Rebecca Logan, Alaska Support Industry Alliance, Armstrong, North Slope Discoveries, Dave Harbour PhotoNEW Alaskan Discoveries Are Significant: See TODAY'S NEWS!  (Note: we thank Rebecca Logan {NGP Photo}, Alliance General Manager, for alerting us to this important announcement!)


Robert Dillon, US Senate Energy Committee, Lisa Murkowski, Keystone XL, Photo by Dave Harbour

Keystone XL Commentary by Robert Dillon (NGP Photo), U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee


TODAY'S RELEVANT ENERGY LINKS, COURTESY OF CONSUMER ENERGY ALLIANCE


 
 
British Columbia's energy projects lure companies stung by Alberta downturn

Still, all of the LNG terminals proposed for the British Columbia coast remain in the planning stage while gas and crude- oil pipeline projects face …

 
 
Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion could cost Canada $22.1B, says SFU study

"Investing some $20 billion in potentially empty pipeline space imposes a very large cost on Canada, to the oil and gas sector, to the Canadian public …

 


WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, June 10, 2015, at 11:00 AM, in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs will hold a legislative hearing on the following bill:

  • H.R. 2387 Don Young, Alaska Congressman, Native veterans, Photo by Dave Harbour(Rep. Don Young, NGP Photo), To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to provide for equitable allotment of land to Alaska Native veterans.

 

 

 
 
 
 

Armstrong Announces Significant Discoveries on the North Slope of Alaska

June 02, 2015 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–70 & 148, LLC (Armstrong) announced today the successful completion of the 2014/2015 winter campaign.

“These new discoveries show the immense potential that still exists on the North Slope of Alaska”

Two Nanushuk wells were tested this year, including the Qugruk 8 (Q-8) vertical well, which tested a small portion of the net pay zone and flowed 30 degree API gravity crude at rates of up to 2,160 barrels of oil per day (BOPD). The Qugruk 301 (Q-301), two miles north of Q-8, tested a 2,000 foot horizontal lateral. The well flowed at tubing constrained rates as high as 4,600 BOPD with minimal bottom hole pressure drawdown.

In the East Alpine field, two new penetrations were completed in the Alpine Formation, adding to the previous two penetrations. Three of these wells have encountered oil productive Alpine sand in excess of 95 feet thick at a depth of 6500 feet with porosities ranging from 15% to 25%. Well control and seismic data indicates the oil pool covers an area in excess of 15,000 acres.

The successful drilling program is the result of a joint exploration effort underway since 2012. Repsol operates the consortium and holds a 70% interest, Armstrong holds a 22.5% stake and GMT Exploration Company has 7.5%.

The activity to date since the beginning of exploration has resulted in the discovery of several oil fields on the North Slope of Alaska. All 16 wells (including sidetracks) drilled by the consortium have found hydrocarbons, most with multiple pay zones. In the Nanushuk reservoir, the consortium has drilled seven appraisal wells to date and has proven an oil pool that covers more than 25,000 acres, at a depth of 4,100 feet, with an oil column of 650+ feet, and up to 150 feet of net pay with an average porosity of 22%.

Although additional drilling is needed to confirm the ultimate size of some discoveries, this season’s results justify moving forward with development, and two of the fields are in the process of being permitted for development — one in the Nanushuk and another in the Alpine Fm.

“These new discoveries show the immense potential that still exists on the North Slope of Alaska,” said Bill Armstrong, President of Armstrong Oil & Gas. “We strongly believe that there are many great conventional oil projects yet to be found and developed in Alaska, and with the passage of the More Alaska Production Act (SB 21), the state has encouraged new drilling and future developments.”

 
 
 
 
 
TODAY'S RELEVANT ENERGY LINKS FROM CONSUMER ENERGY ALLIANCE….
 
Washington Examiner: Offshore drilling would continue under most 2016 hopefuls
A May poll of South Carolina voters by Consumer Energy Alliance, a coalition of business and energy industry groups, showed 63 percent supported Arctic drilling compared with 32 percent who opposed it. Eighty-five percent of the Palmetto State voters polled said energy issues will play an important role in the 2016 election.
 
Associated Press: Things to know about the Calif. oil spill
The May 19 spill occurred along the same stretch of Santa Barbara County coast as the devastating oil platform blowout in 1969 that galvanized the environmental movement. While the impacts of the latest spill have been far less severe, the episode has angered conservationists and residents who lived through the earlier disaster.
 
Los Angeles Times: Santa Barbara fisherman files suit against oil pipeline company
As Santa Barbara fisherman is suing the Texas owners of the oil pipeline that ruptured last month, spilling up to 105,000 gallons of crude along the coast near Refugio State Beach, for economic damages.
 
Huffington PostOpinion: U.S. needs to back oil, gas boom to strengthen job market
Federal leaders should support the oil and natural gas boom and ease the permitting process for infrastructure projects to continue bolstering the nation's strong job market, writes Sean McGarvey, president of North America's Building Trades Unions and chairman at the Oil and Natural Gas Industry Labor-Management Committee. Energy infrastructure expansion could add jobs and generate savings for the nation with about $1.14 trillion of investments through 2025, McGarvey notes, citing the American Petroleum Institute. "The family-sustaining jobs that the boom is creating are exactly the type of jobs we need to rebuild the great American middle class," he writes.
 
National Journal: EPA Climate Plan Sent to White House for Review
The Obama administration has teed up a busy summer on climate change, with the final review of its tentpole climate rule swinging into action.
 
The Hill: Obama climate rule nearly complete
The Obama administration is conducting the final review of its controversial rule to limit carbon emissions from power plants. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said it is putting the regulation into the final review process after receiving the texton Monday from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
 
The HillFrench official says climate deal should bypass
 

The French foreign minister said Monday that any international deal that comes from a climate conference in Paris this winter should be written so it avoids needing ratification by Congress. "We know the politics in the U.S." Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said, the Associated Press reports. "Whether we like it or not, if it comes to the Congress, they will refuse."
 
The HillKansas governor signs bill to comply with power plant rules
Kansas will formulate a plan to comply with the Obama administration's climate rule for power plants despite ongoing opposition to it within state government. Republican Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill last week directing the state's Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Corporation Commission to work on a strategy to meet the goals of the Clean Power Plan, which looks to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
 
E&E News: FERC commissioner says EPA carbon rule may usurp state powers
States complying with U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan run the risk of ceding jurisdiction over energy policy decisions to the federal government, according to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member Tony Clark.
 
Breaking EnergyFERC Advances Reliability Safety Mechanism in Final Clean Power Plan
On May 15, 2015, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) provided the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with a letter signed by all five Commissioners that details its role in implementing a Reliability Safety Valve (RSV) in the proposed Clean Power Plan (CPP). The CPP proposal, issued on June 2, 2014, aims to reduce power sector emissions by 30 percent by 2030 relative to 2005 levels. It provides state-specific, rate- or mass-based targets to reduce power plant carbon dioxide emissions and guidelines for state plans to meet the targets.
 
Bloomberg: Global oil companies refocus businesses, promote gas
Royal Dutch Shell, Total and other global oil producers said Monday that they are collaborating to encourage the use of natural gas as an alternative to coal. The companies are increasing their gas production to levels greater than those of their oil output as they refocus their businesses on gas.
 
Reuters: The U.S. oil HF’s dilemma: crouch or pounce?
U.S. shale oil producers, having weathered the worst price plunge in their industry’s brief history, now face a dilemma: whether to stay in a defensive crouch after slashing their rig fleets, or start drilling more wells to capture a partial recovery in prices.
 
Financial PostThe great HF revolution paradox
One of the great paradoxes of the fracking revolution is that its “father,” the late George P. Mitchell, was a fan of sustainable development. This might not quite rank with cotton manufacturer Friedrich Engels supporting Karl Marx, but it comes pretty close. That’s because if sustainability has one key tenet, it is that the fossil fuel industry must be killed to save the planet. Instead, fracking has revitalized it.
 
OilPrice.com: Why natural gas may become the fuel of choice in this coal state
Kentucky has long been a coal state, and as such has consistently resisted efforts by the federal government to limit greenhouse gas emissions from its coal-fired power plants. Nevertheless, Kentucky may end up complying with the new rules by default.
 
Environmental Leader: HF Drives New Water Management, Treatment Technologies
As the water footprint created by hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling continues to grow in the US, water management issues are projected to become more challenging, Industrial WaterWorld reports. Fortunately, technical advancements and new initiatives are beginning to address water access, reuse and recycling issues.
 
Roll Call: Dems should back offshore drilling expansion
Democratic members of Congress should stop using false arguments to rationalize restrictions on offshore oil and natural gas production and exploration, and instead overcome "the Arctic myth" and expand access to such activities, writes Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association. He notes that contrary to the beliefs of some lawmakers and groups, knowledge has been developed for decades on "nearly every aspect of the Arctic seascape" through technologies and research funding from the industry and federal regulators.
 
Bloomberg: Corn Ethanol Is Worse Than Keystone
For years, environmental activists have opposed the Keystone XL pipeline, claiming that development of Canada’s oil sands will be “game over for the climate.” But if those same activists are sincere about climate change, why aren’t they getting arrested outside the White House to protest the use of corn ethanol?
 
International Business Times: HF Resumes in Denton
Natural gas drilling is starting up again in Denton, Texas, despite the city’s 7-month-old ban on hydraulic fracturing. Vantage Energy resumed operations Monday at its Denton well just weeks after Gov. Greg Abbott passed a law prohibiting cities from banning fracking on their home turf. Three activists were arrested at the drill site Monday morning after attempting to block an access road.
 
VICE News: Denton, Texas Banned Fracking — But the Drillers Are Back
In November of last year, voters in Denton, Texas sent the oil and gas industry packing, passing with a 58 percent majority a referendum banning fracking within city limits. But now the frackers are back. Last week, Colorado-based Vantage Energy began operations — legally.
 
NBC DFW3 arrested in Denton HF protest
The return of fracking came with protests and arrests in Denton. On Monday morning, three members of the Denton Drilling Awareness Group, also known as Frack Free Denton, were arrested by police on criminal trespassing charges.
 
Fierce EnergyDOE driving tribal clean energy in Alaska
The Department of Energy (DOE) is giving select Alaska Native villages assistance to implement President Obama's Climate Action Plan through the Alaska Strategic Technical Assistance Response Team (START) Program, which provides federally-recognized Alaska Native corporations' governments with technical assistance to accelerate tribal clean energy projects and initiatives.
 
FuelFixNew lawsuit filed against seven-year-old Arctic drilling auction
A 2008 government sale of Arctic drilling leases to Shell and other companies is set to face fresh scrutiny in the federal courts, with a dozen environmental and Alaskan groups preparing to file a new challenge to the auction.
 
Associated PressCelebrity make splash with Calif. drought awareness
Cher, another Malibu resident, has also let her grass go brown and has talked about the water shortage on Twitter. In a post last month, she complained California used fresh water for fracking. "We’re in a catastrophic drought, water means life??" she wrote. "We can’t drink oil."
 
Associated Press: HF halt sought in N.W. New Mexico
Environmental groups Monday renewed their call to end hydraulic fracturing in northwestern New Mexico as part of an ongoing battle over oil and natural gas development and the protection of cultural and archaeological sites. The groups delivered a letter to the Bureau of Land Management in Farmington, saying increased development has led to more truck traffic and dozens of new well pads during the last year, and that is harming the region that includes Chaco Culture National Historical Park.
 
E&E NewsCourt keeps activists out of HF lawsuit
The Colorado Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a lower court's decision that the grass-roots group East Boulder County United had no legal right to intervene in a lawsuit between the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and the Front Range city of Lafayette, which passed a fracking ban in 2013.
 
Post IndependentNo oil and gas in North Fork Valley
Most here feel that oil and gas development simply does not fit into the lands where we live, grow our food, have our businesses and recreate. If oil and gas development is to happen in some places, we need to see other places removed from the threat of it happening there in the future. We want to have a say and direct input into how, where, if and when this activity occurs.
 
Associated PressNatural gas drilling on upswing in Lincoln Parish
A Texas energy company has purchased or leased about 71,000 acres in and around Lincoln Parish, where it is operating as many as eight rigs with plans for perhaps 10 more by the end of the year. The News-Star reports Memorial Resource Development Corp. of Houston is drilling for natural gas and natural gas liquids.
 
Morning Journal News: Drilling severance tax off the budget table, House speaker says
Any plans to raise the state tax on shale gas production and earmarking some of the proceeds for counties impacted by the drilling boom appear to be on hold, at least for now. That was the message delivered by someone who should know – Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger – who was among state legislators attending a forum held Monday and hosted by state Rep. Tim Ginter.
 
Columbus Business FirstOhio shale gas production up in 2015, but growth slowing
Natural gas production increased more than 11 percent during the first three months of 2015 compared with the previous three months. Gas production had increased by 25 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the third, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
 
American City Business JournalsOhio shale gas output rose 11% in Q1, regulator says
Natural gas production in Ohio's Utica Shale in the first quarter rose over 11% from the previous quarter to 183.6 billion cubic feet, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. The figures indicate a slower output growth than that of the fourth quarter of last year, when production increased by 25% from the third quarter.
 
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteAnalyst: Proposed Pa. severance tax would be highest among gas-producing states
Pennsylvania would have the highest severance tax rate among seven natural gas-producing states if it adopts Gov. Tom Wolf's proposed severance tax on shale gas production, state Independent Fiscal Office Director Matthew Knittel said Monday at a joint hearing held by state Senate committees on environmental resources, energy and finance. The tax rate for both value and volume of output should average about 7.3% after the end of the decade, Knittel said. He added that about 80% of the tax would be paid by consumers outside of the state.
 
Patriot-News: Pa. severance tax would be highest among natural gas states, report says
Gov. Tom Wolf's proposed severance tax would take Pennsylvania from last place to first among major gas-producing states in taxing the extraction of natural gas, according to the Independent Fiscal Office. In testimony before a Senate committee Monday, IFO Director Matthew Knittel said the effective tax rate after all state taxes are accounted for would be 7.3 percent. Neighboring states like Ohio and West Virginia levy taxes of 0.8 and 5 percent, respectively, while Texas' taxes range from 3.1 to 3.5 percent.
 
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Proposed severance tax would be paid by out-of-state consumers, agency says
Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed severance tax on shale gas would shift Pennsylvania from having the lowest to the highest effective severance tax rate among seven major gas-producing states, but most of the tax likely would be paid by out-of-state consumers, the head of Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office testified on Monday. Matthew Knittel, director of the non-partisan office that provides budget analysis, gave the new assessment of the tax during a joint hearing of the state Senate’s energy and finance committees.
 
Patriot-News: HF, severance tax issues will dominate Senate hearings
Questions about how Pennsylvania regulates and taxes the natural gas industry will dominate two Senate hearings, including the vetting of Gov. Tom Wolf's environmental secretary pick. On Monday, the Senate Environmental Resources & Energy committee will scrutinize the governor's proposed 5 percent tax on natural gas drillers. The following day, the same panel will consider the nomination of John Quigley to run the Department of Environmental Protection.
 
Legal IntelligencerWolf creates natural gas pipeline task force
Pennsylvania is missing an even bigger opportunity for a return on Marcellus Shale drilling due to an inadequate system of pipelines, business officials have repeatedly said. Now Gov. Tom Wolf has formed the Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force to help coordinate thousands of miles of additional pipeline needed to take advantage of all the markets for the shale gas.
 
Associated PressVa. panel recommends new HF regulations
A Virginia advisory panel is recommending that energy companies disclose the chemical ingredients they use in horizontal fracking, a type of natural gas drilling that has spawned environmental concerns. The proposal is among 14 recommendations that have been sent to Gov. Terry McAuliffe for review.
 
Charleston Daily MailDavid McKinley: Connecting the dots on regulations
Too much of anything is a bad thing. If you plug too many appliances into an outlet, it will blow a fuse. If you overload a boat, it will sink.
 
Orlando Sentinel: Advocate: Fla. can lead on energy
Central Florida faces stronger storms and population surges due to global warming, an advocate warns. Florida trails the nation in promoting renewable energy, says an advocate for more action on climate change. Promoting renewable and more-efficient energy won't kill jobs — it'll create them, and advocate says.

 


Keystone Commentary and Status Report

by

Robert Dillon

U.S. Senate and Natural Resources Committee

Keystone – Four (More) Months and Counting

Just wanted to bring to your attention that today marks four full months since the State Department’s deadline for interagency comments on the Keystone XL pipeline.

We’re sure that like all of us, you’re shocked – shocked! – that the project remains stranded in completely arbitrary regulatory purgatory.  And by that we mean, not shocked in the slightest.

In mid-January, during the Senate debate on bipartisan legislation to approve the cross-border permit for this long-delayed pipeline, the State Department announced a deadline of February 2 for interagency comments on whether it would be in the national interest. 

The Washington Post reported that as a result of this “tight deadline” the Department was “picking up the process where it suspended it last spring.”  And the State Department confirmed on February 4th that it had received comments from all eight relevant agencies.   

So, what has happened over the past four months?  By all appearances, a whole lot of nothing. The State Department could have spent two full weeks on the comments submitted by each agency. (We wish we had that sort of time to meander through our daily work.) Yet Keystone XL remains in limbo due to an administration that won’t make a decision.

The Keystone XL pipeline’s cross-border permit has now been stranded for more than 2,447 days and counting. The president has dismissed the project as a “single oil pipeline.” And the Quadrennial Energy Review spent hundreds of pages diagnosing our nation’s energy infrastructure needs and challenges. 

Somewhere along the way, you’d think that President Obama would make a final decision on Keystone XL, instead of validating the Senate’s decision to start the 114th Congress with a bipartisan bill on this subject. You’d think thepresident would recognize the project’s potential for job creation in a still-struggling economy. 

You’d think he would recognize that pipelines are a safe, clean, and efficient option for transporting the energy that America needs in an increasingly unstable world. But at four (more) months and counting, you’d be wrong.

CNN: As Keystone vote looms, it's crunch time for federal agencies to weigh in

By Kevin Bohn, CNN

Updated 1:28 PM ET, Sun January 18, 2015

Washington (CNN) – With the Senate expected to vote soon on the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline, the State Department is now giving eight federal agencies two weeks to weigh in on it.

The State Department on Friday notified those agencies have only until February 2 "to provide their views on the national interest with regard to the Keystone XL Pipeline permit application," a department official told CNN Saturday, adding that the department "continues its review" (More….)