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(clips from recent Peak Oil News dailies are indicated by date and item #)
Russia’s oil production fell for the ninth straight month, down 0.4 percent in September compared to the same period last year, to 9.83 million barrels per day, the first time since 1998 that Russia will suffer an annual decline. In terms of new fields, there is very little that will come online in the next few years to boost production output. (10/5, #15)
The cost of adding new oil production is now $70 to $90 a barrel, according to JPMorgan and other analysts. Already, some producers are feeling the pinch. Petro-Canada, for example, signaled recently that the cost of developing oil sands in Canada would not be economical below $100 a barrel. (10/3, #4)
US natural gas production is expected to be nearly 8% higher this winter than last, due in large part to increases from unconventional gas plays. (10,4, #11)
Japan, the world’s third-largest oil consumer, said gasoline demand in August fell 14%, the most for the month since 1953 as prices climbed to a record. (9/30, #12)
Henry Groppe says “We’ve been telling our clients all year that oil prices would inevitably go down to $70 by the end of this year.” Over the next decade, he sees the price of oil climbing slowly just to $110. While Groppe agrees with Matt Simmons and T. Boone Pickens on the limits of the oil supply, he says they don’t pay enough attention to how sensitive demand is to price. (10,3, #21)
Ecuador‘s President Correa said he may expel foreign oil producers, including Spain’s Repsol and Brazil’s Petrobras, because of declining production. The companies, particularly Petrobras, have dragged their feet in contract negotiations in which Correa wants a greater share of the oil income. (10/5, #5)
International energy companies had hoped to gain a toehold in Mexico‘s unexplored deepwater territory in the Gulf of Mexico by partnering with Pemex, but congressional hearings on the reform package point to a more modest overhaul of energy legislation. (10/5, #6)
Iranian Oil Minister Nozari said that a price of under $100 for a barrel of crude oil is “unsuitable.” He also said Iran is targeting a share of the global gas market of between 8 percent and 10 percent, without specifying a date. Iran currently has less than 1 percent of the global gas market. (10/5, #1-#2)
Nigeria will consider stopping or suspending all LNG projects if adequate gas is not supplied for domestic use, according to Emmanuel Odusina, minister of state for gas. (9/30, #6)
Power-station coal prices at Australia’s Newcastle port, a benchmark for Asia, fell to near their lowest in six months on concern Chinese demand is slowing. From a peak of $195 in early July, the price has dropped one-third to $129. (9/29, #8)
The Kansas Energy Council recommends lowering the speed limit again. This time, they are considering a maximum speed of 65 miles per hour instead of 55. (10/2, #14)
Tata Motors, India’s biggest truck maker, abandoned its newly built factory for the world’s cheapest car because of violent protests by farmers, hampering plans to start selling the $2,500 vehicle this year. Tata Motors will move equipment and machinery from Singur in West Bengal to a new location to be decided later. (10/5, #8)
Shorter commutes are one way to reduce gasoline consumption, but a new study finds that not all cities are equal in how easy it would be to achieve that goal. Atlanta and Minneapolis may be the metropolitan areas that would find it most difficult to reduce the miles that workers commute each day. Meanwhile, Las Vegas and Miami may be areas where it would be easiest to reduce commuting miles. (10/5, #3)
In rural Alaska, high costs for fuel and food are driving people into cities. This year the poorest 20 percent of rural residents were paying 47 percent of their income in energy costs, compared to only 16 percent for energy as recently as 2000. (10/5, #5)
The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates $1.6 trillion is needed over a five-year period just to bring U.S. infrastructure-roadways and the grid-into a state of good repair. (10/5, #16)
Iraq’s oil ministry will list a second group of oil and gas fields that can be leased by International Oil Companies. Petroleum Intelligence Weekly reports the two rounds account for 94 billion barrels of Iraq’s 115 billion barrels of proven reserves. (10/4, #5)
Petrobras, Brazil’s oil company, and its partners in the Tupi field (estimated reserves: 5 billion barrels) may spend as much as $50 billion to develop what is the biggest discovery in the Americas since 1976, according to Deloitte. (10/4, #6)
Brazilian officials said the country will invest some $25 billion for the construction of new ethanol plants to meet domestic demand growth projected at 150% over the next decade. Brazil plans to expand its production capacity over the next 10 years by constructing 246 new distilling plants. (10/1, #6)
Pakistan‘s Electric Power Company says the addition of some 30 million energy-intensive electric home appliances, not just economic growth, is the major reason for the 3,570 MW power shortfall that resulted in the recent power crisis, (10/5, #4)
India’s electric power situation is bleak. The gap between supply and demand nationwide averages up to 16 percent at peak times, according to government figures, and 25 percent according to industry estimates. (10,3, #7)
Ukraine and Russia will switch to a new scheme for pricing Russian gas based on European market prices. (10/3, #15)
Global financial mayhem is dimming prospects for a strong new UN pact to fight climate change, but it might aid cheap schemes such as insulating buildings to save energy. The turmoil, straining government coffers with bank bailouts, may sap interest in more costly projects such as burying carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants, refining biodiesel or other renewable projects.(10/2, #4)
The U.S. Department of Energy delivered 900,000 barrels of crude from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to two refiners whose supply was disrupted as a result of the hurricanes last month. That brings the total delivered crude from the SPR to 5.7 million barrels. (10/2, #10)
US diesel exports: The EPA did not require refiners to invest the estimated $6 to $9 billion in technical improvements needed to meet the 2006 low-sulfur standards. As a result, U.S. refiners have continued to produce large amounts of high-sulfur diesel for export. The US now exports about 12% of its refined diesel production. Between 2004 US diesel exports increased from 12 million barrels to 150 million and 1,250 percent increase (10/2, #19)
Last week deployment of the first commercial wave energy farm in the world started 5 Km off the coast of Portugal. When all 25 units are deployed the project will have cost 70 million Euros and should produce 18.75 MW of power. (10,2, #20)
As of September 29th, 52 of the 3,800 offshore oil and gas production platforms have been confirmed as destroyed. Initial estimates are that the 52 destroyed platforms produced a total of 13,300 b/d of oil and 90 million cubic feet of gas per day. (10/1, #14)
Offshore quick fix? The reality is that it will be at least two years before an oil lease in a newly opened area (such as off the coast of Virginia, as could happen in 2010) is awarded and at least several more years, if not a decade, before any crude found comes into production. (10/1, #20)
US Secretary of Energy Bodman, concerned about Russia’s use of energy as a tool of foreign policy, said he would take up the issue with officials at a meeting this week in Vienna. “I am concerned when…there seems to be a pattern of using energy and their God-given resources to affect foreign policy.” (10/1, #3) [Editor’s memo to Bodman: wake up and smell the Starbucks.]
Scottish Power Ltd. plans to invest more than $184 million on tidal-power developments as the utility develops energy production that doesn’t add to carbon-dioxide emissions. (9/29, #17)
