US Warship, Commercial Ships Under Attack In Red Sea

US Central Command provided a detailed summary of the four maritime attacks carried out by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, targeting commercial vessels on Sunday: Today, there were four attacks against three separate commercial vessels operating in international waters in the southern Red Sea. These three vessels are connected to 14 separate nations. The Arleigh-Burke Class destroyer USS CARNEY responded to the distress calls from the ships and provided assistance. At approximately 9:15 a.m. Sanaa time, the CARNEY detected an anti-ship ballistic missile attack fired from Houthi controlled areas of Yemen toward the M/V UNITY EXPLORER, impacting in the vicinity of the vessel. UNITY EXPLORER is a Bahamas flagged, U.K. owned and operated, bulk cargo ship crewed by sailors from two nations. The CARNEY was conducting a patrol in the Red Sea and detected the attack on the UNITY EXPLORER. ...

A Million Gallons of Oil May Have Spilled Into the Gulf of Mexico

The Coast Guard has spotted an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which may have released a million gallons of oil into the ecosystem. Veuer’s Matt Hoffman reports.

Oil producers have to step up their transition game, says IEA

Producers of oil and gas have to drastically step up their efforts to transition to clean-energy business models and prepare to scale back fossil fuel operations as consumption peaks, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) Only 1% of total clean energy investment globally currently comes from oil and gas producers, the IEA said in its report on oil and gas and net zero transition, as the agency called on the sector to do more to move the needle. It added that 60% of that 1% investment comes from just four companies. “Continuing with business as usual is neither socially nor environmentally responsible,” said IEA executive director Fatih Birol. “Successful clean energy transitions require much lower demand for oil and gas, which means scaling back oil and gas operations over time — not expanding them.” The oil sector has been “a marginal force at best” ...

Is the West ready for World War 3?

In case you missed the memo, we are apparently entering the first phases of World War 3. Or, if you count the Cold War, World War 4. All of these previous struggles were won not only thanks to good political and military leadership, but also by the sheer force of industrial power and ample natural resources. Does the West have what it takes to win out again today? A 21st-century world war would pit the West and its Asian allies – notably Japan, South Korea and India – against a modern-day version of the 1940s ‘pact of steel’. This time, however, the alliance is between China, Russia and Iran. In facing this threat, military preparedness is essential. But so too is boosting the West’s economic power, and rapidly. To counter China, Russia, Iran and their accessories, the West needs not a ‘Green ...

Oil Strategists Look at USA Oil Production

Despite pervasive narratives around a supposed lack of shale supply response, monthly U.S Energy Information Administration (EIA) data shows U.S. oil production reaching a record 13.1 million barrels per day in August. That’s what strategists at Macquarie stated in a report sent to Rigzone on Wednesday, adding that they believe “persistent shale skepticism, coupled with perceived ‘structural underinvestment’ in the global upstream (a view we also challenge), has helped shape a durably bullish oil market sentiment”. “Indeed, this sentiment may also have influenced an OPEC policy that has tended to err on the side of market support,” the strategists noted in the report. “Although we do not anticipate an imminent shift in OPEC policy, expect slowing U.S. growth in 1H 2024, and would not be surprised to see shale skepticism perpetuate, we believe the idea that the global upstream, and the U.S. in ...

Why Can’t The UK Use North Sea Oil?

The United Kingdom has historically been one of the main oil producers in Europe, thanks to the vast fields located in the North Sea. However, in recent years, oil production in this region has decreased significantly, causing the UK to not be able to use North Sea oil as much as before. Oil exploitation in the North Sea began in the 1970s and peaked in the 1990s. At the time, the United Kingdom was one of the world’s leading oil exporters. However, as the deposits in this region are depleted, production continues to decline. There are many reasons why the UK cannot use North Sea oil to the same extent as it used to. First, the remaining oil fields are extremely difficult and expensive to exploit. This is because they are located in deeper waters and more remote areas, which means more ...

U.S. oil output hits record as producers boost drilling efficiency

U.S. oil and gas production has continued to rise as companies squeeze more from each well despite a fall in the number of rigs employed, with the industry boosting efficiency to offset the impact of lower prices. Crude and condensate production rose to a record 13.1 million barrels per day (b/d) in August, surpassing the previous peak of 13.0 million b/d set in November 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. Output from the Lower 48 states excluding federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico increased to a record 10.8 million b/d, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (“Petroleum supply monthly”, EIA, October 31). Lower 48 output was up by 955,000 b/d (+10%) compared with a year earlier, though growth slowed modestly to 210,000 b/d (annualised growth of 8%) in the most recent three months from May to August. Production has continued rising even though ...

Is the era of peak oil finally here?

Crude oil is a finite resource that must be discovered, extracted from the earth, transported often over vast distances to refineries, converted into various usable constituent products and then shipped to disparate points of the compass to power much of the modern world. Until relatively recently, the debate over “peak oil” centered on the date at which global supply maxed out and then began a precipitous decline as deposits ran dry. Remarkably, the attention has now shifted from peak supply to peak demand. A general consensus has emerged suggesting global demand for oil will reach a maximum within a decade or two and then begin falling. The debate now centers not on if but when peak demand arrives. By at least one oil company’s reckoning, it may already be upon us, but in any event, the era of declining oil consumption ...

Qatar Signs Second 27-year Gas Supply Deal With China

Qatar has agreed to supply Sinopec with natural gas for 27 years, the Gulf emirate's state-owned energy company said Saturday, its second such deal with the Chinese firm. Doha will supply three million tonnes of gas a year under the deal, QatarEnergy said, announcing another agreement granting the Chinese oil giant for a further share of Qatar's North Field gas expansion project. The expansion, which broke ground last month, contains the world's biggest natural gas reserves and extends under the Gulf into Iranian territory. Under the deal inked in Shanghai, QatarEnergy will give Sinopec a five percent interest in a joint venture with a six million tonnes per year capacity in the second phase the expansion, North Field South. Asian countries led by China, Japan and South Korea are the main market for Qatar's gas, which has been increasingly sought by European countries since Russia's ...

What is a ’15-minute city’, and should we be worried?

The explosion of conspiracy theories around the ‘15-minute city’ brings into focus the question, what is it? The 15-minute city isn’t a novel idea – it’s how many older parts of older cities already operate – but its growing use as a model for redesigning neighbourhoods has been met with extreme speculation that some proponents of the idea have veiled malevolent intentions. And while some people with a more conspiratorial outlook see sinister motives, much of the conflict about events as they are happening on the ground seems to be a good old scrap over territory – who gets to use the road. In essence, the 15-minute city is the idea that a person is able to undertake most of their daily life in a 15-minute radius around where they live, and the conspiracy aspect is about forcing this lifestyle on people. Among the ...

Emergency Oil Meeting Discusses Potential For Diesel Outages

The European Union held an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the potential for ...

Shale Consolidation Could Put A Permanent Lid On Oil Output

Back in April, the Wall Street Journal reported Exxon was interested in acquiring Pioneer Natural Resources. The ...

Urban Futures: In Conversation with James Howard Kunstler

In this episode of ON CITIES, host Carie Penabad embarks on a conversation with ...

US oil production at record high, crude stocks up 10.2M barrels last week

US crude stockpiles jumped more than 10 million barrels last week, their most in ...