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Author: <span>Shiloh</span>

Exclusive: Testing, Progress Underway Puts Texas At Center of New Carbon Capture Tech

Work among Houston companies, Permian projects and UT Austin keep the Lone Star State at the cutting edge of carbon capture and storage R&D

 

January 10, 2020

Texas remains one of the hot spots for research and development of carbon capture technologies, with academic and field activities continuing daily.

Most recently, Houston’s Occidental Petroleum has joined with France’s Total for a carbon-capture project at a Colorado location for possible use in the Lone Star State, while Houston’s Fluor Corp. will take part in a US Dept. of Energy-funded project aimed at eventually retrofitting power plants with carbon-capture tech.

This, even as UT Austin continues research into capture techniques and a new program is underway in West Texas to test an experimental design.

Lawmakers and scientists have for years looked to carbon capture and sequestration as a promising technology for reducing emissions, even as the practical capability for capture and storage has progressed very slowly and technical costs have remained high.

Never mind that the Petra Nova facility, a coal-fired power plant near Houston, is one of only two already operating power plants with carbon capture and storage in the world, and is the only such facility in the US..

Oxy Petroleum and Total now say they are targeting the possible capture of nearly a quarter-million metric tons of carbon each year a the Holcim Portland, Colorado, cement plant, according to the company, with Oxy buying and using the resulting carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery that could include West Texas as well as Colorado…….
 

Legislators Take Note: New Report Calls For Crackdown On E-Scooter Use

Impaired operation of e-scooters, serious head injuries among young people and an alarming increase in hospital visits prompts a call for likely increased legislation and ordinances

 

January 10, 2020

During last year’s Texas legislative session, more than one lawmaker had some choice words about the influx of electric scooters, especially on the streets of Downtown Austin.

Late in the session a short discussion ensued among senators about their experiences, with District 17 Senator Joan Huffman reciting several instances in which she felt endangered by relatively fast moving scooters along Congress Ave.

District 23 Senator Royce West even had a late-breaking bill, SB 549, that went up to the Transportation Committee based on concerns about the dangers posed by use of the e-scooters on city sidewalks across the state……
 

Military conflict erupts between U.S. and Iran

By Alex Mills

 

January 9, 2019

The recent events in Iraq – the attacks on the U.S. embassy, the death of an Iranian general by U.S., and Iran’s missile attack on an U.S. air base in Iraq – have renewed tensions in the Middle East that have been brewing for 50 years with crude oil at the center of attention.

Countries in the Persian Gulf – Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and others – have been large exporters of crude oil worldwide with the U.S. being the largest customer.

In 1973, some of these countries decided to reduce their exports to the U.S. because of its support of Israel in its conflict with Egypt. It was the first time that the “oil weapon” was used against the U.S., and it had a dramatic impact: shortage of petroleum products, lines at gasoline stations, rapidly rising prices, inflation, declining economy, and fear of future use of the “oil weapon.”

The U.S. and other countries that imported large amounts of crude oil decided to begin putting large amounts of oil in storage for use in case of another embargo. The U.S. spent billions of dollars to store 625 million barrels of oil in salt domes in Louisiana that became known as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

There was another embargo in 1979 as Iran stormed the U.S. embassy and took 52 Americans hostages. Again shortages occurred, prices rose, and the U.S. economy declined.

Politicians screamed at the oil industry, alleging it was the cause of the shortages and rising prices. Congress passed the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Act, which punished domestic oil producers not oil imported into the U.S. The law was later repealed because it collected little revenue as oil prices dropped to as low as $10 per barrel in 1986…….
 

Dinner and Concert Tickets Benefit Victims of Permian Tragedy

January 8, 2019

Tragedy struck the Permian Basin on August 31, 2019 when a senseless shooting took place in the West Texas communities of Odessa and Midland, leaving seven dead and twenty-five injured.

The Permian Basin Community is coming together to provide Texas-sized support for those impacted at the Basin Strong Hope & Healing Benefit Dinner and Concert next Thursday, January 16, 2020. The evening will begin with a Boots & Black Tie Benefit Dinner, followed by a Hope & Healing community concert featuring Rick Trevino and Clay Walker!

For event details, sponsorship levels, to purchase dinner and concert tickets, and for other information, visit www.BasinStrong.com.

—TXOGA

 

TIPRO Releases Permian Basin Report Highlighting Record Oil and Gas Production: News Release

January 8, 2020

The Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) today released the next edition of its “State of Energy Report” series entitled A Decade of the Permian Basin. The new TIPRO report explores trends in the Permian Basin over the past 10 years with an emphasis on employment, demographics, businesses and oil and natural gas production. TIPRO’s “State of Energy Report” series was developed to further quantify and track the economic impact of domestic oil and natural gas production at the state and national level.

As outlined in the report, the Permian Basin is comprised of 63 counties in Texas and New Mexico. The region’s oil and natural gas industry continued to provide unmatched economic support in 2019, directly employing an estimated 87,603 individuals, an increase of approximately 3,200 net new jobs over the previous year. Since 2009, direct oil and natural gas employment in the region increased by 42,833 jobs. These jobs also pay extremely well, with an average annual wage of $98,000, which is 101 percent higher than average private sector wages in the region.

Since 2009, oil production in the region has increased from less than 1 million barrels per day (b/d) to more than 4 million b/d in 2019, with some forecasting oil production to nearly double by 2023. In 2019, the United States also officially became the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world, with the Permian Basin surpassing Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar field to become the top producing oilfield. Permian Basin oil production in 2019 increased by 255 million barrels compared to 2018, for a record 1.5 billion barrels produced. Natural gas production also increased by 1.1 trillion cubic feet of gas (Tcf) in 2019 compared to the previous year, for a record 5.3 Tcf of gas, subject to revisions.

“Despite substantial gains in oil and gas output, several issues impacted domestic energy production levels in 2019, including takeaway capacity limitations in West Texas, an escalating trade war with China, and capital constraints, which forced more operators to adopt a cash flow yield model and scale back spending on drilling projects,” said Eugene Garcia, chairman of TIPRO and president of Hurd Enterprises, LLC….