Government

Venezuela’s crude production lowest in 16 years

In April 2019, Venezuela’s crude oil production averaged 830,000 barrels per day, down from 1.2 million barrels per day (Mmbpd) at the beginning of the year, according to the Energy Information Administration. Last month’s average is the lowest level since January 2003, when a nationwide strike and civil unrest largely brought the operations of Venezuela’s

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South Dakota sues Texas O&G company for $15.5M

The state of South Dakota is suing a privately-held Texas-based exploration and production company for $15.5 million for abandoning 40 natural gas wells in Harding County, Kallanish Energy reports. The South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources (Denr) is requesting the court require Spyglass Cedar Creek and its general partners, Kevin Sellers and March Kimmel, to bring the wells

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PG&E power lines caused California’s ‘deadliest wildfire’: officials

California authorities said Wednesday power lines owned and operated by Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. (PG&E) caused the state’s most destructive wildfire ever – which killed 85 and nearly destroyed an entire city, Kallanish Energy learns. Lines owned by the San Francisco-based utility sparked the Camp Fire on Nov. 8, in Butte County, California, the state Department of Forestry and Fire

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Pipeline explosion forces producer into bankruptcy

A natural gas explosion last September in a pipeline not yet in service has led to an independent producer backed by Goldman Sachs’s private equity arm and the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Kallanish Energy reports. EdgeMarc Energy Holdings plans to sell all of its assets, the company said Wednesday, blaming an

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Working gas stored increases, EIA reports

The volume of working natural gas injected into storage in the Lower 48 U.S. states the week of May 3, slowed from the previous week’s triple-digit increase, but marked the sixth straight week of volume increases, the Energy Information Administration reported. During the latest survey week, 85 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of working gas was

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Three Mile Island Unit 1 to shut by Sept. 30

The owner of the plant where North America’s worst nuclear power-related accident took place four decades ago, confirmed the facility’s lone remaining operating unit will shut down this September, Kallanish Energy reports. Exelon Generation said Three Mile Island (Tmi) Generating Station Unit 1, located near Middletown, Pennsylvania, on an island south of the state capital city

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West Virginia governor’s mines sued by feds

The U.S. government sued nearly two dozen of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s coal companies Tuesday to get them to pay roughly $4.8 million in unpaid mine safety fines. The civil lawsuit was filed by federal prosecutors in Virginia on behalf of the U.S. Department of Labor and the Mine Safety and Health Administration, The Associated

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Iraq planning $53B megaproject with Xom, PetroChina

Iraq is planning a $53 billion megaproject with global energy giants ExxonMobil and PetroChina to use seawater from the Persian Gulf to boost oil production, Iraqi prime minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi announced Tuesday, Kallanish Energy finds. The project would boost output from Iraq’s southern oilfields, and includes plans to capture natural gas, which is currently being

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Gibraltar opens LNG terminal

Gibraltar on Monday opened a liquefied natural gas regasification terminal, moving the British territory away from diesel-fuel power, Kallanish Energy reports. The project comes as part of Gibraltar’s effort to power its homes and businesses with cleaner energy. The 80-megawatt power plant was built by Anglo-Dutch giant Shell and its fully owned subsidiary Gasnor, which is also

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Opec is ‘likely to collapse,’ Iran’s oil minister warns

Iran’s oil minister last week warned Opec is “likely to collapse” because some members of the 14-nation group are working against their fellow producers, Kallanish Energy learns. It’s not hard to figure out the comments referred to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. When U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo first announced sanction waivers

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Crude rises Friday, falls for the week

Crude oil prices inched up Friday, as strong U.S. economic data boosted demand feelings, and as production drops in sanctions-hit Iran and Venezuela tightened the market, Kallanish Energy reports. Oil futures posted weekly declines on a jump in U.S. crude inventories reported recently. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled 13 cents higher, at $61.94 per

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Va. company proposes 200 MW wind farm in Illinois

The Goose Creek Wind Project, which would include up to 120 turbines producing as much as 200 megawatts of power in northern Piatt County, Illinois, has been proposed by Virginia-based Apex Clean Energy, Kallanish Energy reports. Apex hopes to have the wind farm project online by the end of 2021, the Piatt County Journal-Republican newspaper

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Kenney sworn in as Alberta’s premier

United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney was sworn in Tuesday as the 18th premier of Canada’s largest crude-producing province, Alberta, and named a cabinet he says will go to bat for the energy sector, Kallanish Energy reports. Kenney, a former conservative federal cabinet minister, won the election in a landslide victory against Rachel Notley’s New

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Catch The Buzz

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Buzz, a weekly feature where Kallanish Energy editors select the quartet of stories this past week we feel were the most important – have the chance to make the biggest impact on the oil and gas industry — and energy as a whole. This week’s selections include: Venezuela bypasses U.S. sanctions

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Venezuela bypasses U.S. sanctions by selling crude via Russia

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is moving cash from Venezuelan oil sales through Russian state energy giant Rosneft, as he looks to evade U.S. sanctions designed to oust him from power, according to sources and documents reviewed by Reuters. The sales are the latest sign of Venezuela’s growing dependence on Russia, as the U.S. tightens sanctions on Maduro,

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