Russia’s strategy to expand its network of pipelines was rewarded in late January, 2017 when President Vladimir Putin announced the commissioning of three pipelines as feeders to connect that country’s natural gas to Europe and oil lines to refineries in Asia-Pacific. The first, operated by Gazprom, is the Bovanenkovo-Ukhta 2 natural gas line, along with…
For the first time in years, China’s national oil companies (NOCs) are presumed to boost spending in 2017. CNOOC Ltd. announced it had allocated $10 billion (U.S.) to produce 450—460 barrels/day. PetroChina Co. and Sinopec Corp. are both expected to do the same, although their focus will be on natural gas exploration and production. “The…
In late January, 2017 Russia edged out Saudi Arabia to become China’s largest oil supplier. The Russians offered more flexible contracts than the fixed, long-term legal agreements it had previously signed with Saudi Aramco. The Saudis have also had to cut back production to meet its share of the recent OPEC deal. China-watchers believe the…
A new tie-up between a Netherlands-headquartered subsea services firm and a Scottish university hope the application of deep learning could provide a breakthrough in automating subsea pipeline inspections. Services provider N-Sea and the University of Strathclyde’s Institute of Sensors were recently awarded funding from the Data Lab Innovation Centre. “Subsea inspection services have been transformed…
The much-feared border-adjusted corporate tax (BTA), championed by the Republicans in U.S. House of Representatives, could thrust the benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) price higher than North Sea Brent, predicts the ubiquitous analysts at Goldman Sachs. The BTA has been designed to improve the competitiveness and profitability of American manufacturers by taxing imports, while exempting…
AltaGas (TSX:ALA) celebrated the grand opening of its Pomona Energy Storage Facility, in the East Los Angeles Basin of Southern California. At 20 megawatts (MW) of electricity storage capacity, it is currently the largest battery storage facility in operation in North America. The company constructed the facility on-time and on-budget, and completed building of the…
