INDUSTRY NEWS
USA Oil and Gas Employs Almost 1 Million in 2022
Thirty-seven percent of all oil and gas jobs nationwide were located in Texas last year, the report highlighted, adding that Texas was the leading state by employment in every single sector in 2022, with the exception of Natural Gas Distribution (California), and that Texas had the highest number of oil and gas businesses in the nation last year with 12,306.
Offshore Oil And Gas Is Back, Baby
“Over the past year and a half, everyone started drilling again offshore, and they want to use the most efficient rigs and all of a sudden, bam!” Noble Corp chief executive Robert Eifler told the Wall Street Journal. “After eight years we basically have full utilization of the high-end drillship fleet.”
Oil Traders Weigh Up Market This Week
This week, one of Rigzone’s regular market watchers takes a look at demand trends, oil price moves, and a surprising Henry Hub development.
Is The USA Strategic Petroleum Reserve Stock Dangerously Low?
“U.S. SPR levels are currently low compared with previous decades, but can still be drawdown during emergencies, although at a slower rate,” the analyst added.
California City Gives Up On 100% Renewable Plan
Huntington Beach, California, is changing the plan it had in place with the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA)—a nonprofit offering clean energy. But its recent history in a rather unfavorable media limelight has given the city council pause.
Putin’s Energy Weapon Is Losing Its Power
Vladimir Putin’s plans are falling to pieces. Slowly but surely, Russia is losing its war against Ukraine. At the same time, it is losing nearly all of its most key political and economic allies, and losing a decent chunk of the market for its energy exports, which serve as the backbone of the Russian economy.
Texas O&G Sector Closes 2022 With Continued Employment Growth
According to TIPRO’s analysis, direct Texas upstream employment for December 2022 totaled 211,200, an increase of 1,300 jobs from November employment numbers, subject to revisions. Texas upstream employment in December 2022 represented the addition of 36,100 positions compared to December 2021, including an increase of 7,000 jobs in oil and natural gas extraction, and 29,100 jobs in the services sector.
Gas starts to flow to Freeport LNG export plant in Texas
U.S. LNG exports have been steadily increasing for years and Freeport, the second biggest U.S. LNG export plant, is one of a number of key facilities for shipments around the world, where demand has soared following Russia's decision to largely cut off piped gas supply to Europe after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Why Are Gasoline Prices Creeping Up?
Both West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent oil prices have climbed notably since January 4, when WTI closed at $72.84 per barrel and Brent closed at $77.84 per barrel. On January 17, WTI closed at $80.18 per barrel, while Brent closed at $85.92 per barrel.
U.S. Department of Energy rejects initial bids to resupply oil stockpile
The U.S. Department of Energy has rejected the first batch of bids from oil companies to resupply a small amount of oil to the nation’s emergency crude oil stockpile in February, according to a DOE spokesperson.
EPA Clarifies Permian Redesignation Position
In a statement sent to Rigzone late last week, the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) noted that, within a new regulatory agenda released by the Biden administration, the EPA “seemingly … dropped its pursuit of imposing ‘discretionary redesignation’ of air quality conditions in the Permian Basin”.
Exxon prepares to start up $2 bln Texas oil refinery expansion
Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) in coming days will sharply boost gasoline and diesel production at its Beaumont, Texas, refinery, people familiar with the matter said, completing a $2 billion expansion first considered nine years ago.
Solar Energy Rejections Soared in 2022
You won’t read about this in The New York Times or The New Yorker, but 2022 was a record year for the number of solar energy projects that were rejected by rural communities in the United States.
U.S. Congress To Vote On Ending SPR Oil Sales To China
Senators James Lankford and Ted Cruz introduced a No Emergency Crude Oil for Foreign Adversaries Act over the summer—the bill would have banned the export of crude oil from the nation’s reserve stockpile to countries such as China.
Largest U.S. Refinery Back Up and Running
The nation’s largest crude oil refinery, Motiva Enterprises, shut down on December 23 as a cold snap ripped through much of the country. Motiva, located in Port Arthur, Texas, has a capacity of more than 630,000 bpd, according to the company website.
Louisiana, Texas To Gain Thousands of Energy Jobs At Start of 2023
LSU concluded by predicting that Louisiana is expected to gain about 3,500 jobs by the second quarter of 2023. Texas is forecasted to gain about 12,200 upstream jobs between August 2022 and the second quarter of 2023.
Germany Stops Importing Oil From Russia Via Pipeline
Germany halted imports of Russian oil via pipeline on January 1, following through on a previous pledge to stop buying Russian pipeline crude despite the fact that the EU embargo exempts pipeline flows from Russia to Europe.
Analysts Predict 1 Million Bpd Drop in Russian Crude Output
The European Union’s ban on Russian oil products set to come into force on February 5 could lead to a 1 million barrel per day drop in Russian crude oil output for the New Year, commodity analysts for UBS told Insider on Monday.
Oil Majors Exxon And Chevron Shift Focus To Americas
Both U.S. supermajors have said in their releases about the 2023 capital budget allocation that they would focus on the Permian and a handful of oil and gas projects in North and South America.
Title of Largest LNG Exporter In First Half Of 2022 Goes To The US
U.S. LNG exports continued to grow for three reasons – increased LNG export capacity, increased international natural gas and LNG prices, and increased global demand, particularly in Europe.