December 22, 2020 archive

Crude oil and energy stocks suffered more losses in Tuesday’s trading

  First it was news of a fast-spreading new coronavirus strain in Britain that apparently resulted in falling oil prices in Monday’s trading. Then came news of a similar mutated strain in South Africa and on Tuesday, energy stocks suffered even more losses. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery fell 5 cents to $47.02 …

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Billions in environmental efforts included in efforts by Congress to get out of town by Christmas

  Democrats and Republicans Congress might have a different reason for cheering about the nearly 5,600 page COVID-19 relief and omnibus spending package passed this week. While working under the headline of finally reaching agreement on $900 billion pandemic relief bill, both parties also came up with a $1.4 trillion spending package to fund the …

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Arkansas to get new solar park

Arkansas is getting a new major solar power park, one that will supply sun power to schools, the city of Springdale and OzarksGo LLC. The park is the result of a partnership between Ozarks Electric Cooperative of Fayetteville and Today’s Power Inc of North Little Rock. Arkansas Business reported that Today’s Power, a wholly owned …

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Houston ship channel expansion authorized by Congress

  The Houston Ship Channel will be expanded under the 2020 Water Resources Development Act passed this week by Congress. Ranked as the #1 U.S. Port the channel is the busiest waterway in the nation average 50 deep-draft vessel transits a day. “Today’s announcement is BIG. The authorization to widen and deepen the Houston Ship …

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Energy news in brief

** Published reports indicate China is facing power cuts because of its ban on Australian coal. Local authorities reportedly cannot keep street lights on and factories have been forced to close. ** Royal Dutch Shell on Monday said it will write down the value of oil and gas assets by $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion following …

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National Oilwell Varco makes name change

  Get used to seeing “NOV Inc.” instead of National Oilwell Varco, Inc. for the Texas based company that is also well known for its Oklahoma explorations. The company announced this week it is formally changing its corporate name to NOV Inc and the move will be effective Jan. 1, 2020. But its ticker symbol, …

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ALLETE Clean Energy Begins Commercial Operations at Diamond Spring Wind Site

  The Diamond Spring wind farm operation in southern Oklahoma, developed by Minnesota-based ALLETE Clean Energy has started commercial operations providing electrical power for three major corporations. ALLETE announced the 303-megawatt farm located nearly 25 miles northeast of Ardmore and in Murray, Johnson and Pontotoc Counties started providing renewable energy to Walmart, Smithfield Foods and …

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ConocoPhillips announces significant oil discovery in the Norwegian Sea

    ConocoPhillips announced another new oil discovery of between 75 million and 200 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent in the Norwegian Sea. “This discovery marks our fourth successful exploration well on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in the last 16 months,” said Matt Fox, executive vice president and chief operating officer. He said the …

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Oklahoma’s oil companies are also major producers of natural gas

  When it comes to oil and gas, most Oklahomans and likely those of other energy-producing states commonly think of oil and not natural gas production. But an article this week by Insider Monkey, the investment website pointed out that many states, including Oklahoma are also high producers of natural gas. The website listed the …

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