industryterm:shale oil

New U.S.-Russia-Saudi oil alliance could also have implications for Israel and Iran

A reported deal between Putin and the Saudi crown prince means they will have members of OPEC over a barrel when they meet in Vienna this weekend – but Jerusalem will be an interested spectator as well

Anshel PfefferSendSend me email alerts
Jun 20, 2018

▻https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-u-s-russia-saudi-oil-alliance-could-affect-israel-iran-too-1.61968

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman didn’t look like someone whose national team was losing 5-0 to Russia last Thursday. The broad smiles as he sat beside Russian President Vladimir Putin in the VIP box at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium indicated the opening match of the World Cup was just an excuse for their meeting.
According to briefings by Russian officials after the crown prince had left Moscow, he and Putin had agreed on a joint policy worth more than any sports trophy.
The two governments – also two of the world’s major energy producers – had reportedly agreed to “institutionalize” the relationship between Russia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Does this include all the OPEC members who are meeting in Vienna on Friday? Almost certainly not.
OPEC exists in theory to ensure its members’ market share of the global energy market and to try and boost oil prices, ensuring their major source of income remains lucrative. But it depends on consensus and coordination between the members. And geopolitics can intrude – in this case, the deepening enmity between two of the major oil producers: the Saudis and Iran.
In 2016, following a prolonged dip in oil prices (which saw the price of a barrel of crude drop to below $30), OPEC’s 14 members – along with OPEC Plus, a second group of associated nations, including Russia – agreed to cut back production. Along with the rise in global financial activity, this has gradually pushed oil prices back to over $70 a barrel.
Now, though, some nations – led by the Saudis and Russia – are calling for an increase in production. They are losing market share to U.S. shale oil producers and argue that, since demand is currently high, putting more oil on the market will not dramatically affect prices. They calculate that any dip in prices will be offset by the increase in production.
But not all OPEC members are capable of boosting production.
Iran, about to come under stiff new sanctions from the Trump administration, is already losing orders worth hundreds of thousands of barrels. In Venezuela, production is already plummeting due to political turmoil and the economic meltdown under the Maduro government, which also faces U.S. sanctions. For both countries, lower oil prices will only compound their financial woes.

Bahrain’s Biggest Oil Find Since 1932 Dwarfs Reserves - Bloomberg
▻https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-01/bahrain-says-its-biggest-oil-find-since-1932-dwarfs-reserves

https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iDOYUjra_fA0/v1/1200x807.jpg

• Kingdom currently has two fields, one shared with Saudi Arabia
 • New undersea deposit lies off Gulf nation’s western coast

Bahrain, the smallest energy producer in the Persian Gulf, discovered its biggest oil field since it started producing crude in 1932, according to the country’s official news agency.

The shale oil and natural gas discovered in a deposit off the island state’s west coast “ is understood to dwarf Bahrain’s current reserves, ”Bahrain News Agency reported, without giving figures. U.S. consultants DeGolyer & MacNaughton Corp. evaluated the field, and Bahrain plans to provide additional details on Wednesday about the reservoir’s “size and extraction viability,” BNA reported.
[…]
Bahrain discovered the offshore Khaleej Al Bahrain Basin as it seeks to expand output capacity at its wholly owned Bahrain Field to 100,000 barrels a day by the end of the decade. The country is pumping about 45,000 barrels of oil a day from its Bahrain Field, and it shares income from a deposit with Saudi Arabia that produces about 300,000 barrels a day, according to figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Jordanie : Emergence d’un débat sur l’achat de gaz naturel à Israël
‘Israel gas deal will save Jordan JD700m annually’ | The Jordan Times
▻http://jordantimes.com/israel-gas-deal-will-save-jordan-jd700m-annually

Lawmakers at the EDAMA event warned against relying on Israeli gas, stressing that Jordan should tap its local resources including renewable energy and shale oil.

“There is always a conflict of interest with Israel. At a certain point, they might stop giving us gas. Although we have a peace treaty with Israel we remain at hostilities with the Zionist entity,” Jamal Gammouh, head of the Lower House Energy Committee, said at the meeting.

“We cannot look at Israel as an economic partner. This has serious social and economic consequences. We need to focus on alternatives,” said Gammouh.

Jawad Anani, chair of the Senate Energy Committee, said Jordan needs not to rely on the Israeli gas.

“We need to learn a lesson. We used to rely on Egyptian gas and it suddenly stopped and we were in trouble,” said Anani.

“We need political assurance that there will be no cuts. Relying on Israeli gas is risky,” said Anani.

“Jordan should focus on local resources. We should never be dependent on external resources,” he added, referring to oil shale and renewable energy.

#Jordanie #électricité #Israël #énergie

Native Americans Launch ‘Love Water Not Oil’ Ride To Protest Fracking Pipeline | EcoWatch
▻http://ecowatch.com/2014/08/19/winona-laduke-protest-fracking-pipeline

Winona LaDuke, executive director of Native environmental group Honor the Earth, launched the “#Love_Water_Not_Oil” horse ride this week to draw attention to the group’s continued opposition to the Enbridge Sandpiper pipeline. It would carry fracked oil from North Dakota’s Bakken shale oil fields through the Sandy Lake and Rice Lake watersheds in northern Minnesota. The area is not only rich in recreational fishing facilities but it is also home to vast fields of wild rice or manoomim, a Native American staple.

This is the only land that the Anishinaabe know, and we know that this land is good land, and this water is our lifeblood. One-fifth of the world’s fresh surface water supply lies here, and it is worth protecting. Our wild rice beds, lakes and rivers are precious—and our regional fisheries generate $7.2 billion annually and support 49,000 jobs. The tourism economy of northern Minnesota represents $11.9 billion in gross sales (or 240,000 jobs).

#eau #pétrole #vie #écologie #contestation

Improving U.S. oil production reaches milestone in October, agency says
▻http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/improving-us-oil-production-reaches-milestone-in-october-agency-says/2013/11/13/dd01db86-4c97-11e3-9890-a1e0997fb0c0_story.html

The United States produced more crude oil in October than it imported for the first time since early 1995, as domestic shale oil output continued to surge and U.S. consumption of petroleum products remained relatively flat, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2013/11/14/National-Economy/Graphics/w-oil1114.jpg

The trend is expected to continue for another decade as U.S. domestic oil supplies grow and reliance on imports shrinks, easing one of the main sources of pressure on global oil markets.

The turnaround in U.S. oil fortunes has been rapid. Five years ago, U.S. oil production hit a 62-year low. Since then, domestic production has increased by more than 50 percent.

#énergie #pétrole #pétrole_de_schiste #Etats-Unis