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Permalink Reply by Bobi Carr ("parker") on March 20, 2009 at 4:39

I'm not sure that the gas portion of oil and gas will be outraged when propossed Coal power plants are scrapped and convert to Natural Gas.

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Permalink Reply by Pipeliner on March 20, 2009 at 4:47

War on the Oil Industry?
Thursday, March 19, 2009 5:49:54 PM
Ever since President Obama took office on Jan. 20, the oil and gas industry has been waiting for some kind of acknowledgment or recognition of its role in America's energy future from the White House. It finally got it on Thursday, when Interior Secretary Ken Salazar met with the American Petroleum Institute (API), the industry's top lobby group, in Washington. Salazar insisted that the Obama administration has not waged "a war on the oil and gas industry," despite proposing measures designed to take revenues from oil companies and give them to producers of clean, renewable energy. These include $31 billion in new taxes and lost tax breaks and a cap-and-trade climate policy that could raise as much as $1.9 trillion from carbon emission polluters from 2012-19.

Salazar called oil and gas companies "important partners in America's energy future" and said oil and natural gas would remain "a cornerstone" of the US energy base for "many years to come." But just as the oil industry was starting to feel more secure in its role in the new administration, Salazar dropped the hammer on it again. He said the administration planned to review royalty rates after discovering that the US receives one of the lowest shares of revenue for oil and gas resources compared with other countries. Oil companies say higher taxes and royalties would make American oil and gas more expensive to develop and ultimately increase reliance on foreign oil -- an outcome that runs contrary to one of Obama's energy goals.
It was not all bad news for the oil industry though. In a shift, Salazar said he supported research and development on oil shale. But there was a catch: He said the current 5% royalty rate for commercial production was "simply too low." Nascent oil shale projects are already extremely costly, so higher royalties could easily make companies rethink investments. Salazar also seemed to hold the door open for new drilling opportunities on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), asking the industry for help in gathering new data on the resource potential of OCS. But he quickly added: "As a general matter we know that the oil and gas resources off our coasts are not, unfortunately, enough to meet our nation's energy needs." For oil executives listening to the speech, it must have seemed like one step forward, two steps back.
Paul Merolli, Washington
Paul Merolli covers US energy and foreign policy for Energy Intelligence publications

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Permalink Reply by Jay Murrell on March 20, 2009 at 4:54

Thanks Barack

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Permalink Reply by Pipeliner on March 20, 2009 at 5:57

No One's Looking For New Oil And Gas Anymore
Jay Yarow|Mar. 15, 2009, 6:00 AM|2
PrintTags: Oil, Energy
Oil and gas exploration in the nation have all but dried up, says the New York Times. Thanks to our lack of an intelligent energy policy, this was inevitable. And it's also priming the pump for the next commodity-price super-spike.

The amount of oil and gas rigs has gone from 2,400 a year ago to 1,200 today. With the drop in the price of commodities as well as the drop in the global demand, it's no longer profitable for companies to lay out for exploration.

NY Times: One reason companies need to make cuts is that the cost of drilling and servicing operations, while falling, is still roughly double the 2005 level, while the prices oil and gas companies earn from their production are suddenly below the 2005 level. Meanwhile, the cost of borrowing money for exploration and production has soared recently in the credit crisis.

While this is all bad, analysts expect it's only going to get worse. The first half of 2009 is expected to be rough on oil companies, many of whom have tried to maintain production to the best of their ability. Watch out for more closed rigs this year and more unemployed rig-operators. And we don't think there is a ton of money in the stimulus package for these companies.

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Permalink Reply by Checkmateking on March 20, 2009 at 5:59

How dare you question our "Dear Leader"

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Permalink Reply by Max on March 20, 2009 at 12:07

I placed my pine timber in a carbon credit program last year for $$, now it looks like I will get $$$$. Money under ground, and money growing on top, what a country!

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