Foreign Energy News

Oil and gas companies and environmental groups on Monday filed dueling legal challenges to the Biden administration's five-year plan to offer drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico.The petitions to a U.S. appeals court come four months after the Interior Department unveiled a congressionally-mandated plan for offshore leasing that included just three sales, the lowest since the government began publishing the schedules in 1980.The American Petroleum Institute, an oil and gas trade group…

The Biden administration on Thursday postponed a Nov. 8 sale of offshore drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico pending the outcome of a lawsuit over oil and gas development and federal protection of an endangered species of whale.The move comes after a U.S. appeals court on Oct. 26 temporarily paused a lower court order requiring the Interior Department's U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to expand the auction, which was originally scheduled to be held in September.Oral arguments are scheduled for Nov.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a new raft of executive actions to combat climate change, including pausing new oil and gas leases on federal land and cutting fossil fuel subsidies, as he pursues green policies he billed as a boon for job creation.The orders map out the direction for the Democratic president's climate change and environmental agenda and reverse the policies of his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, who sought to maximize U.S. oil, gas, and coal output by removing regulations and easing environmental reviews."In my view…

The Biden administration has temporarily suspended oil and gas leasing and permitting on federal lands and waters while it evaluates the legal and policy implications of the program, according to a Department of Interior memo.The move appears to be a first step in delivering on newly sworn-in President Joe Biden's campaign promise to ban all new federal drilling permits, part of his wider agenda to combat global climate change.The order was welcomed by environmentalists and derided by the oil and gas industry…

In just a few months, the U.S. will be fully energy independent and by 2030, the country's total primary energy production will outpace primary energy demand by 30 percent.According to the Norwegian market research consultancy Rystad Energy, this milestone follows a strong period of growth in both hydrocarbon and renewable resources."We forecast that the US will have primary energy surplus – and not a deficit – by February or March 2020, depending on the intensity of the winter season,” says Sindre Knutsson, vice president on Rystad Energy’s gas markets team.“Going forward, the United States will be energy independent on a monthly basis, and by 2030 total primary energy production will outpace primary energy demand by about 30%,” Knutsson added.These developments are already in full swing.

Exxon Mobil Corp will exit some joint ventures with Russia's Rosneft, citing Western sanctions first imposed in 2014, while the Russian company said the pullout will result in serious losses for its U.S. partner. The move is an about-face for Exxon, which had opposed the sanctions over Russia's invasion of Crimea and argued they unfairly penalized U.S. companies while allowing foreign energy rivals to operate in the country, the world's largest oil producer. Yet the sanctions…

The Italian energy major Eni SpA discovered a “super giant” natural gas field offshore Egypt in what the Italian oil company said is the largest find in the Mediterranean Sea. The Zohr gas field covers any area of 100 square kilometers and Eni said that "it could become one of the world’s largest natural-gas finds” and supply Egypt's needs for decades. Eni, owned by the Italian government, said that the field contains an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas. This compares with up to 22 TCF in Israel's Leviathan field. "This historic discovery will be able to transform the energy scenario of Egypt," said Claudio Descalzi, chief executive of Eni. Eni, which has full concession rights to the area, is the biggest foreign energy firm in Africa.

An interview with NOIA’s Randall Luthi provides unique perspective on where the offshore energy business has been, where it is now, and where it could be headed next. It is a predictable but at the same time, an important anniversary to examine: five years beyond the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which began on 20 April 2010 on the BP-owned, Transocean-operated Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. Widely considered to be the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the energy industry, oil flowed from the sea floor for 87 days until capped in mid-July. The environmental impact is well documented, the ultimate impact of the incident on the offshore and oil industries today has been profound, lasting and without a doubt, it made the offshore business safer.

Egypt will launch a tender for a second liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in the coming weeks, which could help address the country's ongoing energy crisis, a source at the state gas board said on Tuesday. High consumption, along with foreign firms' reluctance to invest in the sector until the government pays billions of dollars it owes, have turned the country from a net energy exporter into a net importer over the last few years. Egypt can export LNG, which is natural gas chilled to minus 162 degrees Celsius into a liquid state, but it cannot import it without installing regasification and storage terminals. The country finalised a long-delayed deal last month with Norway's Hoegh LNG for a floating storage and regasification unit that will allow it to begin LNG imports.

Australian oil and gas company Santos and Singapore-based Kris Energy signed a production-sharing contract (PSC) on Wednesday to explore oil and gas in Bangladeshi waters. State-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation, known as Petrobangla, awarded shallow water blocks SS-11 in the Bay of Bengal to the two foreign energy firms. Santos, which in October shut down operation of Bangladesh's only offshore gas field, saying it was not commercially viable, will be the operator of the new project and Kris Energy will join as a co-partner. "It (gas exploration) is a continuous process to make Bangladesh a middle-income country by 2021 and also to become a developed country by 2041," Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith told reporters at the signing ceremony.

Tthe U.S. could become the largest exporter of LNG in the world, with reservations, providing ... By 2017 the U.S. could be the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas in the world, surpassing leading LNG exporters Qatar and Australia. There is one big "if," however. America can produce more gas, export a surplus, improve the trade deficit, create jobs, generate taxable profits and reduce its dependence on foreign energy if the marketplace is allowed to work and politics doesn't get in the way, postulates John R. Siegel. President of investment advisors J.J. Richardson in a Barron's article. He provides as an example: In May 2011 Cheniere Energy received an Energy Department license to export LNG from its Sabine Pass LNG import terminal in Louisiana.

The Naval Academy's Waterfront Readiness Department refueled yard patrol (YP) craft 692 with a biofuel blend Sept. 15 at Naval Support Activity Annapolis, demonstrating the academy's commitment to the Navy's energy goals. The fuel is a 50/50 blend of petroleum and a renewable algae-based biofuel, HRD-76. Last month, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the Navy's latest initiative to partner with federal and private organizations in creating a sustainable U.S.-based alternative energy source, citing energy independence as necessary to national security. Richard Leung, an engineer with Naval Sea Systems Command who accompanied the shipment of 4,000 gallons of biofuel to Annapolis, also emphasized the need for alternative energy.

The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) strongly supports the responsible development of all offshore energy sources and applauds the announcement by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar of the establishment of both the Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium and the new Atlantic Offshore Renewable Energy Office in Virginia. “All forms of energy are important to our economic and energy security,” said NOIA President Randall Luthi. The NOIA membership includes Cape Wind, which on April 28, 2010 received the first ever DOI approval for an offshore wind farm. Other NOIA member companies include those who are positioned to provide essential services to future offshore energy projects.

Although the delegates to the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) Dec. 7 - 18 in Copenhagen failed to agree on a legally binding replacement of the Kyoto Protocol, many opportunities already exist to save energy and reduce carbon emissions through improved energy efficiency in homes, schools, offices and other commercial buildings. "While it's true that the removal of political and economic barriers would provide a significant boost to global energy efficiency, it's important to remember that many of today's technologies produce the desired effect -- improving energy efficiency, saving money and reducing carbon emissions in the process," said Robert Wilkins, president of Danfoss North America.

According to Xinhua, the latest official blueprint on the China's shipbuilding industry urges the country to crank up efforts over the next five to ten years in order to shoulder its way into the elite club of independent mainstream shipbuilders. Key development targets enshrined in the National Medium-and Long-Term Plan of the Shipbuilding Industry include: ships to reach international levels of technological sophistication; annual output to hit 17 million deadweight tons (dwt); annual production capacity of medium- and low-speed ship diesel engines to reach 4.5million kw and 1,100 units respectively in order to meet domestic demand; more than 60 percent of ship equipment to be produced locally.

America's thirst for energy and high fuel prices after hurricanes Katrina and Rita have rekindled the fight over oil and gas drilling off Florida, where clean beaches are the bedrock of a $57 billion-a-year tourism industry. Environmentalists say they are girding for battle as pump prices of $3 a gallon soften longstanding support for bans on offshore drilling, once sacred to Florida politicians and the state's 17 million people. With Washington pressing for new domestic oil and gas sources to ease U.S. dependence on foreign energy, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, long sought by oil companies, has risen to the top of the national agenda again.