Many European countries rely heavily on Russia for energy, especially natural gas. However, Moscow has used energy as an instrument of coercive diplomacy since the early 1990s, and these countries face potential exposure to Russian gas price and supply manipulation, according to an expert at Rice University’s Baker Institutefor Public Policy. Gabriel Collins, the Baker Botts Fellow in Energy and Environmental Regulatory Affairs at the institute, recently discussed Russia’s use of energy to influence—and even coerce—European countries on the institute’s Policies Matter Podcast. Although it has not been widely successful to date in the former Soviet zone, Russia’s use of the “energy weapon” against Western European countries in various forms still constitutes a strategic threat that warrants close attention from policymakers in Washington and throughout...

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in late January 2018 that it expects U.S. average household expenditures for fueloil and propane will be higher this winter. Compared with last year, higher crude oil prices and lower inventory levels are putting upward pressure on prices for heating fuels, the agency said. In addition, forecasts for a colder winter than last year, which was one of the warmest on record for much of the U.S., are expected to increase heating fuel consumption. As a result of higher prices and higher consumption, EIA expects average household expenditures for fueloil and propane to rise from last year’s levels. Temperatures this winter, based on the forecast of heating degree days from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), are expected...

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has laid out the next step for developing the national Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2019-2024. On January 4, 2018, Zinke announced proposed plans to make more than 90% of total OCS acreage and about 98% of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in federal offshore areas available to be considered for future exploration and development. “Responsibly developing our energy resources on the Outer Continental Shelf in a safe and well-regulated way is important to our economy and energy security, and it provides billions of dollars to fund the conservation of our coastlines, public lands, and parks,” he said. “Today’s announcement lays out the options that are on the table and starts...

With 2017 marking the first full year since the $5-billion expansion of the Panama Canal, shipments of LPG and LNG combined marked one of the largest uses of the enhanced waterway, Juan B. Sosa, consul of Panama and president and CEO of the U.S.-Panama Business Council, said Jan. 9, 2018, and as reported by S&P Global Platts. The transport of LPG and LNG cargos, largely from ports along the U.S. Gulf Coast to markets in Asia, has had a “tremendous impact” on the total volume of cargos transiting through the canal in the past year, Sosa said, speaking at a joint meeting of the American Petroleum Institute and the American Association of Drilling Engineers in Houston. The number of transits by LPG tankers nearly doubled...

Vancouver, Canada (January 26, 2018) — Canada’s independent Fraser Institute has once again identified Texas as the most attractive jurisdiction in the world for oil and gas investment, reclaiming the top spot from Oklahoma in an annual global survey of petroleum-sector executives. After Texas, Oklahoma was ranked second. The study was released Nov. 28 by the public policy think tank. “Texas and Oklahoma have, for years, been seen as the most attractive jurisdictions in the world for oil and gas investors—proof that sound regulatory policies and stable environmental protections help attract scarce investment dollars even when commodity prices are down,” said Kenneth Green, the Fraser Institute’s senior director of natural resource studies and co-author of the 2017 Global Petroleum Survey. This year’s survey ranks 97...

An engine not unlike a butane cigarette lighter will power the GomX-4B radio communications satellite, which will launch in February, reports Aerospace. Organized by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Danish Ministry of Defense, GomX-4A includes two butane thrusters supplied by the Swedish firm NanoSpace. The thrusters are designed to be small and simple. “Storing it as a liquid, like a cigarette lighter, allows us to pack as many butane molecules as possible inside the small available volume—its liquid form being some 1000 times denser than its gas,” said NanoSpace CEO Tor-Arne Gronland. The mission is a test to show that the miniature satellite can successfully change orbit and communicate with a second unit via a radio link at varying distances. The cereal box-sized...