It looks like a child's toy gyroscope on steroids, and it has the technology necessary to stop the flow from a well blowout on the ocean floor. It's the capping stack developed and built by a consortium of oil companies in response to the unprecedented Deepwater Horizon disaster that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico a year ago. The oil spill containment device is 30-feet tall and weighs 100 tons. In the event of an undersea blowout, it would be sent to the nearest port, transported to the well site, and lowered to either kill the well or funnel escaping oil to ships. Although it might never be needed, it is standing by and capable of capturing 60,000 barrels of oil per day from wells up to 8,000 feet below sea level. (Rigzone) Marty Massey, chief executive officer of Marine Well Containment... more »

Wondering about the factors that cause the fluctuations in global oil and gasoline prices? News articles that have appeared over the past several days attribute the climb to instability in the Middle East, the decline in the dollar's value, and growing demand in China and India. A couple of days ago, Bill O'Reilly of the O'Reilly Factor once again blamed oil companies, asserting that they can raise prices at will. With all due respect to O'Reilly, it's clear that he doesn't understand how the markets work.

As we've explained on this blog, oil companies are price takers, not price makers. Oil companies find and supply crude oil to the marketplace, but the price is determined by buyers and sellers who put a value on oil through their transactions at commodities exchanges including The New Yo... more »

Calling it "an annual rite of spring," Energy In Depth (EID) debunks the latest Cornell "study" on emissions from shale gas development. Although the study got the attention of The New York Times and other major publications, EID points out on its blog that this isn't the first time that Cornell University Professor Robert Howarth has issued studies or abstracts alleging that shale gas production, especially the process of hydraulic fracturing, emits more methane than previously thought. His goal: casting a pall on the environmental benefits of using clean-burning natural gas.

As EID reports, last year Howarth withdrew his initial two-page abstract after calculation errors were found. This year he's at it again with some of his colleagues and has fed information to some major U.S. newspape... more »

Looking for information about hydraulic fracturing? The Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) launched their new joint website today to respond to concerns about the chemicals used in fracturing operations. It's called FracFocus and can be found here.

The website provides information on the makeup of fracturing fluid, the need for chemicals that make the fluid slick and kill corrosion-causing bacteria, and it lists the various names of the chemicals used to coax oil and natural gas from shale rock formations.Website visitors also can obtain a list of the chemicals that have been used at drill sites near their locations.

To clear up misconceptions, the website explains laws that pertain to oil and natural gas field chemical disclos... more »

"These are not your father's windmills," President Obama said this week during a visit to the Gamesa wind turbine plant outside Philadelphia. "This is the future of American energy." (italics added)

That's a strong statement coming from the President of the United States, and it has some critics shaking their heads over the administration's energy policy. As the president has stated, his goal is to reduce oil imports by a third by 2025 and produce 80 percent of America's electricity from alternative and renewable sources by 2035.

Are his objectives realistic? In an Op-Ed published in the Houston Chronicle, Robert L. Bradley Jr. of the Institute for Energy Research says the administration's proposals are not based on "an objective analysis of the facts."