Almost four decades ago, in response to the Arab oil embargo and recession it triggered, Congress passed legislation restricting crude oil exports and establishing the SPR to release oil to the market during supply disruptions and protect the U.S. economy from damage. After decades of generally falling U.S. crude oil production, technological advances have contributed to increasing U.S. production. This book examines what is known about price implications of removing crude oil export restrictions; other key potential implications; and implications of recent changes in market conditions on the SPR. This book also discusses and describes the status of applications to export liquefied natural gas-natural gas cooled to a liquid state for transport- and the Department of Energy's process to review them; and the status of applications to build LNG export facilities and FERC's process to review them.

Due to the growth in natural gas production from shale gas, the United States is benefiting from some of the lowest prices for natural gas in the world and faces the question of how to best use this resource. Different segments of the U.S. economy have different perspectives on the role natural gas can play. Suppliers, which have become the victims of their own production success, are facing low prices that are forecast to remain low. Some companies that have traditionally produced only natural gas have even turned their attention to oil in order to improve their financial situation. Smaller companies are having a difficult time continuing operations and larger companies, have bought into many shale gas assets. Prices have remained low even as consumption has increased, in part, because producers have raised production to meet the demand and because companies have improved efficiency and extraction techniques. This book examines what has changed in the natural gas industry and focuses on the demand side and ancillary benefits to the U.S. economy.

Natural gas is considered a potential bridge fuel to a low carbon economy because it is cleaner burning than its hydrocarbon rivals coal and oil. Natural gas combustion emits about two-thirds less carbon dioxide than coal and one-quarter less than oil when consumed in a typical electric power plant. Additionally, improved methods to extract natural gas from certain shale formations has significantly increased the resource profile of the United States, which has spurred other countries to try to develop shale gas. If the United States and other countries can bring large new volumes of natural gas to market, then natural gas could play a larger role in the world's economy. This book examines key aspects of global natural gas markets, including supply and demand, as well as major U.S. developments.

What happens when a vast multinational mining company operates a gas plant situated close to four densely populated villages in rural Bangladesh? How does its presence contribute to local processes of "development?" And what do corporate claims of "community engagement" involve? Drawing from author Katy Gardner's longstanding relationship with the area, "The Gas Field" reveals the complex and contradictory ways that local people attempt to connect to, and are disconnected by, foreign capital. Everyone has a story to tell: whether of dispossession and scarcity, the success of Corporate Social Responsibility, or imperialist exploitation and corruption. Yet as Gardner argues, what really matters in the struggles over resources is which of these stories are heard, and the power of those who tell them. Based around the discordant narratives of dispossessed land owners, urban activists, mining officials, and the rural landless, "The Gas Field" touches on some of the most urgent economic and political questions of our time, including resource ownership and scarcity, and the impact of foreign investment and industrialization on global development.

This study was to analyze the future role of natural gas in the energy mix of countries of South East Europe. The study further identifies regional, cross-border and country-specific gas infrastructure projects that are economically, financially and technically sound. The study also analyses, and makes proposals for, the institutional and policy issues relating to funding and implementing gas infrastructure projects. The study examines sources of gas supply from Russia, the Caspian region and other current and prospective producer countries through Turkey and other transit routes (including LNG) and assesses costs of supply and gasification prospects in nine gas markets in the South East Europe region: Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Kosovo Macedonia Montenegro Romania Serbia These markets are all signatories of the Athens Memoranda of 2002 and 2003, which commit the participants to regional cooperation in electricity and gas."

This work provides assessments and analyses of the future relationship of oil and gas to the world economy, and offers policy recommendations for the Gulf region. The position of the Gulf producers in the world-energy arena is no longer as secure and stable as it once was, the book argues, with oil production from non-OPEC countries competing aggressively with OPEC oil. Other factors, including conservation and environmental concerns and technological developments, are covered in detail.

Buckle propagation is a problem unique to offshore pipelines, in which the local collapse of a locally weakened section of the pipe initiates a collapse that propagates at high speed catastrophically flattening the line by kilometers. The lowest pressure that can sustain the propagation of the collapse, the propagation pressure, is only a small fraction of the collapse pressure of the intact pipe. The large difference between these two pressures requires that pipelines be designed on the collapse pressure, and the extent of the potential catastrophic damage suffered is limited by the periodic introduction of buckle arrestors to the line. Volume 2 of the book series Mechanics of Offshore Pipelines addresses the major aspects of buckle propagation including its initiation, establishment of the propagation pressure, and the dynamics of buckle propagation. Buckle propagation under tension, in pipe-in-pipe pipeline systems, and confined buckle propagation in tubulars such as grouted casing are examined in dedicated chapters. Three chapters deal with the performance of the most commonly used buckle arrestors under both quasi-static and dynamic buckle propagation. Each of these problems is studied through experiments, analyses, and large-scale numerical simulations. The results are used to provide empirical design equations and design guidelines on how to mitigate the effects of buckle propagation.

From its regional beginnings, the business of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has been transformed into a broad industry that now spans the globe. The production and liquefaction of natural gas and its shipping, regasification and use bring together diverse producer and consumer jurisdictions as well as international oil companies and trading businesses, under many different forms of contractual arrangement. This practical title is being updated to take into account the rapidly shifting arrangements and participations in the international LNG sector. It features contributions from leading oil and gas companies, consultancies and law firms, by writers who are specialists in their fields. The content spans the latest developments in traditional LNG matters such as structuring projects, sale and purchase agreements and shipping, as well as chapters on LNG from shale and unconventional sources, the forced reopening of contract terms over time and the growing role of smaller and floating LNG developments. Together, the contributors provide a rare guide to the legal, regulatory, political and practical elements of today's LNG business. Whether you are a lawyer in private practice or from a national or international oil company, utility business, ship broking or ship building firm, bank or energy advisory practice, this commercially focused title will provide you with the latest holistic insights into the business and law of LNG.

Offering complete coverage of natural gas local distribution companies (LDCs), Local Distribution Pipelines in Nontechnical Language begins with a basic overview of pipelines and the history of "town gas" used to light city streets as an alternative to whale oil, and takes the reader right up to present-day industry. Along the way it discusses the basic-design, construction, materials, equipment, maintenance, operations of LDCs. Following up where Oil and Gas Pipelines in Nontechnical Language left off, Miesner explains the hows and whys of local distribution lines. This book will be valuable to anyone working with local distribution lines-from the novice to the veteran pipeline professional. Features include: Robust chapters explaining LNG and the LDC industry's future challenges Complete coverage of natural gas local distribution companies Numerous pictures, drawings, and simple examples that explain LDC pipelines in layman's terms

Natural Gas has been called 'the prince of hydrocarbons': an abundant resource that is versatile and competitive with other fuels and popular throughout the world. The advent of newer technologies that can deliver natural gas to worldwide markets, coupled with its reputation as a clean-burning, efficient energy source, make natural gas the international 'fuel of the future'.It offers a thorough understanding of the entire natural gas value chain, including detailed discussion of emerging sectors such as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Gas-To-Liquid (GTL), and Coal Bed Methane (CBM). It covers gas terms, conversion units, commercialization and marketing issues. It explores current and emerging international players, and the latest in technology development.

Natural gas in deep shale formations, which can be developed by hydraulic fracturing and associated technologies (often collectively referred to as "fracking") is dramatically increasing production of natural gas in the United States, where significant gas deposits exist in formations that underlie many states. Major deposits of shale gas exist in many other countries as well. Proponents of shale gas development point to several kinds of benefits, for instance, to local economies and to national "energy independence". Shale gas development has also brought increasing expression of concerns about risks, including to human health, environmental quality, non-energy economic activities in shale regions, and community cohesion. Some of these potential risks are beginning to receive careful evaluation; others are not. Although the risks have not yet been fully characterized or all of them carefully analyzed, governments at all levels are making policy decisions, some of them hard to reverse, about shale gas development and/or how to manage the risks. Risks and Risk Governance in Shale Gas Development is the summary of two workshops convened in May and August 2013 by the National Research Council's Board on Environmental Change and Society to consider and assess claims about the levels and types of risk posed by shale gas development and about the adequacy of existing governance procedures. Participants from engineering, natural, and social scientific communities examined the range of risks and of social and decision-making issues in risk characterization and governance related to gas shale development. Central themes included risk governance in the context of (a) risks that emerge as shale gas development expands, and (b) incomplete or declining regulatory capacity in an era of budgetary stringency. This report summarizes the presentations on risk issues raised in the first workshop, the risk management and governance concepts presented at the second workshop, and the discussions at both workshops. Table of Contents Front Matter Introduction Workshop 1: Risks of Unconventional Shale Gas Development Workshop 2: Governance of Risks of Shale Gas Development References

The federal government has been extensively involved in the production, storage, and use of helium since the early part of the twentieth century. The federal helium program is currently managed by the Department of the Interior's BLM. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Interior purchased about 34 billion cubic feet of crude helium for conservation purposes and to meet federal helium needs, such as for the space program and scientific research. Crude helium is a gas of 50 to 85 percent helium. While some of this helium was used to meet federal needs, most of it was retained in storage. The funds used to purchase this helium became a debt owed by the program. This book examines urgent issues facing BLM's storage and sale of helium reserves and perspectives of users.

Hydraulic fracturing is a technique used to free oil and natural gas trapped underground in low-permeability rock formations by injecting a fluid under high pressure in order to crack the formations. The composition of a fracturing fluid varies with the nature of the formation, but typically contains mostly water; a proppant to keep the fractures open, such as sand; and a small percentage of chemical additives. Some of these additives may be hazardous to health and the environment. The Shale Gas Production Subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) has recommended public disclosure, on a well-by-well basis, of all the chemical ingredients added to fracturing fluids, with some protection for trade secrets. This book provides an overview of current and proposed laws and regulations at the state and federal levels that require the disclosure of the chemicals added to the fluid used in hydraulic fracturing.

Within the next five years, the United States may become a large exporter of natural gas for the first time in decades. Increased development of U.S. natural gas resources, particularly shale gas, along with low domestic prices in recent years and idle liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure, have drive: change in the US. The United States has exported some amounts of natural gas for close to 100 years, but has generally imported more than it has exported. However, imports have been declining since 2005, while exports have been climbing. As the debates over the economy, energy independence, climate change, and energy security continue, Congress is beginning to face important questions regarding a potential increase in U.S. natural gas exports. This book examines the changes in the U.S. natural gas market and the prospects and implications of the United States becoming a significant net natural gas exporter.

The Global Oil & Gas Industry: Stories from the Field relates specific examples of challenges in decision making, changing business practices, and the difficulties in executing complex projects across the global industry. From contentious border disputes over mineral rights to the emergence of industry disrupters shaking the status quo, each story presents contemporary issues to distill lessons that are transferrable to management challenges both inside and outside of the global oil and gas industry. Bestselling PennWell authors Andrew Inkpen and Michael Moffett join with industry expert Kannan Ramaswamy to provide a narrative of 18 stories, each highlighting a different aspect of the industry. This collection provides an enriching, thought-provoking look into a business that many believe to be globally mature, but as these stories intimate, are increasingly local, emerging, and evolving with the global economy. Features and Benefits: Examples of the complex business situations in oil and gas and how excellent (and sometimes less-than-excellent) leaders navigate these difficult circumstances. Insights into the decision making of oil and gas companies from around the world Different themes that span the entire industry value chain: upstream, midstream, and downstream Timeless truths for the hydrocarbon sector and for many other businesses

Gas Lift Systems Design and Optimization: A Modern Modeling Approach captures how to optimize gas lifted fields using various modeling tools and communications technologies. This book presents a holistic design that assures a comprehensive system methodology. To help achieve the goals of production optimization, this text examines certain vital concepts such as - fluid properties and inflow capacities, gas lift design options, gas lift supply and production gathering facilities as well as operation of processing equipment. Furthermore, various field management strategies are demonstrated in this solid approach, which will enable engineers to apply and achieve many key performance indicators in field operations. A technical book that covers all aspects of production optimization of gas lift systems, it details efficient and practical ways of designing and managing gas lifted network systems from a field perspective. Gas lift system optimization methods described herein establish that superior economic benefits can be achieved if each component of the whole network is reviewed and optimized, instead of optimizing the well performance alone. Additionally, the book highlights the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science technologies that are available today to take asset optimization to greater heights and extend its benefits. The author brings to the table his 30+ years of leading-edge insight and practical know-how, which will equip the reader with the wisdom to embark on field gas lift system optimization using modern, pragmatic, applied, and proven methods.

This study aims to raise policy makers' awareness of the business case for investing in gas flaring and methane reduction projects. It focuses on mid-sized flares that are too small to be prioritized by oil companies but represent 58 percent of global flare volumes.

With shale gas continuing to have a dominant impact on North American natural gas markets, unconventional natural gas now appears to be causing change in the global supply mix. The extent of this change requires the examination of a unique set of challenges that extend far beyond North America. Complex environmental, social and technical issues must be navigated for the development of safe and sustainable hydraulic fracturing practices to unlock the full potential of this unconventional resource, and the second edition of this guide examines the issues around hydraulic fracturing in a practical and user-friendly manner. This fully revised edition features contributions from leading authorities in the field. Chapters cover key issues such as: the regulation of hydraulic fracturing in the US, and the UK; worldwide natural gas pricing trends; joint ventures; gas sale agreements; unconventional gas in Australia; and the causes of action and potential outcomes in shale gas disputes. Together, the contributions give a crucial insight into one of the fastest-moving areas of the natural gas industry. 'Shale Gas' is an essential reference tool for natural gas producers, lawyers (both in private practice and in-house), energy industry advisers and end users worldwide, providing a practical and timely overview of the shale gas industry.

The upstream oil and gas sector in Brazil has suffered several changes since the first edition of Brazilian Upstream Law and Gas. These changes relate, among others, to the introduction of a production sharing regime, local content challenges and new regulations for unconventional operations. This new edition will include fully updated versions of all of the chapters covered in the first edition (including but not limited to the key elements of the Brazilian upstream legal framework, general Brazilian law, the regulatory entities and other players in the upstream sector, the petroleum legal regime, decommissioning challenges and project finance opportunities), but will also cover the regulatory changes for pre-salt and strategic areas, unconventional operations, local content challenges and other relevant topics. The chapters are written by highly respected Brazilian professionals, including experts from Mattos Filho, Pinheiro Neto, Machado Meyer Sendacz e Opice Advogados, Vieira Rezende, Merrill Lynch, Campos Mello Advogados and Ernst & Young (now known as EY). Their insights offer reliable guidance for international investors, as well as the lawyers assisting them, when they are required to consider potential investments in Brazil. Such insights will be particularly useful for those who are not yet familiar with the country's legal system.

In 2009, the New Brunswick provincial government leased over a million hectares of land to Texas-based Southwestern Energy for the purposes of natural gas extraction. For years, tens of thousands of New Brunswickers signed petitions, wrote letters, demonstrated and sought legal recourse against the deal and the threat of hydraulic fracturing it brought with it but the province responded only with diminished regulations and increased police presence. In the spring of 2013, Elsipogtog First Nation, the largest Indigenous community in New Brunswick, became the focal point of this resistance. Emboldened to its potential to make political change, and accompanied by unexpected settler and Indigenous allies, Elsipogtog First Nation employed new tactics in the effort to expel Southwestern Energy. And after months of blockades, which resulted in the destruction of company property and numerous arrests, the protestors were finally successful in forcing the gas giant to leave the province. Written by journalist Miles Howe, who was embedded in the community from the beginning of the 2013 struggle, Debriefing Elsipogtog offers a riveting, firsthand, on-the-ground and behind-the-scenes account of this story. Through an examination of the political forces and motivations that led to one-seventh of New Brunswick being leased to the Texas-based company, the diminishment of regulatory oversight and a compromised Indigenous consultation process, Howe explores not only how people allied to build this movement but also how the state intervened to undermine resistance and willfully ignored inherent treaty rights and responsibilities. The success of this grassroots movement in turning back the fifth-largest natural gas extraction company in North America is truly a testament to the power people hold when they join together to oppose capitalist exploitation and environmental destruction. "

This is a major work providing a country-by-country analysis of African oil and gas. The book details the oil and gas frameworks and the key concerns in the most significant jurisdictions including traditional producing countries such as Libya, Algeria, Angola and Egypt, and more recent areas with significant potential such as Sudan. Topics addressed include the key terms of the petroleum laws, the types of legal arrangement in place (eg, concession agreement, production sharing contract or service agreement), the fiscal terms, the acquisition of acreage, governing law, dispute resolution mechanisms and governmental control. Covering 26 countries in total, this book features contributions from a variety of leading experts in the industry, including from ministries of petroleum, national oil companies, international oil companies, law firms and consultancies. This unique new work provides a wider understanding of oil and gas law, contracts and regulations within the African continent.

The principal function of this forms manual is to illustrate the exceptional importance of specific language to all contract-based transactions. Unintended ambiguities or carelessness in wording may result in the loss of properties worth millions of dollars. Additionally, differences in state law, regional custom, the identity and interests of the client, and the peculiarities of the specific transaction require a lawyer to choose carefully which form to use as the basis of the transaction. For this reason, there are often included several forms for the same transaction.

The downturn in the oil commodity price starting in 2014 had a chilling effect on oil and gas M&A. However, recent price stabilisation has improved the outlook for M&A activity, making a second edition of this book most timely. A feature of the M&A industry has always been its variety of participants, ranging from integrated energy conglomerates to entrepreneurial frontier explorers. New entrants include state-owned oil companies, financial investors, diversifying service contractors and oil traders. With the growth of specialist stock markets, junior and independent oil companies are better able to raise acquisition finance than ever before, and companies specialising in end-of-life reservoirs are filling the spaces left as oil majors go in search of new opportunities. Transaction types are also diverse and are completed using a variety of different deal structures. As well as providing chapters on each type of acquisition method, this book also includes an analysis of the underlying structuring decisions. In addition, this practical guide covers a number of ancillary areas, including valuations, financing, tax and accounting. Decommissioning liability is also considered in an M&A context. A number of new chapters are also featured, covering topics such as competition law, environmental law and dealing with material adverse changes. This comprehensive new edition will prove an essential resource to anyone involved in the upstream industry M&A process including lawyers, bankers, financiers, business executives, accountants and tax advisers.

This book examines the financial, legal and institutional strategies available to the international oil and gas industry to manage political and investment risk. The financial techniques for mitigating and allocating risk include corporate finance, joint ventures, and project finance. The legal techniques include production sharing agreements, profit sharing agreements, service contracts, bilateral investment treaties, and multilateral investment treaties. The institutional techniques include domestic courts, national constitutions, international arbitral tribunals, governmental and non-governmental regulatory agencies, alliances and energy diplomacy. This book traces the historical development of these techniques and their application in practice. The effectiveness with which companies manage political and investment risk is important for the financial sustainability of individual firms and the industry as whole. The real and perceived level of risk affects the level of exploration expenditures and therefore the balance between supply and demand, and the price of oil and natural gas. The search for a secure supply of oil and gas affects the political, military, and economic relations between countries. Consequently, every developed and developing country has placed energy policy at or near the top of its national priorities.

Exploration and characterization of conventional and unconventional reservoirs using seismic technologies are among the main activities of upstream technology groups and business units of oil and gas operators. However, these activities frequently encounter difficulties in quantitative seismic interpretation due to remaining confusion and new challenges in the fast developing field of seismic petrophysics. Seismic Petrophysics in Quantitative Interpretation shows how seismic interpretation can be made simple and robust by integration of the rock physics principles with seismic and petrophysical attributes bearing on the properties of both conventional (thickness, net/ gross, lithology, porosity, permeability, and saturation) and unconventional (thickness, lithology, organic richness, thermal maturity) reservoirs. Practical solutions to existing interpretation problems in rock physics-based amplitude versus offset (AVO) analysis and inversion are addressed in the book to streamline the workflows in subsurface characterization. Although the book is aimed at oil and gas industry professionals and academics concerned with utilization of seismic data in petroleum exploration and production, it could also prove helpful for geotechnical and completion engineers and drillers seeking to better understand how seismic and sonic data can be more thoroughly utilized.