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126-551: Coastal produced and marketed petroleum, natural gas , electricity, and coal. It also sold gasoline at Coastal-branded gas stations. By 1999, Coastal Refining and Marketing operated 962 gas stations in 33 states and was supplied by four refineries, including a 150,000 bbl per day refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas , a 180,000 bbl per day refinery in Eagle Point, New Jersey , a 250,000 barrel per day refinery on Aruba , and

252-461: A $ 182 million hostile bid . With the acquisition, Coastal became a national company. In 1973, Wyatt renamed the company Coastal States Gas Corporation. In the first half of the decade, Coastal also sought to diversify into other energy markets. In 1973 it entered the coal mining field with the acquisition of Southern Utah Fuel Company . Also in 1973, with the acquisition of Union Petroleum Corporation , renamed Belcher New England, Inc., Coastal began

378-810: A 25,000 bbl per day refinery geared for asphalt production in Chickasaw, Alabama . Coastal Corporation also owned and operated a fleet of oil tankers, tugs, and barges. Sales in 1991 totaled $ 9.549 billion. Coastal Corporation supplied marine diesel in the Caribbean, natural gas in Colorado, and heating oil in the Northeast. Coastal was a natural gas producer and distributor along with competitors Enron , Williams Companies , and El Paso Energy with which Coastal later merged. Coastal produced, gathered, processed, transported, stored and marketed natural gas throughout

504-537: A New York Times article warned that the word "glut" was misleading, and that in reality, while temporary surpluses had brought down prices somewhat, prices were still well above pre-energy crisis levels. This sentiment was echoed in November 1981, when the CEO of Exxon also characterized the glut as a temporary surplus, and that the word "glut" was an example of "our American penchant for exaggerated language". He wrote that

630-731: A South American electricity company, it had purchased 50 percent of the Itabo Generation Company from the Dominican Republic. Itabo owned six thermal plants near the country's capital. Coastal's refinery facilities expanded operations in the late 1990s as well. In July 1998 the company signed a five-year deal with PMI Comercio Internacional, S.A. de C.V., a marketing subsidiary of Mexico's national oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos , in which PMI agreed to supply crude for Coastal's refinery in Aruba. Coastal began expanding

756-634: A U.S. federal court to illegally sending payments to Iraq under the Oil-for-Food Programme . At his sentencing hearing, Wyatt's attorney Gerald Shargel (who also defended Mafia boss John Gotti ) pointed to a commission report, led by former Federal Reserve Board chairman Paul Volcker , that concluded that about half of the 4,500 companies in the Oil-for-Food Program paid a total of $ 1.8 billion in kickbacks and illicit surcharges to Saddam’s regime. Wyatt's defense also floated

882-481: A density 0.5539 times that of air (0.678 kg per standard cubic meter). In the early 1800s, natural gas became known as "natural" to distinguish it from the dominant gas fuel at the time, coal gas . Unlike coal gas, which is manufactured by heating coal, natural gas can be extracted from the ground in its native gaseous form. When the use of natural gas overtook the use of coal gas in English speaking countries in

1008-612: A few countries. The "Embargo" was never effective from Saudi Arabia towards the US, as reported by James E. Akins in interview at 24:10 in the documentary "la face cachée du pétrole part 2". Akins, who audited US capacity for Nixon after US peak, was US ambassador in Saudi Arabia at that time. Lawrence Rocks and Richard Runyon captured the unfolding of these events at the time in The Energy Crisis book. In October 1973,

1134-452: A glut on the world market, causing a six-year-long decline in oil prices culminating with a 46 percent price drop in 1986. The U.S. reported a negative economic growth during the period concerning the 1970s and it remained weak till the 1980s as the post world war II economic boom drew to a close. But it was a different type of recession as it was a scenario of stagflation which is a rare economic consequence. Other causes that contributed to

1260-498: A major power in the U.S. gas business. In 1987, despite sanctions prohibiting U.S. companies from dealing with Libya because of its terrorist connections, Wyatt negotiated a deal in which Libya supplied oil to Coastal's refinery in Hamburg, Germany . Wyatt's deal was legal because foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies were exempt from U.S. regulations. In the late 1980s, Coastal took advantage of improved economic relations between

1386-484: A major source of natural gas in the United States and Canada. Because of increased shale gas production the United States was in 2014 the number one natural gas producer in the world. The production of shale gas in the United States has been described as a "shale gas revolution" and as "one of the landmark events in the 21st century." Following the increased production in the United States, shale gas exploration

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1512-641: A newly established ammonia plant in Oyster Creek, Texas. In its coal division Coastal progressed with plans to transform the business from a processing and marketing company to one that mined, processed, and marketed its own coal. Coastal's operating revenues dropped considerably between 1996 and 1998, from $ 12.17 billion to $ 7.37 billion, making it a target for acquisition. Although the company rebounded from increased production of natural gas by more than 16 percent in 1998, coupled with rising oil prices that made Coastal's Petroleum business increasingly profitable,

1638-564: A processing plant and a pipeline. To bolster its exploration and production operations, Coastal upped its exploration and production budget by $ 100 million in 1998 and by $ 290 million in 1999. Coastal acquired oil and gas assets in northeastern Utah and western Colorado in late 1998. The company also acquired properties in the Texas Coastal Plain, a region that accounted for 45 percent of Coastal's net gas production in 1998. By February 1999 Coastal had seven oil rigs in operation. In

1764-542: A synthetic crude that can be further refined into finished products, while MTG can produce synthetic gasoline from natural gas. STG+ can produce drop-in gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and aromatic chemicals directly from natural gas via a single-loop process. In 2011, Royal Dutch Shell's 140,000 barrels (22,000 m ) per day F–T plant went into operation in Qatar . Natural gas can be "associated" (found in oil fields ), or "non-associated" (isolated in natural gas fields ), and

1890-493: Is a flammable gaseous fuel made by the destructive distillation of coal . It contains a variety of calorific gases including hydrogen , carbon monoxide , methane , and other volatile hydrocarbons , together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen , and was used in a similar way to natural gas. This is a historical technology and is not usually economically competitive with other sources of fuel gas today. Most town "gashouses" located in

2016-421: Is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane (95%) in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes . Traces of carbon dioxide , nitrogen , hydrogen sulfide , and helium are also usually present. Methane is colorless and odorless, and the second largest greenhouse gas contributor to global climate change after carbon dioxide. Because natural gas

2142-458: Is a schematic block flow diagram of a typical natural gas processing plant. It shows the various unit processes used to convert raw natural gas into sales gas pipelined to the end user markets. The block flow diagram also shows how processing of the raw natural gas yields byproduct sulfur, byproduct ethane, and natural gas liquids (NGL) propane, butanes and natural gasoline (denoted as pentanes +). As of mid-2020, natural gas production in

2268-399: Is also found in coal beds (as coalbed methane ). It sometimes contains a significant amount of ethane , propane , butane , and pentane —heavier hydrocarbons removed for commercial use prior to the methane being sold as a consumer fuel or chemical plant feedstock. Non-hydrocarbons such as carbon dioxide , nitrogen , helium (rarely), and hydrogen sulfide must also be removed before

2394-628: Is beginning in countries such as Poland, China, and South Africa. Chinese geologists have identified the Sichuan Basin as a promising target for shale gas drilling, because of the similarity of shales to those that have proven productive in the United States. Production from the Wei-201 well is between 10,000 and 20,000 m per day. In late 2020, China National Petroleum Corporation claimed daily production of 20 million cubic meters of gas from its Changning-Weiyuan demonstration zone. Town gas

2520-537: Is estimated to have 51,000 cubic kilometers (12,000 cu mi) of natural gas and 50 billion barrels (7.9 billion cubic meters) of natural gas condensates . Because natural gas is not a pure product, as the reservoir pressure drops when non-associated gas is extracted from a field under supercritical (pressure/temperature) conditions, the higher molecular weight components may partially condense upon isothermic depressurizing—an effect called retrograde condensation . The liquid thus formed may get trapped as

2646-694: Is heated and compressed deep underground. Methanogenic organisms produce methane from a variety of sources, principally carbon dioxide. During petroleum production, natural gas is sometimes flared rather than being collected and used. Before natural gas can be burned as a fuel or used in manufacturing processes, it almost always has to be processed to remove impurities such as water. The byproducts of this processing include ethane , propane , butanes , pentanes , and higher molecular weight hydrocarbons. Hydrogen sulfide (which may be converted into pure sulfur ), carbon dioxide , water vapor , and sometimes helium and nitrogen must also be removed. Natural gas

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2772-403: Is natural gas produced from shale . Because shale's matrix permeability is too low to allow gas to flow in economical quantities, shale gas wells depend on fractures to allow the gas to flow. Early shale gas wells depended on natural fractures through which gas flowed; almost all shale gas wells today require fractures artificially created by hydraulic fracturing . Since 2000, shale gas has become

2898-408: Is odorless, odorizers such as mercaptan (which smells like rotten eggs ) are commonly added to it for safety so that leaks can be readily detected. Natural gas is a fossil fuel that is formed when layers of organic matter (primarily marine microorganisms) decompose under anaerobic conditions and are subjected to intense heat and pressure underground over millions of years. The energy that

3024-531: Is often questioned. The targeted countries responded with a wide variety of new, and mostly permanent, initiatives to contain their further dependency. The 1973 "oil price shock", along with the 1973–1974 stock market crash , have been regarded as the first event since the Great Depression to have a persistent economic effect. A crisis emerged in the United States in 1979 during the wake of

3150-406: Is often stored underground [references about geological storage needed]inside depleted gas reservoirs from previous gas wells, salt domes , or in tanks as liquefied natural gas. The gas is injected in a time of low demand and extracted when demand picks up. Storage nearby end users helps to meet volatile demands, but such storage may not always be practicable. With 15 countries accounting for 84% of

3276-452: Is preparing to export natural gas. Floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) is an innovative technology designed to enable the development of offshore gas resources that would otherwise remain untapped due to environmental or economic factors which currently make them impractical to develop via a land-based LNG operation. FLNG technology also provides a number of environmental and economic advantages: Many gas and oil companies are considering

3402-500: Is primarily dependent on proximity to markets (pipelines), and regulatory restrictions. Natural gas can be indirectly exported through the absorption in other physical output. The expansion of shale gas production in the US has caused prices to drop relative to other countries. This has caused a boom in energy intensive manufacturing sector exports, whereby the average dollar unit of US manufacturing exports has almost tripled its energy content between 1996 and 2012. A "master gas system"

3528-429: Is primarily used in the northern hemisphere. North America and Europe are major consumers. Often well head gases require removal of various hydrocarbon molecules contained within the gas. Some of these gases include heptane , pentane , propane and other hydrocarbons with molecular weights above methane ( CH 4 ). The natural gas transmission lines extend to the natural gas processing plant or unit which removes

3654-716: Is sometimes informally referred to simply as "gas", especially when it is being compared to other energy sources, such as oil, coal or renewables. However, it is not to be confused with gasoline , which is also shortened in colloquial usage to "gas", especially in North America. Natural gas is measured in standard cubic meters or standard cubic feet . The density compared to air ranges from 0.58 (16.8 g/mole, 0.71 kg per standard cubic meter) to as high as 0.79 (22.9 g/mole, 0.97 kg per scm), but generally less than 0.64 (18.5 g/mole, 0.78 kg per scm). For comparison, pure methane (16.0425 g/mole) has

3780-604: Is traded on a "dry gas" basis and is required to be commercially free from objectionable odours, materials, and dust or other solid or liquid matter, waxes, gums and gum forming constituents, which might damage or adversely affect operation of equipment downstream of the custody transfer point. LNG carrier ships transport liquefied natural gas (LNG) across oceans, while tank trucks can carry LNG or compressed natural gas (CNG) over shorter distances. Sea transport using CNG carrier ships that are now under development may be competitive with LNG transport in specific conditions. Gas

3906-409: Is transported at high pressure, typically above 200 bars (20,000 kPa; 2,900 psi). Compressors and decompression equipment are less capital intensive and may be economical in smaller unit sizes than liquefaction/regasification plants. Natural gas trucks and carriers may transport natural gas directly to end-users, or to distribution points such as pipelines. In the past, the natural gas which

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4032-416: Is turned into liquid at a liquefaction plant, and is returned to gas form at regasification plant at the terminal . Shipborne regasification equipment is also used. LNG is the preferred form for long distance, high volume transportation of natural gas, whereas pipeline is preferred for transport for distances up to 4,000 km (2,500 mi) over land and approximately half that distance offshore. CNG

4158-416: The 1970s energy crisis . LoVaca, Coastal's pipeline subsidiary, had signed fixed-price contracts to supply cities in south Texas with natural gas. With energy prices soaring and supplies dwindling, LoVaca could not meet its contractual obligations. At one point it cut off gas supplies to the cities of San Antonio and Austin during the winter. Wyatt then obtained regulatory permission to increase prices beyond

4284-559: The Arab world and some other predominantly Muslim countries. The animosity between the Arabs and the Israelis became a global issue during the 1970s. The Yom Kippur War of 1973, with the supplying of Israel by its Western allies while some Arab states received Soviet supplies, made this one of the most internationally threatening confrontations of the period. The large oil discoveries in

4410-506: The Bretton Woods Accord and taking the U.S. off the established Gold Exchange Standard in 1971. The change resulted in instability in world currencies and depreciation of the value of the U.S. dollar , as well as other currencies. The revenues of OPEC also took a hit since they priced oil in dollars. Finally OPEC started pricing oil against gold to combat the situation. But OPEC still struggled to maintain stability in

4536-692: The Iranian Revolution . Amid massive protests, the Shah of Iran , Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , fled his country in early 1979, allowing the Ayatollah Khomeini to gain control. The protests shattered the Iranian oil sector. While the new regime resumed oil exports, it was inconsistent and at a lower volume, forcing prices to go up. Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations, under the presidency of Dr. Mana Alotaiba increased production to offset

4662-498: The Middle East gave some Muslim countries unique leverage in the world, beginning in the 1960s. The 1973 and 1979 crises, in particular, were demonstrations of the new power that these countries had found. The United States and other countries were forced to become more involved in the conflicts between these states and Israel. One of the first challenges OPEC faced in the 1970s was the United States' unilaterally pulling out of

4788-619: The National Bureau of Economic Research , the U.S. economy slid into a recession during the period of 1973-75. Inflation levels remained high even when an economic expansion took place afterwards. During this recession, the Gross Domestic Product of the United States fell 3.2%. Although the recession ended in March 1975, the unemployment rate did not peak for several months. In May 1975, the rate reached its height for

4914-688: The North Sea offshore fields of the United Kingdom and Norway, the Cantarell offshore field of Mexico, and oil sands in Canada. As a result of the 1973 crisis many nations created strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs), crude oil inventories (or stockpiles) held by the governments of particular countries or private industry, for the purpose of providing economic and national security during an energy crisis. The International Energy Agency (IEA)

5040-638: The Western world , particularly the United States , Canada , Western Europe , Australia , and New Zealand , faced substantial petroleum shortages as well as elevated prices. The two worst crises of this period were the 1973 oil crisis and the 1979 energy crisis , when, respectively, the Yom Kippur War and the Iranian Revolution triggered interruptions in Middle Eastern oil exports. The crisis began to unfold as petroleum production in

5166-427: The supply chain can result in natural gas having a similar carbon footprint to other fossil fuels overall. Natural gas can be found in underground geological formations , often alongside other fossil fuels like coal and oil (petroleum). Most natural gas has been created through either biogenic or thermogenic processes. Thermogenic gas takes a much longer period of time to form and is created when organic matter

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5292-501: The 1960s, petroleum production in some of the world's top producers with extraction technology at the time began to peak. West Germany reached its production peak in 1966, Venezuela and the United States in 1970, and Iran in 1974. Canada 's conventional oil production peaked around this same time (though non-conventional production later helped revive Canadian production to some degree). The worldwide production per capita peaked soon afterward. Although production in other parts of

5418-406: The 1973 and 1979 energy crises) and the energy conservation spurred by high fuel prices. The inflation adjusted real 2004 dollar value of oil fell from an average of $ 78.2 per barrel in 1981 to an average of $ 26.8 in 1986. In June 1981, The New York Times stated an "Oil glut! ... is here" and Time Magazine stated: "the world temporarily floats in a glut of oil", though the next week

5544-463: The 1980s, both the recessions of the 1970s and adjustments in local economies to become more efficient in petroleum usage, controlled demand sufficiently for petroleum prices worldwide to return to more sustainable levels. The period was not uniformly negative for all economies. Petroleum-rich countries in the Middle East benefited from increased prices and the slowing production in other areas of

5670-524: The 1980s. Ever since Israel declared independence in 1948 there was conflict between Arabs and Israelis in the Middle East , including a number of wars . The Suez Crisis , also known as the Second Arab–Israeli war, was sparked when Israel's southern port of Eilat was blocked by Egypt , which also nationalized the Suez Canal belonging to Anglo-French investors. One of the objectives of

5796-548: The 19th century, natural gas was primarily obtained as a by-product of producing oil . The small, light gas carbon chains came out of solution as the extracted fluids underwent pressure reduction from the reservoir to the surface, similar to uncapping a soft drink bottle where the carbon dioxide effervesces . The gas was often viewed as a by-product, a hazard, and a disposal problem in active oil fields. The large volumes produced could not be used until relatively expensive pipeline and storage facilities were constructed to deliver

5922-406: The 20th century, it was increasingly referred to as simply "gas." In order to highlight its role in exacerbating the climate crisis , however, many organizations have criticized the continued use of the word "natural" in referring to the gas. These advocates prefer the term "fossil gas" or "methane gas" as better conveying to the public its climate threat. A 2020 study of Americans' perceptions of

6048-652: The Aruba refinery in September. In 1997 Coastal entered into discussions with Venezuela's national oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), regarding a venture involving Coastal's Corpus Christi refinery facilities. Coastal's refinery in Eagle Point, New Jersey, was busy in 1998 as well. In June Coastal finalized an agreement concerning the supply of crude with Norway's state oil company, Statoil Group. In other 1998 developments, Coastal sold or closed nearly 100 retail stores, including 64 Coastal Mart stores in

6174-526: The Caribbean island of Aruba. In 1996, Coastal entered into discussions with Westcoast Energy Inc. to form a joint venture to market natural gas and electricity and to provide energy management services. The venture, which would create one of the largest marketers of natural gas and electricity in North America, was named Engage Energy. To procure funds for additional ventures, Coastal sold its Utah coal mining operations for approximately $ 610 million in late 1996. The company planned to keep its coal operations in

6300-525: The Coastal retail gas stations were sold to Phillips 66 which later became Conoco Phillips. In 2003, Oscar Wyatt and other shareholders sued the El Paso Corporation for allegedly misrepresenting its intentions for Coastal assets prior to the merger in 2000. After the merger of Coastal and El Paso Corporation, the latter began divesting itself of Coastal assets beginning in 2001. El Paso needed

6426-1565: The El Paso Corporation and to wrestle control of the remaining assets, which included natural gas pipelines, exploration, and production assets. Since the merging and disclosing of corporate malfeasance by El Paso management, Its stock had fallen 87% from its February 2001 high of $ 75 a share. El Paso had debts of $ 25 billion and was being sued by shareholders and investigated by state and federal regulators. ANR Pipeline Company; ANR Alliance Pipeline Company U.S., Inc.; ANR Independence Pipeline Company; ANR Storage Company; Colorado Interstate Gas Company; Wyoming Interstate Company, Ltd.; Coastal Field Services Company; Coastal Gas International Company; Coastal Gas Marketing Company; Coastal Gas Services Company; Coastal Aux Sable Products Company; Coastal Gas Australia Pty Ltd.; Engage Energy US, L.P. (50%); Engage Energy Canada, L.P. (50%); Blue Lake Gas Storage Company (75%); Empire State Pipeline (50%); Great Lakes Gas Transmission Limited Partnership (50%); Coastal Aruba Refining Company N.V.; Coastal Refining & Marketing, Inc.; Coastal Eagle Point Oil Company; Coastal Mobile Refining Company; Coastal Refining & Marketing, Inc.; Coastal States Trading, Inc.; Coastal Canada Petroleum, Inc.; Coastal Oil & Gas Corporation; ANR Production Company; Coastal Oil & Gas USA, L.P.; CIG Exploration, Inc.; Coastal Oil & Gas Australia Pty Ltd.; Coastal Power Company; Coastal Technology, Inc.; Coastal Coal Company, LLC. Natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas, methane gas , or simply gas )

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6552-486: The Empire State Pipeline, a 156 mi (251 km) line that ran from Niagara Falls to Syracuse, New York. ANR held a 50 percent interest in the pipeline, and Union Enterprises Ltd. held the remaining half. Also in 1993, the company acquired Soldier Creek Coal Co. and Sage Point Coal Co., both subsidiaries of Sun Co., Inc. Wyatt gave up his post as CEO in 1995 but continued as chairman. David A. Arledge,

6678-592: The Gulf of Mexico region, Coastal built five drilling and production platforms in 1998. Coastal also sought international opportunities for its exploration and production operations in the late 1990s. The company announced plans to start exploration in Australia, and in October 1998 Coastal signed a deal with Petrobras , Brazil's national oil company . Although Coastal concentrated on boosting its natural gas operations,

6804-622: The Middle East, which complicated the situation. To address these developments, the Nixon Administration began parallel negotiations with both Arab oil producers to end the embargo, and with Egypt , Syria , and Israel to arrange an Israeli pull back from the Sinai and the Golan Heights after the fighting stopped. By January 18, 1974, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had negotiated an Israeli troop withdrawal from parts of

6930-489: The Middle East. Coastal bought large amounts of Iraqi crude in the 1980s, and prior to the commencement of the Persian Gulf War , Wyatt offered to sell Iraqi President Saddam Hussein part of the company's international marketing and refining operations. U.S. sanctions against Iraq following the war prevented Coastal from purchasing Iraqi oil, but Wyatt maintained close relations with Iraq in hopes of gaining access to

7056-698: The Midwest, to adhere to the company's decision to dispense with nonessential businesses. The stores continued to operate under the Coastal brand name. Coastal joined Chevron Corporation and Mobil Oil Corp. in a $ 200 million deal to purchase crude oil from Iraq. The agreement was part of the United Nation's oil-for-food deal, in which the proceeds of the sales would be used to purchase food and medicine for Iraqi citizens who had suffered significantly from economic sanctions in place against Saddam Hussein since 1991. Coastal also expanded its chemical operations with

7182-568: The Sinai. The promise of a negotiated settlement between Israel and Syria was sufficient to convince Arab oil producers to lift the embargo in March 1974. By May, Israel agreed to withdraw from the Golan Heights . Independently, the OPEC members agreed to use their leverage over the world price-setting mechanism for oil to stabilize their real incomes by raising world oil prices. This action followed several years of steep income declines after

7308-432: The US had peaked three times, with current levels exceeding both previous peaks. It reached 24.1 trillion cubic feet per year in 1973, followed by a decline, and reached 24.5 trillion cubic feet in 2001. After a brief drop, withdrawals increased nearly every year since 2006 (owing to the shale gas boom ), with 2017 production at 33.4 trillion cubic feet and 2019 production at 40.7 trillion cubic feet. After

7434-427: The US, over one-third of households (>40 million homes) cook with gas. Natural gas dispensed in a residential setting can generate temperatures in excess of 1,100 °C (2,000 °F) making it a powerful domestic cooking and heating fuel. Stanford scientists estimated that gas stoves emit 0.8–1.3% of the gas they use as unburned methane and that total U.S. stove emissions are 28.1 gigagrams of methane. In much of

7560-468: The United States after Richard Nixon requested $ 2.2 billion to support Israel in the war. Nevertheless, the embargo lasted only until January 1974, though the price of oil remained high afterwards. The real price of petroleum was stable in the 1970 timeframe, but there had been a sharp increase in American imports, putting a strain on American balance of trade, alongside other developed nations. During

7686-685: The United States and by the 1990s, Coastal's 20,000-mile pipeline network transported five billion cubic feet of natural gas daily. These pipelines include the Iroquois and Great Lakes pipeline, completed in 1991, and the Empire State Pipeline, completed in 1992. Founder Oscar Wyatt was born into poverty in Beaumont, Texas. He was abandoned by an alcoholic father and was raised by a single mother in Navasota, Texas . Wyatt served in World War II and

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7812-425: The United States and some other parts of the world peaked in the late 1960s and early 1970s. World oil production per capita began a long-term decline after 1979. The oil crises prompted the first shift towards energy-saving (in particular, fossil fuel-saving) technologies. The major industrial centers of the world were forced to contend with escalating issues related to petroleum supply. Western countries relied on

7938-520: The United States and the People's Republic of China. In 1988 Coastal concluded an agreement with China National Chemicals Import and Export Corporation ( Sinochem ) for joint ownership of Coastal's Pacific Refining Company. Coastal and Sinochem each held a 50 percent interest in the West Coast refiner. The agreement provided certain advantages for both sides. Sinochem obtained an opportunity to invest in

8064-433: The United States as well as a long-term outlet for crude oil, and Coastal secured a dependable supply of crude oil in a volatile world oil market. This joint venture represented the first investment in U.S. energy assets by China. A key to the company's successful strategy was the continued high productivity of all Coastal employees, from unskilled workers to those in management. Coal workers employed by Coastal produced twice

8190-523: The United States begins with localized use. In the seventeenth century, French missionaries witnessed the American Indians setting fire to natural gas seeps around lake Erie, and scattered observations of these seeps were made by European-descended settlers throughout the eastern seaboard through the 1700s. In 1821, William Hart dug the first commercial natural gas well in the United States at Fredonia, New York , United States, which led in 1858 to

8316-532: The beginning of 1971 (and shortages, especially for heating oil, started from there). The "embargo" as described below is the "practical name" given to the crisis. For the main Arab producers, the "embargo" allowed them to show to "the Arab street " that they were doing something for the Palestinians. In real market terms (number of barrels) the embargo was almost a non-event, and only from a few countries, towards

8442-400: The board of directors and founder Oscar Wyatt continued with merger negotiations. This resulted in Coastal being acquired by the smaller El Paso Energy, whose primary business was in natural gas. El Paso Corporation acquired Coastal in 2001, and El Paso largely divested itself of Coastal's Petroleum business with the Coastal brand being phased out. Its website was shut down immediately upon

8568-702: The bottoms of the gashouse ovens was often used for roofing and other waterproofing purposes, and when mixed with sand and gravel was used for paving streets. Huge quantities of natural gas (primarily methane) exist in the form of clathrates under sediment on offshore continental shelves and on land in arctic regions that experience permafrost , such as those in Siberia . Hydrates require a combination of high pressure and low temperature to form. In 2013, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) announced that they had recovered commercially relevant quantities of natural gas from methane hydrate. The image below

8694-527: The buyout. El Paso has gradually sold off the Coastal retail gasoline business, and very few of its stations still exist under the Coastal brand as of 2008, many having been converted to other major brands or generic brands. Sunoco acquired 245 service stations from Coastal on February 9, 2001, for approximately $ 40 million. Coastal's Eagle Point, New Jersey Refinery was sold to Sunoco while refineries in Texas and Aruba were acquired by Valero Energy. The majority of

8820-417: The cash to repay the mounting debt it had acquired from following the same business model as Ken Lay's Enron. El Paso had heavily leveraged itself to fuel sales into new markets for electricity, and concealed mounting debt from its balance sheet by writing off the debt to offshore subsidiary companies. In June 2003 Oscar Wyatt, along with El Paso investor Selim Zilkha, initiated a proxy fight to gain control of

8946-529: The company continued to implement its growth strategy in other divisions. In Coastal's electric power business, the company increased its interest in a cogeneration plant in Midland, Michigan, from 10.9 to 20.4 percent in 1998. In 1999 Coastal announced plans to build a power plant in Colorado and indicated that it had reached an agreement with the Public Service Company of Colorado regarding

9072-484: The company president, became its CEO as well. In early 1995, through subsidiary Coastal Oil & Gas Corp., Coastal gained an interest in several producing fields, off the coast of Louisiana, from Koch Hydrocarbons, Inc. The company also acquired working interests in two dozen wells in the Utah area from Snyder Oil Corporation and bought the marketing assets of Exxon Corporation's subsidiary Esso Petrolera, S.A., located on

9198-705: The company's name to Coastal Corporation. In the same year revenues exceeded $ 5 billion. In 1980 in Houston, Wyatt and two other oil executives pleaded guilty to criminal violations of federal crude oil pricing regulations. Wyatt and the president of Coral Petroleum were each fined $ 40,000. Each company was required to refund $ 9 million to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and each incurred $ 1 million in civil penalties. Economic recession and an oversupply of oil and natural gas, as well as conservation by consumers, led to Coastal's first loss, which amounted to $ 96.4 million for

9324-407: The competitive atmosphere by launching hostile takeover bids for other struggling energy companies. The mere threat of a takeover by Coastal could send the stock price of a target company soaring. In 1983, for example, Coastal's attempt to secure Texas Gas Resources failed, yet Coastal's initial investment in the company generated a total of $ 26.4 million in profits. Intervening companies that came to

9450-518: The conflict. With the US actions seen as initiating the oil embargo, the long-term possibility of embargo-related high oil prices, disrupted supply and recession, created a strong rift within NATO ; both European countries and Japan sought to disassociate themselves from the US Middle East policy. Arab oil producers had also linked the end of the embargo with successful US efforts to create peace in

9576-592: The cycle of 9%. The recession also lasted from 1973 to 1975 in the United Kingdom . The GDP declined by 3.9% or 3.37% depending on the source. It took 14 quarters for the UK's GDP to recover to that at the start of recession. High oil prices in the 1970s induced investment in oil production by non-OPEC countries, particularly for reserves with a higher cost of production. These included Prudhoe Bay in Alaska,

9702-654: The decayed organisms originally obtained from the sun via photosynthesis is stored as chemical energy within the molecules of methane and other hydrocarbons. Natural gas can be burned for heating, cooking, and electricity generation . Consisting mainly of methane, natural gas is rarely used as a chemical feedstock . The extraction and consumption of natural gas is a major industry. When burned for heat or electricity , natural gas emits fewer toxic air pollutants, less carbon dioxide, and almost no particulate matter compared to other fossil and biomass fuels. However, gas venting and unintended fugitive emissions throughout

9828-505: The decline, and the overall loss in production was about 4 percent. However, a widespread panic resulted, driving the price far higher than would be expected under normal circumstances. In 1980, following the Iraqi invasion of Iran , oil production in Iran nearly stopped, and Iraq's oil production was severely cut as well. After 1980, oil prices began a decline as other countries began to fill

9954-551: The demand for natural gas was expected to grow considerably, from 22 trillion cubic feet to 30 trillion cubic feet per year. The company, therefore, chose to invest heavily in its natural gas operations, targeting the primary natural gas supply areas, which included the Gulf of Mexico, south Texas, the Rocky Mountains, and Canada. In June 1998 the company acquired additional interest in natural gas assets in Alabama, including

10080-425: The developed world it is supplied through pipes to homes, where it is used for many purposes including ranges and ovens, heating / cooling , outdoor and portable grills , and central heating . Heaters in homes and other buildings may include boilers, furnaces , and water heaters . Both North America and Europe are major consumers of natural gas. 1970s energy crisis The 1970s energy crisis occurred when

10206-446: The eastern US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were simple by-product coke ovens that heated bituminous coal in air-tight chambers. The gas driven off from the coal was collected and distributed through networks of pipes to residences and other buildings where it was used for cooking and lighting. (Gas heating did not come into widespread use until the last half of the 20th century.) The coal tar (or asphalt ) that collected in

10332-597: The eastern United States. When Wyatt stepped down as chairman in 1997, Arledge gained the additional post. In that year Coastal acquired an 11 percent interest in the 1,900 mi (3,100 km) Alliance Pipeline , designed to move natural gas from western Canada to the Chicago region. Construction of the pipeline continued through the late 1990s. In 1999 Coastal announced plans to develop a 700 mi (1,100 km) pipeline running from Mobile, Alabama, to Tampa Bay, Florida. The proposed Gulfstream Natural Gas System pipeline

10458-446: The economic and environmental benefits of floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG). There are currently projects underway to construct five FLNG facilities. Petronas is close to completion on their FLNG-1 at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering and are underway on their FLNG-2 project at Samsung Heavy Industries . Shell Prelude is due to start production 2017. The Browse LNG project will commence FEED in 2019. Natural gas

10584-497: The formation of the Fredonia Gas Light Company . Further such ventures followed near wells in other states, until technological innovations allowed the growth of major long distance pipelines from the 1920s onward. By 2009, 66,000 km (16,000 cu mi) (or 8%) had been used out of the total 850,000 km (200,000 cu mi) of estimated remaining recoverable reserves of natural gas. In

10710-461: The fuel found that, across political identifications, the term "methane gas" led to better estimates of its harms and risks. Natural gas can come out of the ground and cause a long-burning fire. In ancient Greece , the gas flames at Mount Chimaera contributed to the legend of the fire-breathing creature Chimera . In ancient China , gas resulting from the drilling for brines was first used by about 400 BC. The Chinese transported gas seeping from

10836-435: The gas needs to be cooled down and compressed, as the friction in the pipeline causes the gas to heat up. Many existing pipelines in the US are close to reaching their capacity, prompting some politicians representing northern states to speak of potential shortages. The large trade cost implies that natural gas markets are globally much less integrated, causing significant price differences across countries. In Western Europe ,

10962-517: The gas pipeline network is already dense. New pipelines are planned or under construction between Western Europe and the Near East or Northern Africa . Whenever gas is bought or sold at custody transfer points, rules and agreements are made regarding the gas quality. These may include the maximum allowable concentration of CO 2 , H 2 S and H 2 O . Usually sales quality gas that has been treated to remove contamination

11088-896: The gas to consumer markets. Until the early part of the 20th century, most natural gas associated with oil was either simply released or burned off at oil fields. Gas venting and production flaring are still practised in modern times, but efforts are ongoing around the world to retire them, and to replace them with other commercially viable and useful alternatives. In addition to transporting gas via pipelines for use in power generation, other end uses for natural gas include export as liquefied natural gas (LNG) or conversion of natural gas into other liquid products via gas to liquids (GTL) technologies. GTL technologies can convert natural gas into liquids products such as gasoline, diesel or jet fuel. A variety of GTL technologies have been developed, including Fischer–Tropsch (F–T), methanol to gasoline (MTG) and syngas to gasoline plus (STG+). F–T produces

11214-526: The ground in crude pipelines of bamboo to where it was used to boil salt water to extract the salt in the Ziliujing District of Sichuan . Natural gas was not widely used before the development of long distance pipelines in the early twentieth century. Before that, most use was near to the source of the well, and the predominant gas for fuel and lighting during the industrial revolution was manufactured coal gas. The history of natural gas in

11340-442: The higher-molecular weight hydrocarbons to produce natural gas with energy content between 35–39 megajoules per cubic metre (950–1,050 British thermal units per cubic foot). The processed natural gas may then be used for residential, commercial and industrial uses. Natural gas flowing in the distribution lines is called mid-stream natural gas and is often used to power engines which rotate compressors. These compressors are required in

11466-463: The industry average, and the expectations for Coastal's management staff were high. Indeed, the constant pressure for results led to a high management turnover, with Coastal's refinery business alone having five different managers between 1980 and 1989. The U.S. government took action against Coastal's agreement with Libya in 1991 by prohibiting U.S. citizens from working for the venture. This act did not dissuade Wyatt from further deals with countries in

11592-732: The invasion was the removal of President Gamal Abdel Nasser who was aligning with the Soviet Union . The Six-Day War of 1967 included an Israeli invasion of the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula , which resulted in Egypt's closure of the Suez Canal for eight years . The canal was cleared in 1974 and opened again in 1975 after the 1973 Yom Kippur War , when Egypt tried to take back the Sinai. OAPEC countries cut production of oil and placed an embargo on oil exports to

11718-495: The issue of "vindictive prosecution"—that is, the Bush administration singling out its old nemesis in both the oil patch and politics, Oscar Wyatt, for punishment but leaving other possible violators of the sanctions alone. Prosecutors, in turn, amassed a daunting paper trail and rewarded a few former Iraqi petrocrats with help in obtaining U.S. green cards —as long as they agreed to testify against sanction breakers like Wyatt. Coastal

11844-612: The largest proven gas reserves. Sources that consider that Russia has by far the largest proven reserves include the US Central Intelligence Agency (47,600 km ) and Energy Information Administration (47,800 km ), as well as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (48,700 km ). Contrarily, BP credits Russia with only 32,900 km , which would place it in second, slightly behind Iran (33,100 to 33,800 km , depending on

11970-459: The limits specified in the contracts. LoVaca was the target of lawsuits by outraged customers. Its difficulties caused problems for Coastal for years. Coastal finally settled $ 1.6 billion in lawsuits by agreeing to spin-off LoVaca. The spin-off, Valero Energy Corporation , formed on December 31, 1979, from LoVaca and other Coastal assets, had annual revenues of about $ 1 billion. The customers suing Coastal received 55 percent of Valero's stock, with

12096-470: The main cause of the glut was declining consumption. In the United States, Europe and Japan, oil consumption had fallen 13% from 1979 to 1981, due to "in part, in reaction to the very large increases in oil prices by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other oil exporters", continuing a trend begun during the 1973 price increases. After 1980, reduced demand and overproduction produced

12222-545: The marketing and distribution of petroleum products. By 1975 revenues had reached $ 1.9 billion. Coastal's expansion continued in 1976 with the purchase of Pacific Refining Company 's plant in Hercules, California , which increased its refining capacity to about 300,000 barrels per day. In 1977 Coastal acquired Miami-based Belcher Oil Company , one of the largest marketers of fuel oils in the Southeast. In 1980 Wyatt changed

12348-572: The members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC (consisting of the Arab members of OPEC ) proclaimed an oil embargo "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war ; it lasted until March 1974. OAPEC declared it would limit or stop oil shipments to the United States and other countries if they supported Israel in

12474-460: The moment the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is one of the largest government-owned reserves, with a capacity of up to 713.5 million barrels (113,440,000 m ). Recently, other non-IEA countries have begun creating their own strategic petroleum reserves, with China being the second largest overall and the largest non-IEA country. Since Israel's declaration of independence in 1948 this state has found itself in nearly continual conflict with

12600-433: The natural gas can be transported. Natural gas extracted from oil wells is called casinghead gas (whether or not truly produced up the annulus and through a casinghead outlet) or associated gas. The natural gas industry is extracting an increasing quantity of gas from challenging, unconventional resource types : sour gas , tight gas , shale gas , and coalbed methane . There is some disagreement on which country has

12726-491: The oil at some time in the future. In 1992 Coastal shut down its Derby refinery in Kansas when its refining and marketing division reported an operating loss of $ 192 million, but the company continued to grow, seeking acquisitions and joint ventures to streamline operations. In the following year, in fact, Coastal adopted an aggressive growth strategy. Through its subsidiary ANR Pipeline Company, Coastal completed construction on

12852-535: The oil business, and described Oscar and his wife Lynn Sakowitz (a fixture of the Houston social fashion scene) together as "the beauty and the beast". While El Paso Energy was selling Coastal's petroleum marketing and production assets off piece-by-piece to competitors Valero Energy , Sunoco , and ConocoPhillips , Oscar Wyatt was being investigated for illegally doing business with Iraq's Saddam Hussein in violation of United Sanctions that strictly regulated Iraqi sales of crude oil. In 2007, Oscar Wyatt pleaded guilty in

12978-441: The pores of the gas reservoir get depleted. One method to deal with this problem is to re-inject dried gas free of condensate to maintain the underground pressure and to allow re-evaporation and extraction of condensates. More frequently, the liquid condenses at the surface, and one of the tasks of the gas plant is to collect this condensate. The resulting liquid is called natural gas liquid (NGL) and has commercial value. Shale gas

13104-513: The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased 250 percent. Although all states felt the effects of the stock market crash and related national economic problems, the economic benefits of increased oil revenue in the Oil Patch states generally offset much of this. Following the 1970s, the global energy consumption per capita broke away from its previous trend of rapid growth, instead remaining relatively flat for multiple decades until

13230-426: The production shortfalls from Iran and Iraq. The 1973 and 1979 energy crisis had caused petroleum prices to peak in 1980 at over US$ 35 per barrel (US$ 129 in today's dollars). Following these events slowing industrial economies and stabilization of supply and demand caused prices to begin falling in the 1980s. The glut began in the early 1980s as a result of slowed economic activity in industrial countries (due to

13356-742: The purchase of power. Coastal also participated in numerous international projects. In early 1999 Coastal purchased a 24.5 percent stake in a hydroelectric plant in Panama and also began operations at its Nicaragua plant. The company acquired a 66.7 percent interest in a power plant in Bangladesh and continued work on two projects in Pakistan, which were scheduled to be operational in 1999. Coastal hoped to have its Guatemala coal-fired power plant, which began construction in 1997, operational by early 2000. In September 1999 Coastal announced that, with GENER S.A.,

13482-428: The recent failure of negotiations with the major Western oil companies earlier in the month. For the most part, industrialized economies relied on crude oil, and OPEC was their major supplier. Because of the dramatic inflation experienced during this period, a popular economic theory has been that these price increases were to blame, as being suppressive of economic activity. However, the causality stated by this theory

13608-536: The recession included the Vietnam War , which turned out costly for the United States and the fall of the Bretton Woods system . The emergence of newly industrialized countries rose competition in the metal industry, triggering a steel crisis , where industrial core areas in North America and Europe were forced to re-structure. The 1973–1974 stock market crash made the recession evident. According to

13734-402: The region as the negotiations between them and other Western oil companies bore little to no positive results. The major oil-producing regions of the U.S.— Texas , Oklahoma , Louisiana , Colorado , Wyoming , and Alaska —benefited greatly from the price inflation of the 1970s as did the U.S. oil industry in general. Oil prices generally increased throughout the decade; between 1978 and 1980

13860-519: The remaining split among Coastal shareholders, not including Wyatt. At the plaintiffs' insistence, he was excluded from the agreement. Despite the impact of the energy crisis, Coastal maintained its profitability and continued to expand throughout the 1970s. The expansion was not confined to Texas. In 1973, Coastal acquired Colorado Interstate Gas Company , formerly the Derby Oil Company of Wichita, Kansas , along with its three refineries in

13986-550: The rescue of Texas Gas Resources were forced to buy up shares held by Coastal at inflated prices. Wyatt's unsuccessful attempt to take over Houston Natural Gas in 1984 yielded a similar return of $ 42 million through greenmail . In 1985 Wyatt set about acquiring American Natural Resources (ANR), a natural gas pipeline in the Midwest. Despite ANR's initial determination to stay free of Coastal's clutches, Wyatt pushed through an all-cash deal of $ 2.45 billion, which ANR shareholders could not refuse. The acquisition transformed Coastal into

14112-403: The resources of countries in the Middle East and other parts of the world. The crisis led to stagnant economic growth in many countries as oil prices surged. Although there were genuine concerns with supply, part of the run-up in prices resulted from the perception of a crisis. The combination of stagnant growth and price inflation during this era led to the coinage of the term stagflation . By

14238-550: The source). It is estimated that there are about 900,000 km of "unconventional" gas such as shale gas, of which 180,000 km may be recoverable. In turn, many studies from MIT , Black & Veatch and the US Department of Energy predict that natural gas will account for a larger portion of electricity generation and heat in the future. The world's largest gas field is the offshore South Pars / North Dome Gas-Condensate field , shared between Iran and Qatar. It

14364-654: The third peak in December 2019, extraction continued to fall from March onward due to decreased demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the US . The 2021 global energy crisis was driven by a global surge in demand as the world quit the economic recession caused by COVID-19, particularly due to strong energy demand in Asia. Because of its low density, it is not easy to store natural gas or to transport it by vehicle. Natural gas pipelines are impractical across oceans, since

14490-412: The transmission line to pressurize and repressurize the mid-stream natural gas as the gas travels. Typically, natural gas powered engines require 35–39 MJ/m (950–1,050 BTU/cu ft) natural gas to operate at the rotational name plate specifications. Several methods are used to remove these higher molecular weighted gases for use by the natural gas engine. A few technologies are as follows: In

14616-411: The world was increasing, the peaks in these regions began to put substantial upward pressure on world oil prices. Equally as important, control of the oil supply became an increasingly important problem as countries like West Germany and the U.S. became increasingly dependent on foreign suppliers for this key resource. The 1973 oil crisis is a direct consequence of the US production peak in late 1960 and

14742-402: The world. Some other countries, such as Norway, Mexico, and Venezuela, benefited as well. In the United States, Texas and Alaska , as well as some other oil-producing areas, experienced major economic booms due to soaring oil prices even as most of the rest of the nation struggled with the stagnant economy. Many of these economic gains, however, came to a halt as prices stabilized and dropped in

14868-502: The worldwide extraction, access to natural gas has become an important issue in international politics, and countries vie for control of pipelines. In the first decade of the 21st century, Gazprom , the state-owned energy company in Russia, engaged in disputes with Ukraine and Belarus over the price of natural gas, which have created concerns that gas deliveries to parts of Europe could be cut off for political reasons. The United States

14994-418: The year 1981. Wyatt trimmed the workforce and cut the budget, and within six months he had restored the company to profitability. In the mid-1980s the U.S. government sought to foster competition in the natural gas industry through deregulation. The new government policy, together with falling prices, created difficulties for many energy companies. Coastal not only survived deregulation it took full advantage of

15120-462: Was both beloved and hated, litigious and charitable. As a personal friend of Iraq's Saddam Hussein and business partner to Libya's Muammar Gaddafi , Wyatt urged President George H. W. Bush not to go to war with Iraq over Kuwait and later negotiated with Saddam to secure the release of western hostages being held in Baghdad. A 2007 Texas Monthly magazine article called Wyatt the real "JR Ewing" of

15246-581: Was decorated and wounded twice as a bomber pilot. Earning a degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A & M University , he gained experience in the oil business selling drill bits from the trunk of his Ford Coupe. He later worked for Kerr-McGee and Reed Roller Bits before becoming a partner in Wymore Oil Company . Wyatt founded Coastal States Gas Producing Company in 1955. Like Wyatt, Coastal began business in modest circumstances, with 68 mi (109 km) of pipeline and 78 employees. Wyatt

15372-544: Was designed to serve the growing natural gas and energy demand in Florida. It was projected that the pipeline would be completed by 2002. In the late 1990s, Coastal focused on its natural gas business. With excess reserves of crude oil and low refining margins, the global oil industry was in a state of chaos. The North American natural gas market, on the other hand, was a regional market, largely unaffected by global oil market conditions. In addition, according to Coastal, by 2010

15498-479: Was formed in the wake of this crisis and currently comprises 31 member countries. According to the IEA, approximately 4.1 billion barrels (650,000,000 m ) of oil are held in strategic reserves by the member countries, of which 1.4 billion barrels (220,000,000 m ) is government-controlled. The remainder is held by private industry. These reserves are intended to be equivalent to at least 90 days of net imports. At

15624-412: Was founded in 1955. The original company name was Coastal States Gas Producing Company. In the early 1970s events in the Middle East overshadowed the rise of Coastal. The Arab-dominated Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), by presenting a united front, began to win price increases. In 1971, OPEC cut production and raised prices by 70 percent, and by 1974 prices had quadrupled, leading to

15750-494: Was invented in Saudi Arabia in the late 1970s, ending any necessity for flaring. Satellite and nearby infra-red camera observations, however, shows that flaring and venting are still happening in some countries. Natural gas is used to generate electricity and heat for desalination . Similarly, some landfills that also discharge methane gases have been set up to capture the methane and generate electricity. Natural gas

15876-567: Was recovered in the course of recovering petroleum could not be profitably sold, and was simply burned at the oil field in a process known as flaring . Flaring is now illegal in many countries. Additionally, higher demand in the last 20–30 years has made production of gas associated with oil economically viable. As a further option, the gas is now sometimes re- injected into the formation for enhanced oil recovery by pressure maintenance as well as miscible or immiscible flooding. Conservation, re-injection, or flaring of natural gas associated with oil

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