Energy, Gas | featured news

A sharp decline in the price of oil this month is making gasoline cheaper at a time of year when it typically gets more expensive. It's a relief to motorists and business owners and a positive development for the economy. Over the past three weeks, the price of oil has fallen by 9 percent to $89 a barrel.

If the extraction process is successful, it could provide enough energy to meet the country’s gas consumption needs for 14 years, experts say.

At least 16 people were hurt and a popular wine bar was destroyed by an apparent natural gas explosion and ensuing fire at an upscale shopping district in Kansas City, Mo., Tuesday evening.

Experts say prices should continue rising at least 5 cents a week until early April.

Gasoline prices at the pump have climbed every day for the past 21 days — and they’re not going to let up anytime soon. On Thursday, the average U.S. price for a gallon of regular gasoline stood at $3.555, making it the most expensive average ever for that day and the highest level since Oct. 26 of last year, according to AAA. See AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Exxon says the energy renaissance in the U.S. will continue and predicts that North America will become a net exporter of oil and gas by the middle of the next decade. The oil and gas giant’s latest long-term energy outlook, released Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, says the rapid growth of production in the U.S., Canada along with improved energy efficiency will lead to more oil and gas being sent overseas.

Mining company Freeport-McMoRan is buying a pair of oil and gas producers for $9 billion, creating a natural resources conglomerate with assets ranging from oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico to a huge copper mine in Indonesia....

With long lines persisting at gas pumps, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said an odd-even rationing rule would go into effect at 6 a.m. Friday, and counties on Long Island announced a similar system.

New Jersey began rationing gasoline on Saturday, while New York had to back off its promise of free gasoline, courtesy of the Department of Defense, and told the public to stay away until first responders could fuel up.

Oil and natural gas companies are not exploring, developing or producing on more than 20 million acres of federal leases in the Gulf of Mexico, 40 percent of them owned by the five biggest private oil giants, according to a study by the office of Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee.