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What Plummeting Crude Prices Could Mean for U.S. Production
In the last month, crude prices worldwide have plummeted. Largely due to a strong U.S. dollar, along with increased production from booming shale plays across the country, these falling prices have translated into a welcoming sight at the pump for American consumers,...
Definition of Condensate Up For Debate
In recent months, condensate has become one of the primary focuses of oil and gas producers across the U.S. Condensate is an ultra-light, minimally refined form of hydrocarbon liquid that is abundant in many shale plays across the country. It’s typically recovered...
Study Shows Pipelines are Safest Way to Transport Oil
As crude output from shale plays in the Midwest and Texas push pipeline capacity to its limits, the use of alternative transport methods to get oil from well sites to refiners have become increasingly prominent. In Bakken especially, railcars and highway tanker trucks...
More Producers Seeking Approval to Export Condensate
Earlier this year, Pioneer Natural Resources and pipeline logistics company Enterprise Product Partners were given approval by the U.S. Department of Commerce to export condensate – a minimally refined form of light crude oil. Condensate makes up roughly half of the...
Gulf of Mexico’s Lower Tertiary Could Contain $1.5 Trillion in Recoverable Oil
After significant decline in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon incident in 2010, drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico are finally ramping back up. Most of the current activity has been centered on the Gulf’s Miocene reservoir, a proven oil-producing formation...
Economists Pressuring Policymakers to Lift the Crude Export Ban
In late October, free-market economists throughout the U.S. officially launched the “Unlock Crude Exports” initiative, a campaign that will aim to pressure policymakers in Washington to take action and lift the near 40-year old ban on crude exports. Implemented in the...
Gulf of Mexico Oil Lease Sale Set for March of 2015
Earlier this month, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced that in March, the U.S. federal government will hold a lease sale to offer up more than 40 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) for oil and gas exploration. All together, the sale will...
New Rail Shipping Safety Regulations Making Waves in North Dakota
Due in large part to a number of major rail oil shipment accidents over the last two years - including the highly publicized derailment in Lac Megantic, Quebec last July that left 47 dead - North Dakota’s Industrial Commission has proposed new regulations that would...