December 10, 2009
posted on: Dec 10, 2009
IPAMS Meetings and Announcements
Calling all Wyoming Producers: We need your help getting DOI to issue millions of dollars worth of leases it has already sold!
Across the West, the Department of Interior is refusing to issue $100 million worth of leases that it has already sold. The situation in Wyoming is especially egregious, where DOI is currently holding $52 million worth of unissued leases.
After repeated failed attempts to get DOI to address this growing problem, recent IPAMS’ studies have brought to light certain actions by DOI that are making it even more difficult to develop the abundant and affordable domestic natural gas America needs to address our pressing economic, environmental, and energy challenges. Click here to read IPAMS positions papers that detail DOI’s mismanagement of the federal onshore natural gas and oil program.
IPAMS met with BLM Wyoming State Director Don Simpson and Deputy State Director Larry Claypool in late November. In these meetings we learned that Interior Secretary Salazar’s office has essentially removed BLM from the decision-making process. Since we have little recourse with the BLM, we’re working with Governor Freudenthal’s office, asking the Governor to address the issue directly with Secretary Salazar. Click here to read more…
Click here to view suggested format and optional talking points to send to Governor Freudenthal.
IPAMS 10th Annual Washington Call-UP
March 1-3, 2010
The IPAMS 2010 Washington Call-up is one of the most important business trips you can make this year. Sure, you’ll build valuable contacts while you are in the nation’s capital, but you will also help ensure a long-term opportunity for our industry.
IPAMS helps to empower you to lead focused discussions directly with policymakers and their staff. IPAMS provides materials and coaching, but we rely on your expertise and experience in business to make the case for public policy that will foster the increased use and development of natural gas.
Each year, we encourage Call-up participants to invite a landowner or local government official from a community where they are doing business.
The Western natural gas and oil industry has answers for many of America’s most pressing economic, environmental and energy security challenges. Unfortunately, not everyone in Congress is aware of the solutions our industry provides. Many don’t know that we are facing an onslaught of bad policy ideas that could stymie domestic development for decades. The IPAMS Call-up is the perfect opportunity for you to speak directly to the policymakers who will shape the future with their votes.
Please don’t miss this historic opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with your friends in the oil and natural gas industry to make our voices heard in Washington.
Please contact Becca Ness with any questions.
Other Upcoming Meetings
* Air Quality Committee – December 15th at 3:00 p.m.
* Colorado Basin Advisors Network – Postponed until January
Agendas are available for upcoming meetings at http://www.westernenergyalliance.org/advocacy/. All meetings unless otherwise indicated are Mountain time, and at IPAMS and via teleconference.
Save the Date
Listed below are several high-level IPAMS meetings and events. Please mark your calendar and contact Becca Ness with any questions.
January 27, 2010 – 7:30 a.m. IPAMS Board Meeting, The Brown Palace, Denver, CO
January 27, 2010 – 11:00 a.m. IPAMS Executive Committee Meeting, IPAMS Office, Denver, CO
March 1-3, 2010 – Washington Call-Up, The Hotel George, Washington D.C.
March 1, 2010 – IPAMS Board Meeting, The Hotel George, Washington D.C.
May 15, 2010 – IPAMS Wildcatter of the Year Gala, The Seawell Ballroom, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Denver, CO
June 23-26, 2010 – IPAMS Annual Meeting and Summer Conference, Park Hyatt Beaver Creek, Beaver Creek, CO
June 24, 2010 – IPAMS Board Meeting, The Hotel George, Washington D.C.
Visit westernenergyalliance.org for the latest news affecting the Intermountain West’s oil and natural gas industry. Headlines are updated daily from local, national and international news sources. You may also sign up for daily newsbrief emails under the Manage Account section of the “Members Only” page.
The West
Oil producers call higher drilling application fees unfair
IPAMS Quoted
published in: Associated Press on: 12/06/2009 by: Mead Gruver
A huge increase in the application fee for oil and gas companies to drill on federal land is unfair and won’t speed up review of drilling permits, industry officials said Wednesday. The $6,500-per-well fee was part of the Interior Department appropriations bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama on Oct. 30. The new fee amounts to a 62 percent increase over the previous $4,000 fee.
Interior, industry trade barbs over public lands access IPAMS Quoted
published in: E&E Landletter (Subscription Required) on: 12/03/2009 by: Phil Taylor
Eleven months of simmering tensions between the Interior Department and oil and gas producers over federal leasing policy has boiled over into a public feud, with barbs flying between government officials and industry lobbyists who say the Obama administration is squeezing drillers off public lands. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, frustrated by what he called “untruths” coming from the oil and gas industry, told reporters last week that the Bureau of Land Management would hold 37 onshore oil and gas leases in 2010, offering thousands of parcels in a dozen states, mostly in the West, for oil and gas development.
Colorado
Colorado Oil & Gas Association names environmental consultant Schuller as president
published in: Denver Business Journal on: 12/09/2009 by: Cathy Proctor
Tisha Conoly Schuller, an executive with an environmental consultancy, is the new president of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, the energy trade group announced Wednesday night. Schuller is a Boulder-based regional vice president for national environmental consulting and engineering firm Tetra Tech Inc. and a former board member of environmental group Center for Native Ecosystems.
State regulators dismiss frack-fluid ID-tagging proposal
published in: Colorado Independent on: 12/09/2009 by: David O. Williams
Environmental activists are calling on Colorado officials to require oil and gas companies to chemically tag the fluids used in hydraulic fracturing, an increasingly controversial natural gas drilling process. Many suspect that “fracking” may be contaminating ground water, and chemical tags would make it possible for regulators to identify the source of any contamination. The idea is a hot topic among those favoring increased federal oversight of the process, but industry officials won’t even discuss the idea, and state regulators say it’s barely on their radar screens.
GarCo leans toward mineral rights swap
published in: Grand Junction Daily Sentinel on: 12/08/2009 by: Dennis Webb
Garfield County commissioners have decided not to endorse a U.S. Department of Energy proposal for management of future natural gas development near the Project Rulison nuclear blast site. Commissioners on Monday instead reiterated their long-standing opposition to any drilling closer than a half-mile from the site. They also expressed support for the concept of the federal government subsequently compensating affected mineral rights owners by providing comparable rights in a trade.
Forest Service revisits policy on gas drilling
published in: Aspen Times on: 12/07/2009 by: Scott Condon
The U.S. Forest Service is using a break in the natural gas boom to reassess what lands in the White River National Forest should be open to drilling. The agency is updating a 17-year-old document that determines what lands are available for leasing for gas exploration. White River National Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams said the document will help him determine where drilling is appropriate and under what conditions.
Montana
Montana DEQ will propose CO2 emission limits
published in: Great Falls Tribune on: 12/08/2009 by: Karl Puckett
A Montana environmental group that unsuccessfully pressed the state last year to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from a proposed power plant near Great Falls welcomed an EPA announcement Monday that the greenhouse gas is now considered a health threat. “This now moves the permitting process in the direction that we always thought it should have been,” said Anne Hedges of the Montana Environmental Information Center.
Blackfeet sign major oil, gas exploration pact
published in: Great Falls Tribune on: 12/06/2009 by: Eric Newhouse
The Blackfeet Tribe signed its third major oil exploration agreement, the largest in the tribe’s history, Oil and Gas Manager Grinnell Day Chief said Friday. Darryl Howard, president of Newfield Production Co., a Houston firm with regional offices in Denver, came to Browning on Thursday to sign an agreement allowing them to drill test wells in the middle of the reservation, Day Chief said. “We have a drilling commitment that will require them to drill a number of wells, if successful,” he said. “It’s the largest agreement we’ve ever signed.”
New Mexico
NM energy secretary to step down
published in: Farmington Daily Times on: 12/10/2009 by: James Monteleone
New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Secretary Joanna Prukop will resign from her post on Dec. 31, the governor’s office announced Wednesday. It was under Prukop’s watch, in conjunction with the governor-appointed Oil Conservation Division, that the controversial “pit rule” was put into effect in 2008. The regulation was an attempt to reduce groundwater contamination by implementing new rules of how drilling waste is disposed.
North Dakota
Editorial: Good fences (rules) make good neighbors
published in: Bismarck Tribune on: 12/08/2009 by: Editorial Staff
Relationships between oil rig operators and the owners of land where rigs are drilling can be complicated. Often times, property owners do not own the mineral rights to their land. When that’s the case, there can be a disconnect between the future surface use of the land and the long-range impact of drilling operations. An exchange of information between the surface and mineral rights owners can help avoid frustrating and expensive conflicts.
Opinion: Dorgan shows a blind spot about N.D. Badlands
published in: Grand Forks Herald on: 12/07/2009 by: Editorial staff
Byron Dorgan has done a lot for North Dakota, but he’s got a terrible blind spot. It has to do with the Little Missouri Badlands in the southwestern part of the state. This is a unique area that arguably offers the most scenery and history in the state. It is certainly the last remnant of the vast open area that existed here before European settlement. Simply said, it is an area that qualifies as wilderness under federal law.
Water needs increase with oil activity
published in: Dickinson Press on: 12/06/2009 by: Lisa Call
Preliminary projections estimate about a 60 percent increase in oil activity by mid-2010, and supplying water for such activity has become a concern. “We’re seeing an increase in the need for water on a per-well basis and also we’re anticipating a major increase in drilling activity and fracking activity next year,” said Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.
Utah
Request for 2010 Sponsorship of IPAMS Utah Representative Lowell Braxton
IPAMS is seeking your company’s support to continue IPAMS Utah Representative Lowell Braxton’s sponsorship through 2010. Lowell has served as IPAMS’ Utah representative for four years now. This past year, Lowell served a crucial role in IPAMS’ response to several significant issues in Utah and his efforts go to ensure that our members’ voices are being heard at all levels of government. Lowell’s efforts are not possible without the generous support from our member companies, so if Utah is part of your company’s business plan for 2010, we hope you’ll seriously consider sponsoring Lowell. Special thanks to the following companies for sponsoring Lowell in 2010: Newfield, Bill Barrett Corp., Enduring, EOG, Gasco, Litmus, Pioneer, Wolverine, Whiting, Fidelity, Devon, and Stonegate.
Please contact Spencer Kimball or call 303-623-0987 as soon as possible to indicate your company’s willingness to sponsor Lowell Braxton.
Click here to read some of Lowell’s 2009 accomplishments.
Wyoming
Wyoming coalbed project canceled
published in: Billings Gazette/Casper Star-Tribune on: 12/10/2009 by: Jeremy Pelzer
The Bureau of Land Management’s Wyoming director has canceled a controversial coalbed methane gas project in Johnson County and put three other CBM projects in the area on hold pending an environmental analysis. State BLM director Don Simpson on Monday announced that he was vacating approval of Black Diamond Energy’s Michelena CBM project, which would have allowed the company to drill nine CBM wells in the Fortification Creek area.
Little Mountain fans plan ‘huddle’
published in: Billings Gazette/Casper Star-Tribune on: 12/09/2009 by: Jeff Gearino
A group of sportsmen and local residents interested in protecting Little Mountain in Sweetwater County from energy development will meet tonight in Rock Springs. The Greater Little Mountain Coalition will be hosting a “huddle” to update its members and the public about the group’s upcoming efforts to maintain the popular hunting, fishing and recreation area, said coalition member Monte Morlock.
Washington Watch
Salazar fails to mention importance of natural gas in address to UN on climate change
December 10, 2009
Today, US Secretary of the Interior delivered the keynote address entitled “New Energy Future: The Role of Public Lands in Clean Energy Production and Carbon Capture” at the UN Conference on Climate Change . The full text of Secretary Salazar’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, can be found by clicking here.
NOT EVEN ONE? Top Brass from Obama Admin Tell Congress They’re “Not Aware” of Even “One Case” of HF-Related Contamination
published in: Energy In Depth on: 12/09/2009 by: Staff
Despites the long and abundantly clear record of environmental safety that hydraulic fracturing has maintained for more than a half-century, some who oppose the responsible development of traditional, job-creating American energy forms – including clean-burning natural gas – continue to wage all-out war on the technology. That battle continued in earnest today up on Capitol Hill. Click here to watch the video.
EPA chief: Timing is a coincidence
published in: Politico on: 12/09/2009 by: Lisa Lerer
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson insisted Wednesday that her agency did not time the release of its global-warming endangerment finding to jump-start climate talks here. “The endangerment finding and the work here are separate,” she told a packed room at the Bella Center. “Certainly, I was glad we were able to complete the finding and make that statement just before, but that wasn’t the impetus for our work.”
Wyoming congressional delegation among legislators who oppose Clean Water Restoration Act
published in: Associated Press on: 12/09/2009 by: Mead Gruver
The three members of Wyoming congressional delegation is among 28 Republican lawmakers who oppose changing the Clean Water Act to clarify that it applies to all surface water in the United States, not strictly navigable water. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said in a release Tuesday that the federal government shouldn’t regulate “mud puddles and prairie potholes.”
NGSA, AXPC warn House on mandatory clearing of OTC derivatives
published in: Oil & Gas Journal on: 12/09/2009 by: Nick Snow
US House floor action to reform over-the-counter derivatives markets could increase commercial hedging and risk-management costs enormously unless it includes language specifically excluding these activities, two oil and gas association executives warned. Mandatory clearing of all OTC derivatives could remove as much as $900 billion from a fragile US economy, the presidents of the Natural Gas Supply Association and the American Exploration & Production Council said in a Dec. 4 letter to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, and Financial Services committees’ chairmen and ranking minority members.
Financial reform amendment provides language to protect energy regulators’ jurisdiction
published in: E&E News (Subscription Required) on: 12/08/2009 by: Katherine Ling
An amendment to the comprehensive financial reform bill by its lead authors aims to protect swaps made in organized electricity markets under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission jurisdiction. The language is one of more than 200 amendments submitted to the House Rules Committee yesterday. The committee will hold a hearing later today on a general debate of H.R. 4173 and hold a second hearing tomorrow to discuss the amendments before floor consideration later this week
Industry: EPA climate regs would make energy more expensive and cut jobs
published in: Associated Press on: 12/07/2009 by: Chris Kahn
Political, costly, and likely to choke off growth. That’s how the energy industry and companies that use a lot of energy describe the Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement Monday that greenhouse gas emissions are a danger and must be regulated. Almost all energy and energy intense industries hope that Congress will step in with new climate laws, namely through a cap-and-trade system that limits greenhouse gas emissions while allowing companies to buy or sell emissions credits. If not, companies say, jobs will be lost, an economic recovery will be hamstrung and everyone will pay more for energy.
Senate Considers Nine Energy-Related Measures
published in: National Journal on: 12/07/2009 by: Amy Harder
With most Washington energy folks focused on the United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen, the week’s events in D.C. are relatively few. On the Hill, the Energy Subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is holding a hearing tomorrow afternoon, will look at nine energy-related bills, including ones addressing wind and solar energies as well as advanced vehicle technologies. Under Secretary of Energy Kristina Johnson is scheduled to appear.
Media Watch
Op-ed: The truth about hydraulic fracturing
published in: Denver Post on: 12/10/2009 by: Isaac Smith
Hydraulic Fracturing, also known as frac’ing, is the process of using high pressure fluids to crack rock formations thousands of feet below the surface in order to retrieve a greater amount of oil and gas resources than would otherwise be recovered. This process has been used to enhance production of hydrocarbons for over 60 years. It is safe. It is effective. It is essential for future energy supplies. Hydraulic fracturing is already successfully regulated by individual states, and these states already know and implement the best practices for them. Hydraulic fracturing should not be regulated at the federal level.
Editorial: Leave our fish ponds alone
published in: Washington Times on: 12/10/2009 by: Editorial Staff
Not content to have the government control the very air we exhale, some liberal members of Congress want to regulate every drop of water in the country and the land on which it sits. If they get their wish, the government would exercise dominion over land, air and sea to an extent never before seen. Earlier this week came news of the decision by the power-hungry Environmental Protection Agency that carbon dioxide, which all animals and people exhale with every breath, amounts to an “endangerment” of human health.
Editorial: Czar Obama takes aim at Congress
published in: Washington Examiner on: 12/09/2009 by: Editorial Staff
There are so many deep flaws in the “Endangerment Ruling” announced Monday by President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency that it is quite possible the worst of them will escape notice. After all, it’s hard to top the drama of the millions of lost jobs and the crippling energy crisis that will result if the agency begins regulating greenhouse gases — mainly CO2. The agency unilaterally awarded itself authority to do just that with the ruling. But even worse will be the terrible damage this ruling will inflict upon one of the most basic of American constitutional pillars, the separation of powers among co-equal branches, in this case the president and Congress. Obama has launched a thermonuclear warhead aimed directly at the very heart of congressional authority.
Op-ed: Oil, natural gas industries can provide jobs boost
published in: The Hill on: 12/08/2009 by: Larry Nichols
With each passing day, many Americans continue to find themselves without jobs, and many are discouraged about finding one any time soon. While unemployment affects individuals primarily, it also hurts state and local governments. It harms our nation, its ability to meet citizens’ needs and its ability to confront challenges abroad. It was proper, then, that our nation’s leaders recently held a jobs summit, turning their attention to the question of how best to put America back to work as quickly as possible. The nation is suffering and in desperate need of answers as to how to put paychecks into Americans’ pocketbooks.
Editorial: An Inconvenient Democracy, The EPA aims to bully Congress and business with its carbon ruling
published in: Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required) on: 12/08/2009 by: Editorial Staff
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said yesterday that her ruling that greenhouses gases are dangerous pollutants would “cement 2009′s place in history” as the moment when the U.S. began “seizing the opportunity of clean-energy reform.” She’s right that this is an historic decision, though not to her or the White House’s credit, and “seizing” is the right term. President Obama isn’t about to let a trifle like democratic consent impede his climate agenda. With cap and trade blown apart in the Senate, the White House has chosen to impose taxes and regulation across the entire economy under clean-air laws that were written decades ago and were never meant to apply to carbon.
Op-ed: The energy answer? Natural gas
published in: Politico on: 12/07/2009 by: Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Saxby Chamblis (R-GA)
This week, the world will be watching America’s participation in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. As our nation works to reduce climate-altering emissions and plans for a low-carbon energy future, many Americans may be surprised to learn that a key piece of the puzzle — a clean, reliable and readily available energy source — is right here under our feet: natural gas. America is experiencing a natural gas revolution. Prices are 33 percent lower than they were last year, and the industry is producing significantly more gas, thanks to technology that has uncovered enormous new supplies of natural gas.
Opinion: Women excluded from green jobs
published in: Oregon Daily Emerald on: 12/03/2009 by: Grace Pettygrove
I’m feeling nostalgic for the ’08 campaign season: the grand promises of 180-degree shifts and maverick bi-partisan politics; the history made through stump speeches, wardrobe malfunctions, and straight talkin’, down-to-earth folk like Joe the Plumber. Those were simple times, when ideologues could audition their ideas for the national audience without calculating the practical application of hope and change.
Environment and Wildlife
EPA agrees to review oil and gas drilling rules IPAMS Quoted
published in: E&E News (Subscription Required) on: 12/09/2009 by: Robin Bravender and Noelle Straub
U.S. EPA has agreed to review regulations aimed at limiting air pollution from oil and gas drilling operations under a settlement with environmental groups. The consent decree filed last week with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia requires EPA review of three sets of drilling rules by Jan. 31, 2011. If the agency decides to overhaul the regulations, the updates would be finalized by Nov. 30, 2011.
EPA to review pollution IPAMS Quoted
published in: Associated Press on: 12/09/2009 by: Judith Kohler
Federal officials, responding to a complaint by environmentalists, have agreed to review air-pollution standards for gas and oil operations to decide if they need to be updated. The proposed settlement of a complaint by WildEarth Guardians and the Colorado-based San Juan Citizens Alliance calls for the Environmental Protection Agency to start the review in January 2011. The settlement needs court approval.
Elk concerns halt gas drilling in NE Wyoming
published in: Associated Press on: 12/09/2009 by: Mead Gruver
Environmentalist concerns about elk have prompted the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to suspend coal-bed methane drilling in part of the gas-rich Powder River Basin in northeast Wyoming. About 260 elk inhabit the Fortification Creek area of juniper and rugged draws 25 miles northwest of Gillette. The herd at one point was wiped out, but the animals were reintroduced starting in the 1950s. Tulsa, Okla.-based Williams and Lance Oil and Gas, a subsidiary of Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum, began drilling in the area last summer. Both companies had drilled about half of 250 planned wells when the BLM on Tuesday ordered a halt to allow more study of how drilling affects elk.
Sage grouse get closer look
published in: Billings Gazette on: 12/06/2009 by: Brett French
Greater sage grouse face a variety of threats, but one of them isn’t hunting, according to the most comprehensive research on sage grouse ever compiled. With urban expansion, diseases including West Nile virus, invasion of exotic plants, fire, livestock grazing and energy development, sage grouse seem to be taking blows from all sides. “There are a lot of issues that are challenging long-term conservation,” said Steve Knick, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who authored some of the studies and co-edited the compilation.
Regulators hash out gas-well water rights
published in: Durango Herald on: 12/06/2009 by: Joe Hanel
Water regulators are close to solving a fight between gas drillers and ranchers, who say coalbed methane wells are draining their water rights. State Engineer Dick Wolfe held hearings last week to develop a computer model that will tell him which gas wells need extra attention. The hearings will conclude Dec. 16 with a discussion of wells in the San Juan Basin.
Initiative to study wildlife corridors along Colorado, New Mexico border
published in: Associated Press on: 12/05/2009 by: Susan Montoya Bryan
Wildlife migration corridors between New Mexico and Colorado will be identified and protected as part of an initiative announced Friday by the governors of both states. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Gov. Bill Ritter of Colorado finalized a memorandum of understanding pledging to protect corridors used by elk, deer, pronghorn, bighorn sheep and other species. “A rich wildlife heritage is one of the great treasures our states share, and it must be protected,” Richardson said. Ritter said the effort “should be part of our legacy.”
Technology, Alternatives & Renewables
Vestas to furlough 500 at Windsor plant next year
published in: Denver Post on: 12/08/2009 by: Mark Jaffe
Vestas Wind Systems, which committed to building four factories in Colorado, is going to furlough the 500 workers at its Windsor plant, company officials said Monday. The furloughs will take place in the first half of 2010, said Andrew Longeteig, a spokesman for Copenhagen-based Vestas. The length of the furloughs was not disclosed. “There has been tight credit and slowing orders,” he said. “It is a temporary setback.”
Farmers, ranchers eye action in wind
published in: Billings Gazette on: 12/05/2009 by: Tom Mast
Some Iowa farmers have decided the best way to capitalize on wind is to own turbines churning out the electricity. Ed Woolsey, who heads Green Prairie Energy in Prole, Iowa, is part of a group that owns 10 turbines in north-central Iowa producing enough wind for about 7,500 homes a year. “The idea was to get some locally owned projects out there to keep more money in communities,” he said. “All wind energy is good, but some is much better than others.”
Markets
EIA sees U.S. natgas production down 3.1 pct in 2010
published in: Reuters on: 12/09/2009 by: Joe Silha
The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday slightly raised its estimate for domestic natural gas production in 2009, noting minimal hurricane disruptions this year and significant growth in onshore shale output have contributed to increased supplies. In its December Short-Term Energy Outlook, EIA said it expected marketed natural gas production to be up 3.7 percent in 2009, primarily due to strong shale output, then decline by 3.1 percent in 2010 to about 58.37 billion cubic feet per day. EIA also forecast U.S. natural gas consumption this year would average about 62.15 billion cubic feet per day, down 1.9 percent from last year due to a steep decline in demand from the industrial sector. [end of article].
Oil rallies to around $73 ahead of U.S. stock data
published in: Reuters on: 12/09/2009 by: Staff
Oil rose to around $73 a barrel on Wednesday, rallying after several days of falls on industry data showing a big drop in U.S. crude stocks and on a weaker U.S. dollar .DXY. The American Petroleum Institute (API) said in a report late on Tuesday that crude inventories in the world’s top oil consumer fell 5.8 million barrels last week, bucking expectations for a rise, as refiners boosted fuel production.
FERC approves Northwest Pipeline’s Piceance expansion
published in: Oil & Gas Journal on: 12/02/2009 by: Christopher E. Smith
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a certificate to Northwest Pipeline GP, a majority owned subsidiary of Williams Cos. Inc., approving construction and operation of 15.5 miles of 30-in. OD mainline loop to bring additional natural gas from Piceance basin to the hub in Opal, Wyo. The Sundance Trail Expansion will provide 150 MMcfd firm transportation capacity from the Greasewood and Meeker-White River hubs in Rio Blanco County, Colo., to the Opal hub area in Lincoln County, Wyo. At the Opal hub, producers have access to six interstate pipelines, including Northwest, Williams said.
Industry News and Events
Energy Intelligence ranks world’s top 50 oil companies
published in: E&P Magazine on: 12/09/2009 by: Judy Maksoud
Petroleum Intelligence Weekly’s (PIW) annual benchmark survey shows that despite a tumultuous year that affected company profits, the top 50 rankings nearly identical to the 2008 rankings.
Natural gas returning to favor, according to survey, whitepaper
published in: Houston Business Journal on: 12/09/2009 by: Ford Gunter
Green is gone and gas is good, according to early word trickling out of Deloitte LLP’s oil and gas conference in The Woodlands on Wednesday. A survey of 200 oil and gas professionals conducted in early November and released this week shows that most industry insiders expect climate change legislation to pass within two years, furthering the United States’ entry into a golden age for natural gas.
Small think-tank challenges green economy orthodoxy
published in: The Hill on: 12/08/2009 by: Jim Snyder
At the offices of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), an old headline, blown up to poster size, is kept as a reminder that some energy goals are easier set than met. “Solar Power Seen Meeting 20 Percent of Need by 2000,” it states. The article, which ran in The Wall Street Journal in 1978, wasn’t particularly prescient.
API, IPAA: Obama overlooking industry’s job-creation potential
published in: Oil & Gas Journal on: 12/03/2009 by: Nick Snow
The American Petroleum Institute’s two top officials expressed concern over the White House’s apparent omission from its Dec. 3 jobs forum of chief executives from the oil and gas industry. The Independent Petroleum Association of America’s chairman separately said the Obama administration may not recognize the industry’s economic contributions. “Several from our individual companies wanted to come. None of them were invited. Neither were any people associated with oil and gas trade associations, to our knowledge,” API Chairman J. Larry Nichols told reporters during a teleconference.
Expert says 95 percent of oil, gas wells are fractured
published in: Glenwood Springs Post Independent on: 12/07/2009 by: John Colson
As much as 95 percent of the oil and gas wells in the world are now dependent on the technique known as hydraulic fracturing, because the easily reached petroleum reserves have basically been used up, an expert told a local audience this week. “By definition, the low-hanging fruit in the oil and gas industry is gone,” said Jennifer Miskimins, associate professor of the Petroleum Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden for the past eight years. Prior to that, she said, she worked in the oil and gas industry.
Whiting Cookbook Coming Soon…
Whiting Petroleum Corporation employees have put together a cookbook of favorite recipes to raise funds for the Food Bank of the Rockies. The cookbook – “Food For The Hungry–Recipes Worth Whiting For” – contains lots and lots of tasty recipes; funny sayings about food, cooking and diets; interesting and beautiful photos of oil and gas operations; as well as a glossary of oil and gas terms that sound like food terms – but aren’t!
Food Bank of the Rockies provides food supplies to more than 1,000 hunger relief programs in northern Colorado and Wyoming, helping nearly 400,000 people in the region who live in poverty and struggle to meet their basic food needs; almost half of whom are children. Since 1996 Whiting has raised more than $238,300, providing more than 953,200 meals (approximately seven tons of food) for our hungry neighbors in Colorado and Wyoming. You too can help the Food Bank through your purchase of Whiting’s cookbook. The cost is only $12.00 each, and 100% of the proceeds will be donated directly to the Food Bank. The cookbooks would make terrific holiday, birthday, anniversary, or other fun gifts for just about anyone! To order or for more information, contact Carla Wilson or (303) 837-4225.
7th Annual Business Summit of the West and Charity Sporting Clays Tournament
January 4, 2010
Please join fellow sportsmen, CEOs and business leaders, state and local elected officials, and regulators from across the country for a Charity Sporting Clays Tournament on Monday, January 4, 2010, in Phoenix, Arizona. The tournament, hosted by the Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife, will take place at the Ben Avery Clay Target Center, with all net proceeds going to benefit the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation and Arizona Legislators for Wildlife. The 2010 tournament is the kick-off event for the 7th Annual Business Summit of the West. Co-hosted along with the Western Business Roundtable, NextGen Energy Council, Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Arizona Investment Council, the 2010 Business Summit of the West will take place January 4-6th at the historic Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa.
Multiple sponsorship opportunities are still available. Click here for more information on how to become a high-profile sponsor.In addition to the Charity Sporting Clays Tournament, this year’s Business Summit of the West will feature a half-day Sportsmen-Industry Summit on January 5th with multiple sessions dedicated to bringing together leaders from industry and wildlife and sportsmen’s groups to participate in no-holds-barred discussions about how these sectors can work together more closely to achieve common conservation goals. Contact Roundtable CEO Jim Sims at jim@wbrt.org for more information.
Oil & Gas Companies Sponsor New “Green” Habitat Community
Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver will begin construction on its largest green development in their 30-year history in 2010. Join other IPAMS Members including Anadarko Petroleum, EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) and St. Mary Land & Exploration in helping Habitat build these homes and transform the Denver community. The 24-home Bails Townhome Community is Habitat’s first green, transit oriented development in the Metro Denver area. For more information about getting your organization involved, please contact Amy Kusek, Corporate Relations Manager, (720) 496-2714.
Click here to learn more about the project.