Plains plans pipeline, terminal and storage facility for Eagle Ford crude

Louisiana’s oystermen scrape bottom

Posted on May 18, 2011 at 10:45 pm by WSJ in Gulf oil spill, Weather

The Mississippi River floods threaten Louisiana’s once-dominant oyster industry, already reeling from last year’s Gulf oil spill. (Via WSJ) More »

U.S. was warned on vents before failure at Japan’s plant

Posted on May 18, 2011 at 8:49 pm by New York Times in Accidents, Asia, Nuclear

Five years before emergency vents at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant failed to work, an American engineer told regulators that their design was flawed. (Via NYT) More »

Demanding Hillary Clinton’s email – now

Posted on May 18, 2011 at 7:01 pm by New York Times in Legal issues, Pipelines, Politics/Policy

The secretary of state will rule on construction of an oil pipeline that a former Clinton aide has been lobbying for. Environmentalists want to see their communications. (Via NYT’s Green blog) More »

West Virginians protest Marcellus shale activity

Posted on May 18, 2011 at 3:37 pm by Associated Press in Natural gas, Shale

The protest was prompted by Northeast Natural Energy’s plans to sink wells about 1,500 feet from a drinking water intake. Activists said they were angry they had no input before the permit was approved, and they questioned the state’s ability to regulate natural gas drilling effectively. More »

Oil tops $100 after gov’t report, pump prices down nationwide

Posted on May 18, 2011 at 3:13 pm by Associated Press in Crude oil, Social

Crude is down about 12 percent since April, when a weak dollar and a rash of international crises pushed oil to two-year highs. Gasoline prices also continued to fall, losing nearly 2 cents on Wednesday for a national average of $3.93 per gallon. More »

Libyan rebels want a seat at OPEC table

Posted on May 18, 2011 at 2:49 pm by Associated Press in Social

After Libya’s oil minister reportedly defected, the rebel group sent a request to OPEC asking to represent their country at the oil bloc’s meeting on June 8. More »

Canadian wildfires shut Plains’ Rainbow pipeline

Posted on May 18, 2011 at 2:32 pm by Bloomberg in Canada, Pipelines

Fires in northern Alberta forced Plains All American Pipeline to shutdown a pipeline that carries crude from oil-sands projects. The blazes may halt more than 55,000 barrels of daily output as companies run short of storage space for their production. More »

Senate rejects GOP plan to expand offshore drilling

Posted on May 18, 2011 at 2:05 pm by Jennifer A. Dlouhy in Offshore, Oil field services, Politics/Policy

The Senate rejected a Republican bid to speed up offshore drilling by requiring regulators to swiftly process permits and forcing the government to reschedule lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. The measure was the GOP’s counter to a failed Democratic effort to spike tax breaks for the nation’s five biggest oil companies. More »

Report: Value of oil and gas deals soared 69% in Q1

Posted on May 18, 2011 at 1:01 pm by Brett Clanton in Shale, Social

Deals in oil and gas exploration and production dominated, as companies sought to beef up portfolios by adding more oil-rich assets to take advantage of rising crude prices. Continued interest in shale gas formations also played a role, as did greater participation by foreign companies and private equity firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers said. More »

Ahmadinejad will chair next OPEC meeting

Posted on May 18, 2011 at 7:20 am by Associated Press in General

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will head the upcoming OPEC meeting in Vienna in his capacity as the country’s caretaker oil minister. Iran — OPEC’s second largest oil exporter and the world’s fourth largest crude oil producer — is typically seen as a price hawk. More »

FuelFix Newslinks |05.18.11|

Posted on May 18, 2011 at 6:55 am by Tom Fowler in General

Oil tax break battle not over. One Alaska gasline bows out. Fastow’s back in Houston. More »