Regulation ///
The EU asset freezes and travel bans on two people, whom the bloc plans to identify later on Thursday, make good on its months-long vow to counter Turkey’s oil and natural-gas exploration in waters that are part of the exclusive economic zone of member country Cyprus.
The Trump administration is ready to unleash the full impact of sanctions on Chevron Corp.’s operations in Venezuela as the U.S. seeks to further squeeze the Maduro regime.
There are already signs that the latest U.S. sanctions thrown at Venezuela are failing.
Dr. Roger Bezdek, Contributing Editor
While attention is focused on the national elections, there are ominous policies gestating at the state and local government levels.
The American Petroleum Institute released a new video to coincide with Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate that addresses what it says supporters of a fracing ban won’t discuss – its cost to America.
Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton recommends a new methodology for measuring gas flaring, saying that acting based on current measurements would only increase greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
Rosneft Trading, the main exporter of Venezuelan crude, was targeted by the U.S. for helping to sell the commodity that bankrolls Maduro.
The U.S. sanctioned a unit of Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft PJSC for maintaining ties with Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and state-run oil company PDVSA.
A Russian pipe-laying vessel is on the move in the Far East, feeding speculation that Gazprom PJSC will work out a way to circumvent U.S. sanctions and complete a controversial natural gas link.
Asked about Russian efforts to circumvent U.S. sanctions on the pipeline by completing it on its own, U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said “they can’t” -- and dismissed claims that project owner Gazprom PJSC will face only a short delay.
House Republicans will begin revealing on Wednesday their plan to combat climate change that comports with conservative principles of less regulation and increased domestic energy development.
Chevron has ramped up output at a key Venezuela oil project to levels not seen in almost a year, offering a thorny reminder of how U.S. sanctions are failing to deliver a knockout of Nicolas Maduro’s regime.
The report will showcase flaring trends, its proportion to surging oil production and potentially a list of the best and worst operators, said Ryan Sitton, a member of the Texas Railroad Commission.
The decline in investment post-2014 could be arrested if processes are standardized and regulators become more responsive to industry concerns.
The Railroad Commission of Texas launched two more interactive data maps showing oil and gas drilling permit approvals and the number of wells spudded. Information is displayed by counts, operators, county locations and on a statewide level.
An election held in the U.S. in 2020 could do a lot to shape global climate outcomes in the immediate future. It won’t feature Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, or Elizabeth Warren, and the winner won’t live in the White House.
The U.S. sanctioned four companies that it says have traded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals in its latest effort to clamp down on the Islamic Republic’s revenue sources.
Kurt Abraham, World Oil
Conservative victory in UK seen as plus for industry
David Blackmon, Contributing Editor
A stark reality faces the U.S. oil and gas industry in the 2020 elections
“The phase one trade deal reached between the U.S. and China is a positive step forward, creating greater certainty across the American economy,” API President and CEO Mike Sommers said.