Coal

Spring has brought out the Colorado frack fanatics on both sides of the growing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) debate as evidenced by the “Showdown of the Century” scheduled Wednesday in Boulder, CO, when pro- and anti-fracking documentaries and their writer/directors meet head-to-head (almost).

A “supply shock” to the global energy markets being created by North American oil production will be as transformative to the market over the next five years as was the rise of Chinese demand in the last 15, forcing operators to overhaul global investment strategies and reshape the way oil is transported, stored and refined, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Tuesday.

While Mexico’s gas-rich San Juan Basin turned up another declining year of natural gas production in 2012, state officials and some exploration and production (E&P) companies are maintaining interest in the state’s overall oil, liquids and gas businesses.

The United States has at least 2,400 billion metric tons of possible carbon dioxide (CO2) storage capacity in saline formations, oil and gas reservoirs and unmineable coal seams, enough to potentially store “hundreds of years’ worth of industrial greenhouse emissions,” according to a report from the Department of Energy (DOE).

Dramatically increasing the production of domestic natural gas, oil and coal offers the United States its best opportunity to create sustainable jobs, but political wrangling stands in the way of achieving that goal, according to a new report from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

Hydrocarbon resources — oil, natural gas and coal — in North America are more than four times the resources existing in the Middle East, and the United States is now the fastest-growing producer of oil and natural gas in the world, according to a new report from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

ConocoPhillips has sanctioned a second 4.5 million metric ton per year production train for its Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) coal seam gas to liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Queensland, Australia.

The gas surplus and sub-$2-$2.50/MMBtu prices for natural gas will put downward pressure on power prices this summer, and step up the switching of generation facilities from coal-fired to gas-fired, according to FERC’s “Summer 2012 Energy Market and Reliability Assessment” report, which was released Thursday.

The gas surplus and sub-$2-$2.50/MMBtu prices for natural gas will put downward pressure on power prices this summer, and step up the switching of generation facilities from coal-fired to gas-fired, according to FERC’s “Summer 2012 Energy Market and Reliability Assessment” report, which was released Thursday.