As oil and gas companies across the Caspian Sea region have seen profits fall dramatically due to the collapse of the price of oil, many are letting their profits fall further by investing funds in projects to increase their production levels. Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkmenistan are all looking to increase their gas production due to a variety of factors including foreign investment and extra export capacity.
Egypt's demand for gas has long outstripped its supply capacity. At an estimated $8bn this fiscal year, the cost of importing oil and gas is a drain on Egypt's economy. With most of the current oil and gas wells reaching maturity, this situation will only get worse. However, new gas reserve discoveries, changes in government policy and foreign investment look to boost Egypt's gas production to not only negate the deficit but to allow them to export LNG. Presenters at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston stated that they believed Egypt could significantly reduce its LNG imports as soon as 2018 and they anticipate that they could increase their gas production by more than 90bn m3 by 2022.
In the UK, researchers estimate that £25 billion of natural gas is metered using an orifice plate. Vital decisions are made based on this data so it is essential that it is accurate. The international standard, ISO 5167, ensures consistency in equipment and calculations to improve the accuracy of these measurements. Now, in new book, Dr Michael Reader-Harris of flow measurement consultancy NEL, part of the UK measurement infrastructure responsible for the management of the UK National Standard for Flow Measurement, gives operators a greater understanding of the physics and research that underpins the standard.
A recent Cross Sector Efficiency Study by the Oil & Gas Industry Council and PwC stated “Only fundamental change to the way businesses work and interact will generate the level of sustainable change necessary to compete for international investment in the North Sea and maximise recovery.” In an attempt to affect this type of change, the UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has launched a competition to find new and innovative ways to use extensive seismic data collected on the Rockall Basin and Mid North Sea High. Scientists and engineers will have the chance to compete for a slice of the £500,000 worth of funding available to develop new technology to exploit these findings.
With the recent tumble in oil prices, it would seem an unlikely time for a company such as Shell to be expanding its natural gas operations. That is exactly what it has done, however, by acquiring BG Group PLC, one of the UK's leading LNG (liquefied natural gas) producers.
A project to create second generation biofuel from agricultural residues is being carried out in Germany in response to the growing need for sustainable energy.
Speculation is rife that an agreement achieved at December’s gathering of the United Nations to discuss climate change could spell the beginning of the end for cooking and heating with gas. The Paris climate change deal to stop global warming, approved by 195 countries, commits nations to greater reductions in greenhouse gases from 2020 onwards.
Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Alexey Miller and Member of the E.ON Management Board, Klaus Schaefer met this November to discuss the highly-anticipated, upcoming Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.
After four years of decline, European gas demand is estimated to increase by 7% in 2015 with respect to last year according to the latest forecast from Eurogas, the gas association representing the European gas wholesale, retail and distribution sectors. The first half of 2015 saw a significant increase of approximately 9% in demand, compared with the same period in 2014. This estimate comes from their annual survey, covering approximately 87% of the EU gas market.
At the Eastern Economic Forum in September, Gazprom, the world’s largest extractor of natural gas, signed three major deals with some of the EU’s biggest energy companies.