Supplies

A glut of light oil supplies from tight oil fields into the Midwest has depressed regional prices, making it imperative for Canada’s oilsands producers to find alternative markets for their product, consultancy IHS CERA said in a Jan. 14 report.

Everyone knows “Texas tea” means oil, but in the Lone Star state, ethylene produced from booming supplies of natural gas liquids (NGL) might come to be known as “Texas sweetened tea” for the profitability it’s bringing to the Gulf Coast petrochemical industry.

As part of a continuing effort to stretch Bakken and western Canadian oil supplies into new markets, Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. on Thursday outlined a $6.2 billion, four-year effort to expand several of its pipelines to access light oil markets in the eastern United States and Canada.

Dow Chemical Co. officials on Monday said a comprehensive plan to connect U.S. operations with “cost-advantaged feedstocks” from abundant supplies of domestic shale gas is moving forward and is on track to deliver long-term competitive advantages for the worldwide operations.

New England’s reliance on natural gas to fuel power generators “could create operational challenges if natural gas supplies become tight this winter,” which would force the region to turn to oil- coal-fired generation “to lessen any operational risks” to the power system, according to a winter forecast issued Tuesday by ISO New England Inc. (ISO-NE).

Natural gas supplies from Nova Scotia are dwindling, but the province of New Brunswick could join the shale gas renaissance sweeping much of North America, provided its shales can be exploited without harming the environment, New Brunswick Energy and Mines Minister Craig Leonard said Wednesday.

Natural gas supplies from Nova Scotia are dwindling, but the province of New Brunswick could join the shale gas renaissance sweeping much of North America, provided its shales can be exploited without harming the environment, New Brunswick Energy and Mines Minister Craig Leonard said Wednesday.

The Marcellus Shale is a “solidly economic” shale play that could play a big role in the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States to Europe and Asia, but regulatory hurdles, stiff competition and market forces are all significant obstacles, according to two energy industry experts.

Importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) by the winter of 2014-2015 is the only sure way to ensure adequate gas supplies for Southcentral, AK, Enstar Natural Gas CEO Colleen Starring told an Anchorage audience last week.