachresources.com,15 minutes before the scheduled conference time to register for the webcast and install any necessary software. The webcast will be archived for replay on the Company’s website until August 1, 2013.

In addition, the Company will host a telephone replay of the call, which will be

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/15/approach-resources-inc-announces-preliminary-produ/

Amid federal investigation, coal exports at record levels

From the time coal is scooped from the depths of the Spring Creek strip mine in Montana’s wide-open Powder River Basin until it travels more than 6,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean to power plants in South Korea, the price can increase more than fivefold.

Mining companies, however, are only paying government royalties on the price of the coal when it is mined from federal lands, not when it is sold for more overseas, saving them millions of dollars in the process.

As the Interior Department investigates the industry’s export practices and considers a new royalty system, several exporters in the Montana-Wyoming coal region — the nation’s most productive — are planning to increase shipments abroad to energy-hungry Asia.

Whatever the department decides on royalties, a matter currently under internal review, the results have the potential to cut into profits at a time when the industry is looking to foreign markets to offset some of the daunting challenges it faces at home.

Proposed ports on the West Coast have the potential to increase U.S. coal exports by 60 to 100 million tons a year, said Jim Rollyson, an energy analyst with the advisory firm Raymond James.

“The international export market is where long-term growth for the industry might come from,” Rollyson said. “If you’re the government, that’s real money you’re trying to get there.”

Federal officials forecast that 175 coal-burning power plant units will be shuttered in the next five years, equal to 8.5 percent of the total electricity produced by coal, largely because of competition from cheap natural gas and costs of complying with new environmental regulations.

Overseas markets, by contrast, have been booming.

While analysts expect demand to slip temporarily this year, 2012 saw a record 125 million tons of coal exported from the U.S. Some in the industry project that figure could double in just the next five years if new ports and port expansions are built in Washington state, Oregon and the Gulf Coast.

Federal officials declined to say what they’ve uncovered since the royalties investigation was announced in February. But they’ve said the probe will continue under the leadership of recently confirmed Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

“We take this issue very seriously and remain fully committed to collecting every dollar due,” said Patrick Etchart with Interior’s Office of Natural Resource Revenue.

Among the major coal producers from federal lands in the West, Peabody Energy and Spring Creek owner Cloud Peak Energy have denied any wrongdoing, while Arch Coal, Inc., has declined to comment.

The investigation into the industry follows concerns raised by two prominent U.S. senators — Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and the committee’s ranking minority member, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

They’ve warned taxpayers could lose many millions of dollars annually if royalties are unfairly calculated. “Taxpayers deserve to know if Interior’s oversight and regulations have kept up” with the rise in exports, said Wyden spokesman Keith Chu.

Royalties currently are paid based on the mine price of coal — about $10.55 a ton in the Powder River Basin, kept low by the volume

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/XPevvQXZnLg/

The U.S. Oil Import Story in 5 Charts

By Aimee Duffy, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

You can’t read the news lately without some mention of the current domestic energy boom. The U.S. is producing more oil than it has in a long time, and as a result we are importing less oil than we have in decades. Today, I’m going to take a closer look at five charts to show what it is exactly we are importing, where it comes from, where it goes, and what our energy import future really looks like.

1. Imports by type
Unless explicitly referred to as crude oil, when we read about “oil imports” the number tossed about often includes refined petroleum products such as diesel, jet fuel, and gasoline. Though the overwhelming majority of our oil imports are in fact comprised of crude oil, we do import significant quantities of refined products. In March, crude oil imports were about 7.6 million barrels per day, while products imports came to about 1.8 million barrels per day. The chart below shows the types of products and relative quantities that made up the bulk of our petroleum imports last year, not including crude oil.

Source: EIA 

2. Imports from world regions
Many politicians tout “North American” energy independence as an achievable goal in the coming years, and the chart below indicates why. As recently as March of this year, Mexico and Canada were two of our three top sources for oil imports. In fact, in January Mexico actually sent us more oil than Saudi Arabia did, the difference between imports from the two countries often comes down to volumes as small as 100 barrels per day.

Source: EIA 

You’ll notice that imports from Nigeria and Angola are among the smallest slivers in this pie chart. Light sweet crude from West Africa has almost completely been replaced by light sweet crude produced domestically in places like North Dakota and South Texas.

3. Imports to U.S. regions
Our changing import story has different effects on different regions of the country. For example, the major refining center on the Gulf Coast has drastically cut imports, as evidenced by the chart below. That move makes sense: Domestic oil is cheaper, so refiners are buying that instead.

Source: EIA 

The Midwest region is increasing imports, which sounds perplexing; after all, the Midwest is home to the Bakken Shale, the source of much of U.S. production growth right now. But the Midwest also serves as a hub for Canadian crude imports, and that line on our chart will probably continue to tick upward in the future.

4. Watch out for falling imports
Last month, the EIA released a report that indicated that if everything goes according to plan, next year the U.S. will produce more oil than it imports for the first time since 1995.

Source: EIA 

5. Surging domestic production
As the chart above shows, increasing production is a big part of

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/13/the-us-oil-import-story-in-5-charts/

Blueknight Extends Open Season for Pecos River Pipeline Extension

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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Blueknight Extends Open Season for Pecos River Pipeline Extension

OKLAHOMA CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Blueknight Energy Partners, L.P. (NAS: BKEP) (NAS: BKEPP) (“BKEP” or the “Partnership”), a midstream energy company providing integrated services for companies engaged in the production, distribution and marketing of crude oil, asphalt and other petroleum products, announced today it is extending the open season for the north extension of the Pecos River Pipeline until April 26, 2013 to allow potential shippers to finalize arrangements for committed space. BKEP will also continue to accept new shipper commitments during the extended open season.

“We have received a strong positive response from producers and shippers in the area to the Pecos River Pipeline extension, which will provide active drillers in New Mexico and the Pecos, Texas, area a safe, cost-effective way to transport their product to the Gulf Coast market,” said Mark Hurley, BKEP‘s chief executive officer. “Extending the open season for this project will let producers and shippers complete the contracting process and give others an opportunity to perform due diligence.”

The 95-mile Pecos River Pipeline extension will transport crude oil from southern New Mexico to Pecos, Texas and will then connect to the Pecos River Pipeline and continue on to Crane, Texas. The Pecos River Pipeline is currently under construction and is expected to be complete in the second half of 2013. The extension project will provide another transportation option into the Midland area for producers and marketers in a rapidly emerging production area underserved by current pipeline capacity. The termination point at Crane offers shippers access to Magellan Midstream Partners’ Longhorn system and the Midland market.

Potential shippers interested in additional details can contact Jake Everett at 832-331-2201 or jeverett@bkep.com or sign up for more information online at www.bkep.com/open-season.

About Blueknight Energy Partners, L.P.

BKEP owns and operates a diversified portfolio of complementary midstream energy assets consisting of approximately 7.8 million barrels of crude oil storage located in Oklahoma and Texas, approximately 6.6 million barrels of which are located at the Cushing Oklahoma Interchange, approximately 1,264 miles of crude oil pipeline located primarily in Oklahoma and Texas, approximately 280 crude oil transportation and oilfield services vehicles deployed in Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas and approximately 7.2 million barrels of combined asphalt product and residual fuel oil storage located at 44 terminals in 22 states. BKEP provides integrated services

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/12/blueknight-extends-open-season-for-pecos-river-pip/

Williams Partners, Shell Create Midstream Joint Venture to Serve Shell and Other Producers

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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Williams Partners, Shell Create Midstream Joint Venture to Serve Shell and Other Producers

  • Three Rivers Midstream to Serve Shell, Other Producers in Wet-Gas Area of Marcellus, Utica Shale
  • Would Support Development of the Petrochemical Market in the Northeast
  • New Venture Has Long-Term Fee-Based Dedicated Gathering, Processing Agreement for Shell’s Production in Area; Plans to Build Large-Scale Gas Processing Complex
  • New Processing Facility Would Have Access to NGL Fractionation, NGL Connections to Shell’s Proposed Petrochemical Facility, and the Bluegrass Pipeline JV

TULSA, Okla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Williams Partners L.P. (NYS: WPZ) announced today that it has agreed to launch a new midstream joint venture with Shell to provide gas gathering and gas processing services for production located in Northwest Pennsylvania. The venture will invest in both wet-gas handling infrastructure and dry gas infrastructure serving Marcellus and Utica Shale wells in the area.

The new venture, Three Rivers Midstream, has signed a long-term fee-based dedicated gathering and processing agreement for Shell’s production in the area, including approximately 275,000 dedicated acres. The joint venture also plans to pursue gathering and processing agreements with other producers in the liquids-rich areas of Northeast Ohio in addition to Northwest Pennsylvania.

Three Rivers plans to construct a 200 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) cryogenic gas processing plant and related facilities. The location will be determined at a later date. The planned large-scale gas processing complex would be expandable as Three Rivers‘ business grows. The initial plant is expected to be placed into service by second quarter 2015.

“This new joint venture builds on our strategy of creating large-scale infrastructure solutions that will provide Shell and other producers with access to the best markets for their natural gas and natural gas liquids, whether they be in the Northeast or the Gulf Coast,” said Alan Armstrong, chief executive officer of Williams Partners‘ general partner.

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/11/williams-partners-shell-create-midstream-joint-ven/

Full House Resorts Announces Extension of the Grand Lodge Casino Lease

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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Full House Resorts Announces Extension of the Grand Lodge Casino Lease

LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Full House Resorts (NAS: FLL) today announced that its lease with an affiliate of Hyatt Hotels Corporation for the Grand Lodge Casino at Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino in Incline Village, Nevada has been extended and is now scheduled to expire on August 31, 2018. All other terms of the lease remain unchanged.

“We are very appreciative of the strong working relationship we have developed with the Hyatt organization and thank them for this extension,” said Andre Hilliou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Full House Resorts. “The extension will allow us to invest in a much-needed new casino management system for the Grand Lodge Casino.”

About Full House Resorts, Inc.

Full House owns, develops and manages gaming facilities. The Company owns the Rising Star Casino Resort in Rising Sun, Indiana. The Rising Star Casino has 40,000 square feet of gaming space with almost 1,300 slot and video poker machines and 37 table games. The property includes a 190-room hotel, a pavilion with five food and beverage outlets, an 18-hole Scottish links golf course and a large, multi-purpose Grand Theater for concerts and performance events as well as meetings and conventions. The Company acquired the Silver Slipper Casino in Hancock County, Mississippi on October 1, 2012, which has 37,000 square feet of gaming space with almost 1,000 slot and video poker machines, 26 table games, a poker room and the only live Keno game on the Gulf Coast. The property includes a fine dining restaurant, buffet, quick service restaurant and two casino bars. Full House also owns Stockman’s Casino in Fallon, Nevada and operates the Grand Lodge Casino at Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino in Incline Village, Nevada on the north shore of Lake Tahoe under a lease agreement (expiring on August 31, 2018) with an affiliate of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. In addition, the Company has a management agreement with the Pueblo of Pojoaque for the operations of the Buffalo Thunder Casino and Resort in Santa Fe, New Mexico along with the Pueblo’s Cities of Gold and Sports Bar casino facilities.

Further information about Full House Resorts can be viewed on its website at www.fullhouseresorts.com.

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/11/full-house-resorts-announces-extension-of-the-gran/

Crimson Exploration to Present at the IPAA 2013 Oil & Gas Investment Symposium

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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Crimson Exploration to Present at the IPAA 2013 Oil & Gas Investment Symposium

HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Crimson Exploration Inc. (NasdaqGM:CXPO) today announced that Allan D. Keel, President and Chief Executive Officer, will present at the IPAA 2013 Oil & Gas Investment Symposium at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers located at 811 Seventh Avenue at 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019 on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 at 1:35 PM ET.

An audio webcast of the presentation can be accessed at http://www.investorcalendar.com/CEPage.asp?ID=170817 or by visiting the Company’s website at http://crimsonexploration.com. A copy of the presentation will be posted to the website in the “Investor Relations” section prior to the start of the Company’s presentation.

Crimson Exploration is a Houston, Texas-based independent energy company engaged in the exploitation, exploration, development and acquisition of crude oil and natural gas, primarily in the onshore Gulf Coast regions of the United States.

Additional information on Crimson Exploration Inc. is available on the Company’s website at http://crimsonexploration.com.

Crimson Exploration Inc.
E. Joseph Grady, 713-236-7400
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
or
Josh Wannarka, 713-236-7400
Manager of Investor Relations and FP&A

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  New York  Texas

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

The article Crimson Exploration to Present at the IPAA 2013 Oil & Gas Investment Symposium originally appeared on Fool.com.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

PBF Energy Announces Supply Agreement with Continental Resources for Bakken Crude Oil

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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PBF Energy Announces Supply Agreement with Continental Resources for Bakken Crude Oil

PARSIPPANY, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– PBF Energy Inc. (NYS: PBF) announced today the signing of an agreement with Continental Resources Inc. (NYS: CLR) to supply PBF with Bakken crude oil, which will be delivered by rail to PBF‘s double-loop track at its refinery in Delaware City, DE.

Commenting on the transaction, Don Lucey, PBF‘s Chief Commercial Officer, said, “We are pleased to be working directly with Continental Resources, a leader in domestic crude oil production and a major producer and supplier in the Bakken play. We look forward to growing our relationship with them.”

Continental Resources is the largest producer and leaseholder in the Bakken, with significant supply arrangements with refiners on the West Coast, the Gulf Coast, and now the East Coast. Continental Resources President and Chief Operating Officer, Rick Bott, added, “This unique transaction illustrates the emerging shift in the light sweet crude market. In addition to diversifying Continental’s customer base and streamlining our value chain, it allows us to deliver unblended premium Bakken crude to the East Coast – a market that has historically been driven by imports of foreign oil.”

PBF‘s Chief Executive Officer, Tom Nimbley, said, “PBF has made significant investments in acquiring rail cars and developing our East Coast rail delivery infrastructure to increase our access to North American crude oil, which positions PBF to benefit from these cost-advantaged crudes. Delaware City‘s heavy and light crude rail discharge facilities allow us to work directly with producers in Canada and the Mid-continent, like Continental Resources, and provide us with a competitive advantage versus northeast refiners that rely on third parties to deliver North American crude oil.”

PBF also announced that the company opened a new office in Oklahoma City. This office, along with PBF‘s Calgary, Alberta office, will focus on sourcing North American crude oils and feedstocks for the company’s refineries.

PBF: Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release relating to future plans, results, performance, expectations, achievements and the like are considered “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which may be beyond the company’s (PBF Energy Inc. and subsidiaries) control, that may cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Pump Prices Predicted to Drop for 2nd Summer in a Row

By Justin Loiseau, The Motley Fool

2013 Ford Focus ST

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Prices at the pump are expected to drop for the second consecutive summer, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report (link opens in PDF) released today.

After a 34% spike from 2010 to 2011, summer retail gasoline prices bumped down in the summer of 2012 and are expected to drop again this summer. According to EIA‘s report, drivers can expect an additional $0.06 shaved off this summer’s per-gallon cost, putting the average at $3.63, compared to last summer’s $3.69 average.

Source: eia.gov. 

The EIA assessment notes lower Brent crude oil prices, non-OPEC supply growth, and increased fuel economy as the main drivers behind the projected drop.

On a regional basis, West Coast pump prices should drop the most, from $4.02 last summer to $3.89 per gallon  this summer. The Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions are expected to receive a $0.09 cut from 2012’s pump prices, followed by a $0.04 drop on the East Coast and a $0.02 decrease for the Gulf Coast.

link

The article Pump Prices Predicted to Drop for 2nd Summer in a Row originally appeared on Fool.com.

Y
ou can follow Justin Loiseau on Twitter, @TMFJLo, and on Motley Fool CAPS, @TMFJLo.
Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don’t all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

ExxonMobil Reminds Us of the Risks of Pipelines

By Matt DiLallo, The Motley Fool

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Oil giant ExxonMobil is being sued for $5 million after one of its pipelines burst which led to a small oil spill in an Arkansas town.The Exxon pipeline, Pegasus, was carrying Canadian crude oil from Illinois to the refinery hub of the Gulf of Mexico. While the cause of the spill is still under investigation, it’s not believed to have had any major impact on the drinking water supply, though it still caused damage to a handful of houses. Two of those homeowners are now filing suit saying that the rupture has caused permanent damage to area property values. 

While the lawsuit represents just pocket change for Exxon, the incident is a reminder of the risks faced by pipeline operators. An incident like this can come with a high price tag. Whether its cleanup, lawsuits, or lost revenue, these costs have the potential to have a negative effect on the operator’s bottom line. Investors in major pipeline operators like Kinder Morgan Pipeline Partners and Enterprise Products Partners are much better insulated against these risks because of the diversity of their operations as well as their balance sheet strength. However, if you’re considering swapping out for a smaller operator with a higher yield, you might want to think twice before you make that move.

Given that one invests in a pipeline company with one goal in mind – income – you want that income to be as secure as possible. Those distributions could be at risk, if you’re invested in the wrong operator. If a larger portion of the company’s income flows from one asset, you could be exposing yourself to more risk than you realize. 

If that pipeline has a major rupture that causes great environmental and property damage, then it’s impact on operations would be substantial and could be compounded if the company’s business is saddled with a lot of debt. To avoid this risk, invest in a company with a diversified asset base and solid balance sheet. Further, look to see if the company’s largest asset is partnered with another company with an even stronger risk profile. 

For example, Enterprise’s major oil pipeline to the Gulf Coast, Seaway, is partnered with Enbridge . The 500-mile pipeline was recently reversed and is undergoing a major capacity expansion program. This partnership helps both companies mitigate some of the risk should the pipeline ever have a major, long-term disruption.

Enbridge and its affiliates have had its share of pipeline problems over the past couple of years. One of the worst was a 2010 spill in the Kalamazoo River system. In that spill the EPA says more than 1.1 million gallons of oil and 200,000 cubic yards of oil-contaminated sediment and debris were removed. That spill is believed to have cost the company more than a billion dollars to clean up. Given Enbridge‘s size and scale, it was able to absorb those costs. The question you need to ask yourself is if the company you’re considering could do the same. …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

PAA Natural Gas Storage Completes Successful Pine Prairie Open Season

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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PAA Natural Gas Storage Completes Successful Pine Prairie Open Season

HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)– PAA Natural Gas Storage, L.P. (NYSE: PNG) today announced the successful completion of a non-binding open season for firm storage capacity at its Pine Prairie Energy Center facility. In response to the open season announcement that requested bids for firm storage capacity with a starting date of April 1st during 2015, 2016 or 2017, Pine Prairie received non-binding bids for an aggregate of 12.5 Bcf of firm storage capacity. The bids were from a diverse set of customers, highlighting the facility’s appeal across geographies and customer classes.

Located in south Louisiana, the Pine Prairie Energy Center is one of the largest salt dome gas storage facilities in the United States. Pine Prairie is a high-deliverability facility with the authorization and capability to receive and inject up to 2.4 Bcf per day and to withdraw and deliver up to 3.2 Bcf per day. Pine Prairie is directly connected to eight large-diameter interstate pipelines and provides storage and balancing services to customers from the Northeast, Midwest, Southeast and the Gulf Coast. Pine Prairie‘s interconnectivity allows customers access to major supply basins throughout the United States, and the facility’s significant deliverability and proximity to major existing and developing demand centers along the Gulf Coast positions it to provide critical balancing services to a variety of end use customers, including electric power generators, the growing petrochemical market and major LNG exporters.

PAA Natural Gas Storage is a publicly traded master limited partnership engaged in the development, acquisition, operation and commercial management of natural gas storage facilities. The Partnership currently owns and operates three natural gas storage facilities located in Louisiana, Mississippi and Michigan. The Partnership’s general partner, as well as the majority of the Partnership’s limited partner interests, is owned by Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYS: PAA) . PNG is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

PAA Natural Gas Storage, L.P.
Investors:
Roy I. Lamoreaux, 713/646-4222 – 800/564-3036
Director, Investor Relations
or
Media:
Brad Leone, 713/646-4196
Manager, Communications

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  Canada  Louisiana  Texas

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

The article PAA Natural Gas Storage Completes Successful Pine Prairie Open Season originally appeared on Fool.com.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

U.S. Energy Boom Won't Change Anything

By Tyler Crowe, The Motley Fool

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Despite the previous woes of the American energy industry, there is a wave of optimism around the production of domestic energy. We may have a long way to go before we can consider ourselves energy independent, but we’re heading in the right direction.

Whenever times are getting better, it’s easy to get caught up in hyperbolic rhetoric. Mostly because we want things like $2.50 a gallon gas and for the country to be a net exporter of oil. Unfortunately, we need to take a step back and realize there are some things that are just not going to change. Here are three things that will still happen no matter how strong the U.S. energy resurgence may be.

Oil prices will still go up
For those of you who were holding out for the potential of gasoline costing less than $2.50 a gallon, I’m sorry but that’s just not going to happen. Yes, American production has increased to its highest level since 1985 and, yes, oil consumption has gone down 11% from its high in 2005. But, we need to keep in mind that oil is a global commodity and the U.S. is only one part of the equation.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Agency, authors’ calculations 

To a certain degree, prices are dictated by how much the weakest links are willing to pay for oil. In this case we have China and India, two booming economies with less than 1.3% of the worlds total petroleum reserves combined. Skyrocketing demand and lagging domestic production have vaulted China and India to numbers one and four in total oil imports, respectively. 

As much as we like to believe that American companies would not let foreign demand drive domestic prices, ask yourself this question: If you were a major manufacturer and saw that your product commanded a much higher price overseas than domestically, then you would probably sell to that market, right? The same can be said for oil. Refining specialist Phillips 66 currently aims to export about 375,000 barrels per day of finished products from its refineries across the U.S. because there is much greater opportunity in markets overseas.

U.S. imports will never go away
At the peak of U.S. oil imports in 2005, we were importing from 86 different countries. The varying characteristics of all these different types of oil made American refineries extremely adept at processing crude. In particular, refineries in the Gulf of Mexico have become particularly good at refining heavy, sour crudes from Venezuela and Mexico. Valero , the largest independent Gulf Coast refiner with a capacity of 1.7 million barrels per day, sources over 53% of its Gulf Coast refining capacity from heavy, sour crudes.

Today, many newly discovered unconventional sources are very light, sweet, and easy to refine. Since our Gulf Coast refineries are still geared toward heavy, sour crudes, we will continue to import that grade to use in these facilities. In fact, one type of …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Is America Losing the Natural Gas Export Game?

By Tyler Crowe and Aimee Duffy, The Motley Fool

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U.S. policymakers have dragged their feet on a definitive answer for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, exports for quite a while, and several countries are taking advantage of the delay. With over $150 billion at stake, companies in Australia, Canada, and Papua New Guinea have made a strong push to build out LNG export terminals to capture the lucrative Asia-Pacific market.

In this video, Fool.com contributor Tyler Crowe explains how the concentration of possible LNG export facilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast will not help the country capture this market, and how there are several companies that are betting on better success on other shores. Investors shouldn’t completely fret, though, because many American companies are the ones setting up shop overseas.

The growing production of natural gas from hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling is flooding the North American market and resulting in record-low prices for natural gas. Enterprise Products Partners, with its superior integrated asset base, can profit from the massive bottlenecks in takeaway capacity by taking on large-scale projects. To help investors decide whether Enterprise Products Partners is a buy or a sell today, click here now to check out The Motley Fool’s brand new premium research report on the company.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Whiting Petroleum Corporation Announces First Quarter 2013 Earnings Release Date and Conference Call

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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Whiting Petroleum Corporation Announces First Quarter 2013 Earnings Release Date and Conference Call

DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Whiting Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:WLL) will release its first quarter 2013 financial and operating results on Wednesday, April 24, 2013 after the market closes. A conference call with investors, analysts and other interested parties is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. EDT (10:00 a.m. CDT, 9:00 a.m. MDT) on Thursday, April 25, 2013 to discuss Whiting’s first quarter 2013 financial and operating results. Please call (866) 515-2911 (U.S./Canada) or (617) 399-5125 (International) to be connected to the call and enter the pass code 71718725. Access to a live Internet broadcast will be available at http://www.whiting.com by clicking on the “Investor Relations” box on the menu and then on the link titled “Webcasts.”

A telephonic replay will be available beginning approximately two hours after the call on Thursday, April 25, 2013 and continuing through Thursday, May 2, 2013. You may access this replay at (888) 286-8010 (U.S./Canada) or (617) 801-6888 (International) and entering the pass code 52179437. You may also access a web archive at http://www.whiting.com beginning approximately one hour after the conference call.


About Whiting Petroleum Corporation

Whiting Petroleum Corporation, a Delaware corporation, is an independent oil and gas company that explores for, develops, acquires and produces crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids primarily in the Rocky Mountain, Permian Basin, Mid-Continent, Michigan and Gulf Coast regions of the United States. The Company’s largest projects are in the Bakken and Three Forks plays in North Dakota and its Enhanced Oil Recovery fields in Oklahoma and Texas. The Company trades publicly under the symbol WLL on the New York Stock Exchange. For further information, please visit http://www.whiting.com.

Whiting Petroleum Corporation
John B. Kelso, 303-837-1661
Director of Investor Relations
john.kelso@whiting.com

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  Colorado

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

The article Whiting Petroleum Corporation Announces First Quarter 2013 Earnings Release Date and Conference Call originally appeared on Fool.com.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Who Wins if Keystone XL Is Approved?

By Arjun Sreekumar, The Motley Fool

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The debate over the controversial northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline continues to rage.

On the one side are environmentalists and climate change campaigners who argue that the pipeline’s construction would be like a slap in the face to all those who take global warming seriously.

They suggest that green-lighting Keystone would lead to further development in Alberta’s oil sands – a region where oil production emits substantially greater quantities of greenhouse gases than conventional methods. This, they argue, would raise the earth’s temperature to potentially dangerous levels.

But the energy companies have their own agenda and continue to push for Keystone’s approval. Let’s take a look at some of the companies likely to benefit from Keystone’s construction.

Energy companies pushing for Keystone
If constructed, TransCanada‘s 875-mile Keystone XL Pipeline expansion project would transport up to 830,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Alberta’s oil sands to Steele City, Neb. From Nebraska the crude would make its way to Cushing, Okla., from where it would be moved south via Seaway – a major pipeline that runs from Cushing to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast and is operated jointly by midstream companies Enbridge and Enterprise Products Partners .

Refiners in particular would benefit tremendously from the pipeline, which would bring them barrel upon barrel of heavy, sour crude – a type of oil for which they currently have to rely on countries like Mexico and Venezuela.

Many are so thirsty for heavy crude oil that they’ve turned to alternative methods like rail and barge to get it. For instance, Valero‘s president, Joe Gorder, announced earlier this month that the company is looking into shipping Canadian crude via rail and barge to two of its plants – its Wilmington refinery in southern California, which would accept crude delivered via rail, and its St. Charles refinery in Louisiana, which would process crude shipped by barge from a delivery point in Illinois.

Similarly, PBF Energy announced in February that, starting next year, it will use rail to ship some 80,000 barrels a day of Canadian crude oil to its Delaware refinery. And Phillips 66 recently announced that its California refineries have now started to accept rail deliveries of heavy Canadian crude.

Another group of energy companies that stands to benefit from Keystone are the oil sands producers themselves. Due to limited outbound infrastructure from Alberta, these companies have languished at the hands of extremely low prices for their product, which, until recently, traded at more than a $30 discount to West Texas Intermediate, the main benchmark for American crude oil. Faced with shrinking margins, many have been forced to curtail spending.

Suncor, Canada‘s largest oil and gas producer by market value, announced in December that it would reduce its capital spending budget for 2013 by C$200 million. And Canadian Natural Resources , another major oil sands player, said that it plans to cut costs related to thermal sand production, a process used to heat …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Exxon's Not So Minor Oil Spill

By Arjun Sreekumar, The Motley Fool

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In the energy industry, oil spills are more common than one might think. Though media attention tends to focus primarily on the most devastating ones, smaller ones do happen from time to time, despite the industry’s renewed focus on safety measures since the infamous BP Deepwater Horizon incident – the worst accidental oil spill in history.

Just ask ExxonMobil .

ExxonMobil pipeline ruptures
On March 29, ExxonMobil’s 940-mile Pegasus crude oil pipeline ruptured near Mayflower, Ark. – a town some 25 miles northwest of Little Rock. According to the Mayflower Incident Unified Command Joint Information Center, the spill has been classified as a major one by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

The pipeline, which starts in Patoka, Ill., transports some 95,000 barrels per day of mainly heavy Canadian crude oil to a terminal in Nederland, Texas, that is operated by Sunoco Logistics, now part of Energy Transfer Partners . Exxon reversed the line’s flow in 2006 in order to transport crude to the Gulf Coast refining hub.  

Pegasus, which is 20 inches in diameter, serves refineries in the Port Arthur and Beaumont regions. According to Bloomberg, there are four major plants near Nederland – operated by Exxon, Valero , Total, and Motiva Enterprises – that are capable of processing some 1.4 million barrels of crude a day.

At the time it ruptured, the line was transporting Wabasca Heavy Crude from western Canada. Wabasca Heavy is a blend of heavy crude oil produced in Alberta’s oil sands by Cenovus Energy, Canadian Natural Resources , and Suncor Energy. Due to its physical qualities, it is in high demand by U.S. Gulf Coast refiners.

Effect on benchmark crude prices
The line’s temporary closure, which will reduce the supply of crude from western Canada and the U.S. Midwest, is likely to worsen the glut of oil in those regions. Due to limited transportation options, crude oil in those two regions has been trading at a substantial discount to the global crude oil benchmark, Brent.

In fact, Western Canada Select (WCS) – the benchmark for western Canadian crude – had been trading at a discount more than $30 even to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) – the primarily U.S. crude oil benchmark – until very recently, due to severe limitations in outbound pipeline capacity from Alberta.

WTI‘s discount to Brent, which narrowed to its lowest level since July on March 28, increased to $14.01 on Monday, as WTI fell $1.22. Meanwhile, WCS slipped by $0.65 a barrel on Monday and was trading at a roughly $15 discount to WTI toward the end of the day.  

Exxon’s response
Exxon is currently under way with an excavation and removal plan for the damaged portion of the pipeline. In an announcement yesterday, the company said it gathered roughly 12,000 barrels of oil and water from the spill.  

It also reportedly deployed fifteen vacuum trucks and 33 storage tanks to the area where the spill occurred. According to a statement by …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance