US shale oil supply shock shifts global power balance

BBC

A steeper-than-expected rise in US shale oil reserves is about to change the global balance of power between new and existing producers, a report says.

Over the next five years, the US will account for a third of new oil supplies, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The US will change from the world’s leading importer of oil to a net exporter.

Demand for oil from Middle-East oil producers is set to slow as a result.

“North America has set off a supply shock that is sending ripples throughout the world,” said IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven.

America the Independent: Oil Production Ready to Overtake Imports

AmericanInterest

Andrew Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates expects the government data to show that U.S. production actually surpassed imports in March, when it releases its final March data at the end of the month. [...]

The Energy Information Administration said Wednesday in its Short-Term Outlook that U.S. oil production averaged 7.1 million barrels per day in the first quarter, and that should rise to 8.5 million barrels per day by the fourth quarter of 2014.

It expects average production of 7.4 million barrels per day in 2013, up from 6.5 million barrels per day in 2012. EIA also said it expects liquid fuel net imports, including crude and petroleum products to keep falling, from 7.4 million barrels per day in 2012 to 5.7 million barrels per day by 2014.

Some Good News!

Keystone XL picks up Senate backing

The Senate on Friday voted 62-37 to approve the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline in an amendment to Senate budget.

Sen. John Hoeven’s (R-N.D.) amendment was largely symbolic, but served as a clear statement that the Senate backs the pipeline.

“It puts the Senate on record in support of the Keystone pipeline project. And that’s just appropriate,” Hoeven said. “The Department of State has done four environmental impact statements over the last five years — four — and said there are no significant environmental impacts. And it’s time that we in the Senate stepped up with the American people.”

‘Secret energy revolution’ could hasten end to dependence on foreign oil

Science!

A wealth of new technologies — from underwater robots to 3-D scanners to nano-engineered lubricants — are transforming the energy exploration industry in ways that will hasten the end of America’s reliance on Middle East oil.

That’s the take on America’s “secret energy revolution,” according to a report in the Washington Guardian. And the proof is in the balance sheets: According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, monthly imports of oil peaked in Sept. 2006 at 12.7 million barrels per day and has declined 40 percent since then, to 7.6 million barrels in Nov. 2012.

That’s partly due to falling demand, as the U.S. economy contracted and drivers with smaller wallets balked at the high price of gas. Cars became more fuel efficient as well, often powered by batteries rather than gas. But it’s also largely due to the increased production of oil on U.S. shores, the IISS said.

So, why’s our gas STILL so high??

U.S. Oil Production At Record Level Despite Obama’s Restrictions

IBD

Earlier this month oil output hit its highest level in the U.S. since the summer of 1992.

That’s good, but it could be better. The Obama administration won’t get out of the way.

During the week of Feb. 15, the U.S. produced 7.118 million barrels of crude per day, according to Energy Department data.

Domestic production hasn’t been that high since the third week of August 1992, when the country was pumping 7.12 million barrels a day.

Keystone XL pipeline: Nebraska’s approval puts Obama in a bind

CSM

In just the first week of his second term, President Obama is being confronted with what could become one of the most controversial decisions of his presidency: what do with the Keystone XL pipeline.

Mr. Obama put off the decision twice, citing concerns that the 1,700-mile pipeline extensions present environmental safety concerns in Nebraska. The original plans had it stretching along the Ogallala Aquifer, an underground water supply that is the greatest irrigation source to US farmland, supplying eight states. Sixty-five percent of the aquifer is in Nebraska, which makes the state ground zero in the debate over the pipeline.

The president ultimately blocked the pipeline’s approval in January 2012, which then allowed TransCanada, the operator based in Calgary, Alberta, to draft a new proposal in May.

On Tuesday, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman (R), who previously hesitated at approving the project, sent Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton a letter saying he is now satisfied with the pipeline’s new routing. The potential environmental risks, he says, are lessened.

Tapping Into the Well

InsideHigherEd

North Dakota, unlike almost every other state, is poised to make an unprecedented spending increase in its higher education system. The state’s governor has proposed a 14 percent increase — about $90 million – in the 11-campus system’s operating budget for the next biennium, as well as an additional $177 million in one-time capital expenditures. Politicians and education leaders hope an infusion of cash will help transform the system – which has struggled with inconsistent direction and leadership – into one of the country’s best.

The proposal stands out in higher education because most states are still cutting budgets in the wake of the economic downturn, which led to a 25 percent decline in per-student funding between 2006-07 and 2011-12, according to the College Board. At the same time, Republican lawmakers in other states have begun to question the value of state investments in higher education, with some calling for even greater austerity.

The situation in North Dakota couldn’t look any different. The state’s economy did not take any meaningful hit during the economic downturn that began in 2008, so the increases would come on top of decent budget years to start with. Recent developments in natural gas and oil drilling have dramatically transformed the economy of the western portion of the state, generating multibillion-dollar budget surpluses for a state of about 700,000 people. And Republican lawmakers are eager and excited to invest in higher education.

Oil Imports Reach New Low

AmericanInterests

America is about to reach a new energy milestone: According to recent government forecasts, oil imports will will drop to the lowest level in more than 25 years in 2014. The FT reports that imports will fall to six million barrels per day, half of the 12 million barrels per day we imported from 2004–07, putting America well on the road to energy independence.

Our increasing energy independence has a lot to do with the new drilling technologies changing the domestic oil production landscape. Because of new extraction techniques like fracking and horizontal drilling, the International Energy Agency now believes that the U.S. will become the world’s largest oil producer by the end of the decade, perhaps even cutting net imports down to zero.

It’s all your’s, Barry

Can’t blame Bush for the mess now…

Earnings falling

Poverty rising

Food-stamp enrollment skyrocketing

Jobless claims jumping

Inflation creeping up

Coal plants closing

Small banks disappearing

Want some cheese with that whine?

An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

ABCNews

Drillers in Utah and Colorado are poking into a massive shale deposit trying to find a way to unlock oil reserves that are so vast they would swamp OPEC.

A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimated that if half of the oil bound up in the rock of the Green River Formation could be recovered it would be “equal to the entire world’s proven oil reserves.”