In China’s endless drive to find new energy sources, the big overseas oil deals have won most of the deadlines, but the news today that PetroChina is ramping up investment in coal-bed methane is a reminder of the potential boom in natural gas in China.
According to Reuters, PetroChina said today that it would spend more than $1.5bn over the next three years to develop 4.5 billion cubic metres of production capacity of coal-bed methane – almost double the country’s entire capacity at the moment.
Rolling blog showing BP’s “top kill” live: has it worked?
Update: Latest post (with video embedded) has moved here.
BP is broadcasting footage from its “top kill” attempt to plug the leaking Macondo well by pumping heavy drilling fluid down it.
The images, from cameras on remotely-controlled submarines near the sea bed in 5,000 feet of water, are often hard to make out. When the scene is clear, you can see the blow-out preventer – the system of valves intended to prevent releases of oil and gas, which failed in the accident – and a plume of drilling “mud” escaping from it.
FT Energy Source is providing regular updates on the attempt to plug the well, after the jump. Click refresh on your browser screen to see the latest updates.
BP contrite over delay in notifying of top kill suspension
BP’s chief operating officer Doug Suttles made two appearances on CNN last night. In the first he confirmed that the drilling had re-started, and that the suspension actually began late on Wednesday night.
This quickly drew criticism from some journalists covering the story.
In the second interview, when asked by CNN presenter John King whether the company should have told people, Suttles said:
I’ve had a number of people mention that to me and clearly we need to probably even more to tell people what’s occurring.
How the Deepwater Horizon oil spill compares
Using the new official estimate of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day, for 37 days, the below table shows the amount spilt at Deepwater Horizon against the largest ocean spills since 1972 — and Exxon Valdez:
Related links:
And you thought 5,000 feet was deep – FT Energy Source
The oil extraction technology race
The decision to halt all deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico for at least six months has inevitably riled the industry, with the American Petroleum Institute calling it a ‘moratorium on economic growth and job creation’.
Existing deepwater production and both exploration and production in shallow water (where the vast majority of GoM activity takes place) are not affected — but the new deepwater GoM projects were an important source of projected growth in US oil production over the next five to 10 years, creating a temporary reversal in US production decline.
Further reading
- ‘I probably should apologise to folks that we haven’t been giving more data on that’
- Energy and climate policy’s ‘modest stimulative impact’ in the first decade
- ‘If CCS isn’t happening now it is simply not going to happen’
- A new era for oil industry?
- Debate over drilling halt
- Obama faces a ‘no win’ dilemma on offshore drilling
Energy headlines
- Obama halts deepwater Gulf drilling – FT
- BP sees leak estimates jump - FT
- BP to add junk to top kill - UpstreamOnline
- Captain’s account raises questions over delays - FT
- Gulf of Mexico faces bad storm season - FT
- Offshore moratorium won’t affect Gulf wells already producing – McClatchy
Energy Source is no longer updated but it remains open as an archive.
Insight into the financial, economic and policy aspects of energy and the environment.
