-Global upstream oil production spending this year is down almost 20% over last year, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Via Platts, IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol said there have been particularly steep declines in U.S. shale oil investments, despite declining supply chain costs. IEA revised downward its forecast for U.S. oil production growth in 2015 by 50,000 barrels per day to 710,000 barrels per day.
-Oil producers operating in Alberta face a new era of uncertainty after election victories on Tuesday by a left-leaning party vowing to raise corporate taxes and revisit the government’s energy revenues. Via the Financial Post, the New Democratic Party’s victory is “completely devastating” for companies and investors, according to a fund manager at Calgary’s Canoe Financial. Analysts say oil sands producers such as Suncor, Imperial Oil and Canadian Natural Resources are most at risk if the Alberta government reviews oil royalties.
-Two workers were killed and 10 were injured Tuesday in an accident on an oil well maintenance platform in the Bay of Campeche off the coast of Mexico. Via the Associated Press, Mexican state oil company Pemex blamed the accident on the collapse of one of the rig’s legs. Typhoon Offshore owns the platform. No oil was spilled as a result of the incident and the well was closed off.
-Calumet Specialty Products Partners signed a deal with Plains All American Pipeline to transport cheaper crude feedstock to its refinery in Shreveport, La. Under the 10-year agreement, Calumet will have the option to ship up to 20,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Midland, Texas, or Cushing, Okla., to a hub in Longview, Texas. The oil would be shipped from Longview to the Shreveport refinery via a pipeline Plains is set to start up next year. Calumet expects to save between $7 million and $8 million in crude oil transportation costs by 2017.
-Ethanol plants may be releasing more pollutants than previously thought. In a new study, an ethanol plant in Illinois was found to emit VOCs at a level five times higher than government estimates.
