Post-Gazette -- You've heard of house flipping. Now, lease flipping has come to Pennsylvania's natural gas fields.

A wave of investment firms hoping to cash in on drilling in the Marcellus Shale is appearing in deed books across the region. They operate much like traditional land agents, negotiating with landowners to secure rights to the lucrative shale gas underneath the acreage.

The difference? The landowners have already leased access to the land to gas drillers, and signing away the rights now can mean forfeiting any future royalties that may come with gas production.

"It's a gamble," said Martin Schardt, executive vice president of the American Association of Professional Landmen. "The landowner can get the money right now, or the company could drill on that land and it could be a real barn-burne  (read more)

Bradenton Herald -- The oil industry is primed for resurgence in Southwest Florida.

Fueled by lofty oil prices, more efficient drilling techniques and the promise of untapped but also largely unproven reservoirs, at least a half-dozen companies plan to expand exploration across the region.

They've quietly spent between $10 million and $20 million over the last few years, by the estimate of one industry executive, to buy mineral rights covering massive swaths of Collier, Lee and Hendry counties.

Now, drilling is picking up, with companies reviving long-abandoned fields and low-producing wells in and bordering the Big Cypress National Preserve, the historic heart of oil operations that go back 70 years. They also aim to poke prospecting "wildcat" wells into new areas like a tomato farm in Immokalee and...  (read more)

The Telegraph -- Up to 380,000 barrels of crude oil were previously produced by wells around the city of Raqqa and in the desert region to its east that are now in rebel hands - in particular Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda off-shoot which is the strongest faction in this part of the country.

Now the violently anti-Western jihadist group, which has been steadily extending its control in the region, is selling the crude oil to local entrepreneurs, who use home-made refineries to produce low-grade petrol and other fuels for Syrians facing acute shortages.

The ability of Jabhat al-Nusra to profit from the oil locally, despite international sanctions which have hindered its sale abroad, will be particularly worrying to the European Union, which has voted to ease the embargo but at the same time wants to...  (read more)

NewsOK HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) -- A Hastings ethanol plant that announced in February that it would temporarily shut down will not reopen.
The Ag Processing Inc. cooperative said Friday that it is permanently shutting down the 55-million-gallon-a-year plant, citing the plant's age and high utility costs associated with running it.

Officials had cited a slowdown in the economy, high corn prices and low oil prices for the temporary shutdown.
Matt Caswell, vice president of corporate relations with AGP in Omaha, said the company didn't see "any turn-around in the industry anytime soon."
Most of the plant's 43 employees found jobs within AGP's other operations in Hastings. AGP also operates a soybean processing plant, vegetable oil refinery and an AminoPlus production facility in the city.
APG says none of those facilities...  (read more)

Quad-City Times -- Lea Kaskadden of Davenport pulled up to the pump at the Sara Mini Mart at River Drive and Myrtle Street in Davenport in one of two SUVs she and her husband drive. Attached to this SUV was the couple’s boat.

The cheap gasoline was $3.89 a gallon.

“We’re filling up the SUV before gas goes any higher,” Kaskadden said, adding that she could not believe how fast fuel has risen in the past couple of weeks.

But it was the boat they wanted filled, she said, “before we put it in the water. On the river, gasoline is 50 to 60 cents a gallon higher.”

Sara Mini Mart store manager Aban Baral said the price of gasoline at his store has gone up about 60 cents in 10 days.

“We’re having trouble keeping stocks of gasoline because people are trying to buy it before it goes up even more,” Baral said....  (read more)

WKYT -- PIKEVILLE - Officials say around 250 coal jobs are coming to eastern KY.

High Ridge Mining plans to develop seven deep mines in Pike County which will employ 36 miners each.

"We are probably still a month off from doing our major majority of our hiring," said Kyle Smith.

He says the prep plant has been idled for about 10 years, and they are working to get it ready. Right now, the seven mines are also idled.

“Every time our coal industry hits rock bottom, it’s not the big national companies that bring it back, it’s the local companies,” Carlton said.(Smith) is taking advantage of the need for coal in foreign markets. This won’t be the last we hear about our coal being exported to Asia and Europe because the market for our coal is no longer domestic. Washington has killed our domestic  (read more)

Forbes -- Chevron CVX +0.54% may be making a pact with the devil. On Thursday, Argentine energy producer YPF announced it had reached a “final agreement” with the global oil giant to develop the Vaca Muerta basin, considered by Chevron the second largest reservoir of unconventional oil in the world. The second largest U.S. oil and gas producer has pledged to invest $1.5 billion in the first phase of the project, which the Argentine government desperately needs after being forced to import energy for the first time in 17 years in 2012.

Facing runaway inflation and pressure on its precious foreign reserves, the administration of Cristina Kirchner forcibly nationalized YPF last year, throwing out Spain’s Repsol without compensation, which is an indication of the types of risks Chevron is willing to  (read more)

Yahoo News -- Tests and scientific experts have already claimed that many health and environmental concerns tied to hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, often voiced by opponents of the process, lack scientific backing. Now, yet another study has found that wells near fracking sites did not experience water contamination.
Duke University and members of the U.S. Geological Survey examined 127 drinking water wells for evidence of pollution from methane gas or chemicals. With more than 4,000 new gas wells drilled in Arkansas' Fayetteville Shale since 2004, researchers were looking for the presence of contamination from drilling, or from naturally occurring gas or ultra-salty liquids that seep up through pre-existing faults.  (read more)

Reuters -- Marathon Petroleum Corp said on Thursday that the 223,000 barrel-per-day crude oil pipeline from Wood River to Patoka, Illinois, remained shut after it leaked water and oil during testing over the weekend as part of routine maintenance.

In a filing with Illinois regulators, Marathon said the incident occurred near midnight on May 11 in the city of Greenville in Bond County, southern Illinois.

Marathon said that at the time of the leak the pipeline was shut for testing as part of routine maintenance and the company estimated the release at 2,500 barrels of hydrostatic test water and less than two gallons of crude oil.  (read more)

Downstream Today -- The construction of a natural gas pipeline from southern Texas to central Mexico for state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, will allow gas imports from the U.S. to triple, to around 3 billion cubic feet per day by 2015 to meet increasing demand by industry for the relatively cheap fuel, a Pemex official said Wednesday.

"The lack of gas means that our industries are having to burn fuel oil," which is currently about three times as expensive as natural gas, Mr. Martinez said.

The gas supply problem is expected to be alleviated with the Los Ramones project, a pipeline that will carry gas from southern Texas to the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, which is a hub for the Mexican auto industry.  (read more)

NBC -- A group of self-styled Robin Hoods who scamper around the streets of a New Hampshire city and feed expired parking meters for strangers has been hit with a harassment lawsuit.

The city of Keene says its three parking inspectors have been taunted, insulted and followed by the group — to the point that one of them says he has suffered heart palpitations and is thinking about quitting his job.

In its lawsuit, the city is asking a court to order the group not to come within 50 feet of the parking inspectors.

The suit names six defendants, most of them bloggers for Free Keene, which describes itself on its Facebook page as “your connection to the liberty activism movement in New Hampshire.”
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One of the six, Ian Freeman, told NBC News that “The Robin Hooders have always  (read more)

Fierce Energy -- Despite some high-profile scrutiny of the failures of some renewable energy companies, consumers still view solar and wind energy favorably, according to Navigant Research -- but not as favorably as they did in 2008.

"Since 2009, there have been steady declines in favorability for some clean energy concepts, particularly the areas that have traditionally enjoyed strong consumer support such as solar energy, wind energy, hybrid vehicles, and electric cars," said Clint Wheelock, managing director at Navigant Research. "Overall, support for clean energy concepts in our tracking survey held fairly steady from 2011 to 2012, but the decline for solar energy in particular was...  (read more)

CNBC.com -- Some of the most popular small SUVs have failed crash tests that simulate a common and deadly front end collision.

"These are troubling results," said Joe Nolan with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "These small SUV's are very popular and for the most part pretty safe, but with these tests most of them did not do well."

For the first time the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety conducted small overlap crash tests with small SUV's. Eleven of the thirteen models tested received marginal or poor ratings.

"Too often many of these models did a poor job protecting the front occupant cabin," said Nolan.
 (read more)

The Deseret News -- Companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands will be required to disclose publicly the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations, the Obama administration said Thursday. The new "fracking" rule replaces a draft proposed last year that was withdrawn amid industry complaints that federal regulation could hinder an ongoing boom in natural gas production.

The new draft rule relies on an online database used by Colorado and 10 other states to track the chemicals used in fracking operations. FracFocus.org is a website formed by industry and intergovernmental groups in 2011 that allows users to gather well-specific data on thousands of drilling sites.

The proposed rule also sets standards for proper construction of wells and disposal of wastewater.  (read more)

USA Today -- It's been a rollercoaster year for gas prices, which began the year averaging $3.29 a gallon, then zoomed to $3.78 in February before dropping to $3.50 last month. Current average price: $3.60.
Troubles at several oil refineries are driving gasoline prices sharply higher in the Midwest, and the regional shortages are expected to boost pump prices nationwide.

While the USA may be dripping in new found crude oil deposits and early May supplies were at their highest levels since the early 1930s, issues at a handful of refineries that turn crude into gasoline and diesel fuel underscore how kinks in the supply chain can cause quick surges in what consumers pay at the pump.

Gas prices in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin have spiked  (read more)

Car Connection -- Do you live in Florida? Have you received a ticket from a red-light camera lately?

There may be a reason for that: according to Tampa's CBS affiliate WTSP, the state recently shortened the legal length for yellow lights. That's caused a surge in red-light citations -- and proved beneficial for Florida's coffers.

WTSP became suspicious of yellow-light times last December, when a Hernando County woman was killed after another motorist ran a red light. Timing of the yellow light revealed that it was shorter than expected, making drivers more likely to run the subsequent red light and making the intersection considerably more dangerous.

After further digging, reporters found that in 2011, a law had been changed to reduce minimum yellow-light lengths throughout the state.  (read more)

Duluth News tribune -- The closure of two Chicago-area refineries for repairs is driving gas prices toward record levels across the Upper Midwest.

And with the refineries scheduled to be closed for weeks, prices will remain high for some time.

“It’s going to be a very expensive summer in the Upper Midwest,” AAA Minnesota/Iowa spokeswoman Gail Winholzer said.  (read more)

MarketWatch -- Benchmark U.S. crude-oil futures fell Thursday, retreating from gains that were earlier ushered in by an unexpected decline in weekly inventories.

Crude-oil prices for June delivery lost 36 cents, or 0.4%, to trade at $93.94 a barrel in electronic trade.

Later Thursday, investors will look through U.S. economic data, including weekly figures on jobless claims, for signals about future energy demand. Improvement in the labor market is also in focus at the Federal Reserve, which has to decide when it will start tapering down bond purchases that were aimed at stimulating economic growth.

Oil prices on Wednesday swung higher, ending up 9 cents, or 0.1%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude supplies fell 600,000 barrels ...  (read more)

GasBuddy Blog -- OUCH. That's really all I can think of when I see gasoline prices in the Midwest. We've sent warnings to motorists via Facebook, alerted you via e-mail, and prices continue to rise.

Minnesota and the Twin Cities both hit all time record highs today. Pump prices have never been higher in these two areas. More bad news for motorists: several states may soon join Minnesota in breaking records last set in 2008.

At risk for possible record high gasoline prices in the next week or two: Iowa, Kansas, parts of Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. Already shattering records in Minnesota, motorists are in lines dozens of cars deep, compounding the problems that brought the high prices: tight supply.

So...  (read more)

GasBuddy Blog -- The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending that all states lower the blood alcohol level that constitutes drunk driving.

NBC News reports that currently, all 50 states have set a BAC level of .08, reflecting the percentage of alcohol, by volume, in the blood. If a driver is found to have a BAC level of .08 or above, he or she is subject to arrest and prosecution.

The NTSB recommends dropping that to a BAC level of .05. Will it improve driver safety and reduce alcohol consumption? They're betting it will.

Each year, nearly 10,000 people die in alcohol-related traffic accidents and 170,000 are injured, according to the NTSB. While that’s a big improvement from the 20,000 who died in alcohol-related...  (read more)

International Business Times -- The offices of oil majors Shell, BP and Norway's Statoil have been raided by the authorities as the European Commission investigates allegations of rigging oil prices in Europe for more than a decade.

The companies confirmed that they are being investigated by the authorities and are cooperating with the officials.

The EC said that its officials "carried out unannounced inspections at the premises of several companies active in and providing services to the crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels sectors."

The commission added that even small irregularities in the market would result "huge impact on the prices of crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels purchases and sales, potentially harming final consumers''.  (read more)

GasBuddy Blog -- If you're one of the relatively few Americans driving an electric vehicle (EV) or hybrid, your purchase of gasoline has been minimal, and therefore, the federal and state fuel taxes you pay don't come close to covering the maintenance needed to cover the cost of highway infrastructure readily available to you.

Many states are looking to increase that revenue because of the decline in federal gas taxes that was supposed to be earmarked for repairs to roads, bridges and the Interstate highway system.

EV owners have been immune from the cost but that's about to change. Washington state is assessing a $100 annual tax for residents driving certain electric vehicles (EVs), an effort to recoup some of the money lost to those...  (read more)

GasBuddy Blog -- The Energy Information Administration released its weekly report on the status of petroleum inventories in the United States today.

Here are some highlights:

CRUDE INVENTORIES:
Crude oil inventories decreased by 0.6 million barrels to a total of 394.9 million barrels. At 394.9 million barrels, inventories are 13.2 million barrels above last year (3.5%) and are well above the upper limit of the average range.

GASOLINE INVENTORIES:
Gasoline inventories increased by 2.6 million barrels to 217.7 million barrels. At 217.7 million barrels, inventories are up 13.4 million barrels, or 6.5% more than last year. Here's how individual regions and their gasoline inventory fared last week: East Coast (+1.8mb); Midwest...  (read more)

AP -- Wind Energy Push Leaves Trail of Dead Eagles -- It happens about once a month here, on the barren foothills of one of America's green-energy boomtowns: A soaring golden eagle slams into a wind farm's spinning turbine and falls, mangled and lifeless, to the ground.

Killing these iconic birds is not just an irreplaceable loss for a vulnerable species. It's also a federal crime, a charge that the Obama administration has used to prosecute oil companies when birds drown in their waste pits, and power companies when birds are electrocuted by their power lines.

But the administration has never fined or prosecuted a wind-energy company, even those that flout the law repeatedly. Instead, the government is shielding the industry from liability and helping keep the scope of the deaths secret.

Wind power, a pollution-free energy intended to ea  (read more)

YAHOO -- The city of Keene, NH, is suing a group of do-gooders for allegedly topping off parking meters of strangers. The group, which calls itself "Robin Hood and his Merry Men," likes to leave notes on the windshields of cars that are in danger of getting a ticket due to an expired meter, according to the Union Leader.

A note reads, "Your meter expired; however, we saved you from the king’s tariffs, Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Please consider paying it forward.” The note then lists an address where people can send donations if they wish.

According to the Union Leader, the city claims Robin Hood and his Merry Men have "intentionally taunted, interfered with, harassed and intimidated" the city's three parking enforcement officers. The suit also alleges that the group follows the parking enforc  (read more)