A Barrel Full

It seems the only news worth talking about these days is gaseous, and top of the heap is always the unconventional gas. So news of a couple of potentially important deals in coal seam gas is about par for the course.
First we have Shell’s interest in the Australian company Arrow.
Shell Energy Holdings Australia Ltd. (Shell), […]

This news is from about a week ago, but I found it interesting on a number of levels.
KBR announced today that it has signed a Collaboration Agreement with BP to promote, market, and execute licensing and engineering services for the slurry bed residue and coal upgrading Veba Combi Cracker (VCC) Technology.
The first reason why I […]

My last post was on the potential of Venezuela’s heavy oil reserves. As if by magic, almost immediately we have news of a major new development. ENI and PDVSA are to form a Joint Venture to exploit a major heavy oil field.
Under the terms of the agreement, which will be finalized in the next 60 […]

In a move likely to cause sleepless nights in Caracus, The U.S. Geological Survey has reassessed the size of recoverable reserves in Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt, and pronounced them much bigger than before.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean volume of 513 billion barrels of technically recoverable heavy oil in the Orinoco Oil Belt Assessment Unit […]

Last week, the energy minister for Alberta made a controversial statement in an interview.
“I believe we have an opportunity to sit down as a cabinet and have that discussion and say, ‘As this thing starts to crank up again, are we going to change our policy of come one, come all into the development of […]

As prices fell at the end of last year, and remained weak at the beginning of this one, the general outlook for the Canadian Tar Sands industry was poor. Investment costs are high, and finance is difficult to come by. Running costs are also high, and low oil prices make many investment marginal at best. […]

A neat illustration of how natural resources are impacted by human ingenuity. The USA is the most heavily exploited place in the world when it comes to hydrocarbons. Reserves peaked years ago and have been on a downward trend ever since. Well almost ever since. Reserves were up in 2007 due to the oil bearing […]

The Bush administration put up more Shale Oil leases for grabs just days before leaving. The new administration has revised the terms but is once again offering more opportunities for oil companies to study this resource.
The Department of the Interior will offer a second round of research, development, and demonstration leases for oil shale in […]

Coal to liquids, has the potential to make a big impact on the oil industry. The basics are well developed and coal reserves are available in large quantities in many countries without oil. The quality of the products produced can also be controlled extremely well.
However it faces a couple of major hurdles:

Cost: The capital costs […]

With oil prices where they currently are, much of the Alberta tar sands are unprofitable, or very close to it. Producers in this region are far more vunerable to low oil prices than others. It is interesting to note therefore, that some have been protecting themselves.
Suncor Energy Inc. reports that it has entered into crude oil hedges […]