Natural gas

A column by United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La.

06/23/2009 -- WASHINGTON -- Last summer, Americans were reeling from the largest oil price spike the nation ever experienced. Oil prices had increased from $51 per barrel in January 2007 to nearly $150 in July 2008 — a nearly 200 percent increase in 18 months.

Skyrocketing energy prices led millions of hardworking families to demand that Congress change our policies to allow for more domestic oil and gas production. Americans from coast to coast were ready to cut ties with unfriendly foreign governments and produce our own energy right here at home.    » read more »

Expands Natural Gas Processing Capacity in Piceance Basin; Facilities in place to steadily increase supplies to U.S. markets

HOUSTON -- ExxonMobil Production Company announced today the completion of new field processing capacity at its Piceance Project2 on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Rio Blanco County, Colorado.

The new facilities have the capacity to handle up to 200 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. They include gas and liquid gathering systems, treating facilities, a produced-water pipeline and subsurface disposal system, and a condensate sales and truck-loading site.    » read more »

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. -- June 17, 2009 -- Air Products (NYSE: APD) today announced that it signed an agreement with Saipem to provide its proprietary process technology and main cryogenic heat exchanger for Sonatrach’s GNL3Z liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Arzew, Algeria. Sonatrach will produce 4.7 million metric tons per year (mmtpy) of LNG, making the Arzew facility train the largest single LNG producer in Algeria. Air Products’ LNG technology and equipment, which produces the largest majority of the total worldwide LNG, is to be delivered to the western Mediterranean port site by October 2010.    » read more »

Mumbai, India - June 17th, 2009 - The sustained economic growth in the country over the last five years has led to a concurrent growth in energy demand across industrial, transportation, commercial, and residential sectors. Oil and gas account for 41 percent of India's energy consumption and there is unlikely to be any significant scaling down of dependence on these fuels in the next five to ten years.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.energy.frost.com), Strategic Analysis of Oil and Gas Sector in India, finds that the output of the Indian oil and gas sector was 184.3 million tonnes oil equivalent in 2008 and expects this to reach 339.6 million tonnes oil equivalent in 2015.    » read more »

Tillerson outlines need for cooperation, long-term thinking and technology innovation to meet increasing energy demand while reducing emissions

June 16, 2009 -- GRONINGEN, The Netherlands -- The 50th anniversary of the development of the Groningen field, Europe’s largest natural gas field and one of the greatest energy discoveries in history, provides valuable lessons in teamwork, technology and long-term thinking required to meet the current energy challenge, Rex Tillerson, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), said today.    » read more »

American Public Deserves to Know Chemicals Used Near Their Water Sources

June 9, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC– U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) joined U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Jared Polis (D-CO) today to introduce companion Senate and House bills, the FRAC Act -- Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act, amending the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The legislation would repeal a Bush administration exemption provided for the oil and gas industry and would require them to disclose the chemicals they use in their hydraulic fracturing processes. Currently, the oil and gas industry is the only industry granted an exemption from complying with the Safe Drinking Water Act.    » read more »

June 2, 2009 -- New York -- Morgan Stanley Private Equity has entered into a strategic partnership with and majority investment in Triana Energy Investments, LLC (Triana Energy). Triana Energy is a natural gas exploration and production (E&P) company based in Charleston, WV, with operations focused on the Appalachian Basin, including the Marcellus Shale. This investment is intended to be the first step in a broader partnership as Triana Energy expands operations to become a leading North American energy company.    » read more »

June 1, 2009 -- PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) announced on Friday (5/29) that its generation subsidiary has signed a definitive agreement to sell its Long Island generation business to J-POWER USA Development Co., Ltd. for approximately $135 million plus working capital, subject to the receipt of various state and federal regulatory approvals and consents.

The business consists of PPL Edgewood Energy, LLC and PPL Shoreham Energy, LLC, which own, respectively, the Edgewood generating facility, a 79.9-megawatt natural gas-fired electric generation facility in Brentwood, N.Y.; and the Shoreham generating facility, a 79.9-megawatt oil-fired electric generation facility in Brookhaven, N.Y. The output of both facilities is fully contracted to the Long Island Power Authority.    » read more »

Company files for modest increases in electric and gas delivery charges to take effect next year

(Newark, NJ – May 29, 2009) Citing the continuing decrease in the wholesale cost of natural gas, PSE&G has proposed to lower residential gas bills this fall by about 7 percent, or about $10 per winter month for a residential gas customer using 100 therms. The company’s annual filing with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities will result in the third bill decrease since January 1, 2009, for a total reduction of 18 percent, or $30, since October 2008.    » read more »

28 May 2009 -- Following an assessment of natural resources north of the Arctic Circle, researchers say that a full 30% of the world's undiscovered natural gas and 13% of its undiscovered oil could be found there.

The oil estimate is relatively small compared to the known reserves in major petroleum exporting countries, so researchers do not anticipate a major shift in the world's oil trade. However, they do expect the location and volume of predicted natural gas reserves inside the Arctic Circle to primarily benefit Russia.

These findings are from the first detailed, peer-reviewed, and geologically-based assessment of natural resources in that region.    » read more »

May 21, 2009 -- CHEYENNE - U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal today concluded a two day tour of several major energy production regions in Wyoming.

Gov. Freudenthal invited the Administrator to visit Wyoming and see first-hand the production of traditional and renewable energy resources.

Wyoming is currently the nation's largest net exporter of energy. The state also has some of the best wind energy potential in North America, with highly-rated wind production areas stretching from the western border with Utah to the state’s eastern plains.    » read more »

GE's Jenbacher Cogeneration Units to Power 30.4-MWel Project, Helping to Save up to About 185,000 Tons of CO2 per Year

JENBACH, AUSTRIA -- May 19, 2009 -- Macedonia Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski today formally opened the country’s first natural gas-cogeneration plant certified for international carbon credit financing in the capital city of Skopje.

The plant, powered by GE’s Jenbacher gas engines, is Macedonia’s first commercial natural gas-fueled combined heat and power (CHP) project completed within the international “Clean Development Mechanism” (CDM). Established under the Kyoto Protocol, this climate protection program provides global financial support for alternative energy projects that reduce CO2 emissions in developing economies.    » read more »

May 13, 2009 -- Colorado Governor Bill Ritter today urged the leaders of two powerful congressional committees to retain the Intangible Drilling Costs tax deduction to help exploration and production of clean-burning natural gas, which is a key part of Colorado's New Energy Economy.

In a letter to leaders of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees, Gov. Ritter encouraged them to maintain the deduction. "The current economic climate is driving significant cutbacks in drilling activity across the nation, and repeal or significant limitation of the existing deduction for intangible drilling costs would create an additional disincentive for new exploration and development," Gov. Ritter wrote.    » read more »

May 13, 2009, Juneau, Alaska - Alaska Governor Sarah Palin today welcomed the “excellent news” that Chugach Electric Association and ConocoPhillips have contracted to satisfy Chugach’s unmet natural gas needs into 2011. This resolves a dispute over the two-year extension of the export license for the liquefied natural gas facility at Kenai operated by ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil.

“This is a big victory for consumers, who are facing huge energy challenges,” Governor Palin said.

The contract, which was filed this afternoon with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, continues through 2016. It is intended to avert all of Chugach’s projected gas shortfall through June 2011, half of the shortfall thereafter through December 2015, and about 25 percent in 2016.    » read more »

May 11, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today asked the Department of Justice to seek clarification from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on the scope of its April 17, 2009 decision that Bush Administration officials did not conduct sufficient scientific and environmental analysis before scheduling oil and gas lease sales on the Outer Continental Shelf off Alaska.    » read more »