The average price of retail diesel has dropped to a record low — under $2 a gallon for the first time in 12 years, and gas is currently around $1.72 a gallon. The prices are tied to a huge supply of diesel and a warmer winter, according to the Energy Information Administration analysit Sean Hill. […]
Fuel Prices Expected To Swing Up And Down $20 A Barrel This Year
Canadian industry jobs on the rise–in green energy sector–as oil and gas prices slump
As gas prices plummet and many O&G workers face unemployment in the upcoming year, a new report has charted the transition from oil and gas to green energy in Canada. Better prospects for jobs–sun, wind and water are more widely distributed across the nation than oil fields–and clean energy business opportunities exist in many areas that have so […]
Understanding cheap oil
On November 28, following the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) meeting, oil proceeded to plunge over 10 percent. At the meeting, OPEC decided not to cut production, in order to match demand, but continue to overproduce and drive the price lower. OPEC by its very nature is a cartel, a group of companies […]
Fracking and the future – shale gas in the UK
The debate about hydraulic fracturing for shale gas exploitation (fracking) has been raging constantly in the UK since 2007 when the prospect of drilling for shale gas was first proposed. Since then, the British government, having looked at the US experience and decided that it wants a piece of the action, has embraced the idea. […]
Russia scraps Europe pipeline, talks Turkey
Russia’s proposed South Stream pipeline–which would connect Russia to southern Europe without crossing Ukraine–was scrapped Monday in the wake of EU objections to the project. Instead, Russia is naming Turkey as its preferred piped gas partner. Russia has been for several years in the planning stage for an undersea pipeline to that would feed 63 billion cubic meters […]
Pennsylvania Releases Information About Fracking Contamination for First Time: 243 Cases of Private Drinking Water Contamination Revealed
The state of Pennsylvania has made its first admission that oil and gas drilling operations in the state have been contaminating private drinking wells for years. The state made public 243 cases of contamination in 22 counties which had remained unreported since 2008–the first year of the Marcellus shale play boom. “This is something that should […]
US States Do Not Measure Amount of Gas Burned at Fracking Sites, Equivalent to the Emissions of Millions of Cars, and It May Be Illegal
The amount of gas burned by fracking flares in Texas and North Dakota is not measured by the states, according to a new report by Ecowatch, which also found that the amount of gas burned in just two shale plays was equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions produced by 1.5 million cars. This burned gas […]
Fracking Can Be Banned by Local Communities, Says New York’s Highest Court
Local communities have the power to use local zoning laws to ban heavy industry, such as oil and gas production and fracking, according to New York’s Court of Appeals Monday. The state’s highest court ruled in a 5-2 decision that the towns of Dryden and Middlefield could ban such industry within municipal borders. “Today the […]
“Our Coastline is Not for Sale to Big Oil.” Canadian First Nations Groups Vow to Be “the Wall” Against Northern Gateway Pipeline, Threaten Action
First Nations Canadians who have banded together to oppose the recently approved the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline that would connect Alberta with the British Columbia coast–albeit with 209 conditions–have rejected the government’s decision to proceed with the project. First Nations groups have stated that they “will take whatever measures are necessary to prevent that from happening.” […]
New York Votes to Not Drill or Frack
New York’s general assembly voted Monday on whether to drill or frack within the state. The majority voted in favor of a three-year ban on drilling and fracking. An 89-34 vote favored a three-year moratorium on oil and gas drilling permits. The moratorium is intended in part to allow time for study of the environmental impact […]
One Little US Town Is Showing the World How a Small Community Can Stand Up to Big Oil and Gas and Stop Fracking
One little US town is showing the world how a small community can take on big oil and gas. Lafayette, Colo. (pop. 25,733) was unhappily facing fracking within their town area. The citizens banded together with environmental groups and amended their Community Bill of Rights to secure their right to clean air, pure water, and the […]
Abandoned Oil Wells Discovered to Account for Previously Unaccounted for Methane Emissions, New Princeton Study Finds
In one US state alone–Pennsylvania–the effects of abandoned oil wells has been examined by a Princeton University student, PhD student and civil engineer Mary Kang, and the findings are that four to seven percent of estimated man-made methane emissions in Pennsylvania are caused by the abandoned wells. The source of the four to seven percent had […]