Gas And Oil Production News

Changes to the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) announced today by the Commonwealth must be assessed carefully by Australia’s oil and gas industry, said the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA).“Attracting investment in natural gas and oil production has never been more important for Australia,” said APPEA Chief Executive Dr Malcolm Roberts.“As Australia relies on foreign investment to develop our natural resources, it is vital that we have a stable, competitive tax regime.“Investors are always concerned when long-standing tax arrangements change. Since 1987, the PRRT has attracted investment to Australia while delivering $35 billion in revenue for the community.“The independent Callaghan Review confirmed the PRRT is an effective profits tax which delivers…

A day before President Barack Obama addressed the United Nations to declare the nation is "stepping up to the plate" to tackle climate change, nearly 400,000 protesters jammed New York City streets in a climate change march. Many held signs calling for an end to fracking. Environmental activists see the U.S. natural gas and oil production boom, spurred by fracking, as a major contributor to global warming. Obama has lauded the country's shale boom as an economic boon and a geopolitical lever. But Obama administration officials told the Reuters Global Climate Change Summit this week that the United States can be an energy superpower and still provide global leadership on climate.

There are many different views on the future of energy supplies, but strong agreement in two areas; over the next 25 years or so population growth and GDP growth in the developing economies, particularly China and India, will drive global energy demand to increase by some 50% and second; while oil’s share of the energy mix will decline, the largest growth will be in consumption of natural gas. Why? Natural gas is an outstanding fuel for power generation, gas-fired power plant has the lowest Capex…

Wärtsilä's unique GasReformer uses steam reforming technology to convert associated gas to a quality that can be used as gas-engine fuel. The Wärtsilä GasReformer enables gases produced during oil production, which by nature are rich in heavy hydrocarbons, to be converted into a methane rich product for utilization in Wärtsilä dual-fuel engines operating at full performance levels. Traditionally such gases would be flared and wasted. While catalytic conversion of hydrocarbon feeds to hydrogen is a known process dating back to the early 20th century…

Obama Administration Announces New Partnership on Unconventional Natural Gas and Oil Research. Today, three federal agencies announced a formal partnership to coordinate and align all research associated with development of our nation’s abundant unconventional natural gas and oil resources. The partnership exemplifies the cross-government coordination required under President Obama’s executive order released earlier today, which created a new Interagency Working Group to Support Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources. This new partnership will help coordinate current and future research and scientific studies undertaken by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S.

An attempt to open a new section of the Gulf of Mexico to drilling cleared a major hurdle in the Senate, the Jackson Clarion Ledger reported. The 72-23 vote to end debate on a bill that would allow the first new offshore drilling in years was hailed by the nation's oil and gas industry as well as manufacturers, farmers and other businesses who seek decreases in the price of energy, especially natural gas. Promoted by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., the offshore drilling bill would open about 8.3 million acres in the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas exploration. The area is expected to produce 1.2 billion barrels of oil and enough natural gas to heat and cool 6 million homes for 15 years.

A new floating production, storage and off-loading (FPSO) facility being built to extract oil and gas from offshore Brazil will include gas compression modules worth approximately $35 million from the Dresser-Rand Company. The FPSO, which will operate in the Petrobras Albacora Leste field, is anticipated to produce approximately 180,000 barrels of oil and 6.0 million cubic meters of gas a day. The compression equipment will be used for gas lift oil production as well as for gas transmission from the FPSO by pipeline to shore. Operation is expected to begin in September 2003. Dresser-Rand will provide three compression trains including DATUM high-efficiency centrifugal compressors driven by variable speed drive (VSD) electric motors, and a control room.