2:45 p.m., ADT update. Here is the agenda from Governor Sean Parnell’s (NGP Photo) Producer meeting and following is the official report:  Governor Sean Parnell met today in Anchorage with the chief executive officers from BP, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil to discuss alignment between the three companies on commercializing the North Slope’s vast natural gas reserves.  *   Here is an Alaska Dispatch report.

 AP/KTUU by Becky Bohrer.  Gov. Sean Parnell Governor Sean Parnell by Dave Harbouris expected to meet with the chief executives of the big three North Slope energy producers Thursday.  This comes three months after Parnell proposed a meeting, saying it’s time that the major North Slope players — including the state — "work collectively to determine the shape of the next generation of North Slope resource development."  Exxon Mobil Corp., BP and ConocoPhillips also are to host a reception in Anchorage Thursday, with respective CEOs Rex Tillerson, Bob Dudley and Jim Mulva.  It isn’t clear whether there will be an announcement.    Parnell in October said he wants the companies to unite behind a natural gas pipeline project that would allow for liquefied natural gas to be shipped overseas, if the market truly has shifted from the Lower 48.  (Comment:  our sources tell us the producer reception will occur in downtown Anchorage today.  As we gather more information, we will update this post.  –dh)

 

The head of the nation’s top oil industry trade group said policies that limit access to domestic oil and gas resources “are disconnected from reality” and chided an “onslaught of regulations” on the industry in his annual State of American Energy speech Wednesday. American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard said the country is moving in the wrong direction in its approach to domestic energy resources, by stalling a federal decision on the Keystone XL pipeline and considering new regulations on hydraulic fracturing.
 
Gasoline prices aren’t starting off on the right foot in 2012. The average price of gasoline in Houston rose to $3.12, up 6 cents from the week before, according to AAA gas gauge. Texas saw prices also rise 6 cents to settle at $3.15, and the national average is also up 6 cents to $3.31.

 

Anchorage Daily News:  Lisa Demer Judge pegs pipeline life at 50 more years

In a 213-page decision issued last week, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Sharon Gleason bumped up the value of the pipeline for tax years 2007, 2008 and 2009, putting it at $9.25 billion as of 2009. The ruling comes after an earlier decision by Gleason that more than doubled the value of the pipeline as determined by a state board for the 2006 tax year.

 

Anchorage Daily News: Shell Oil’s Pete Slaby Shell foes will never accept Arctic drilling

In her recent opinion piece (Jan. 2), Wilderness Society Arctic Program Director Lois Epstein assumes that neither Alaskans, the nation nor Shell are "ready to drill safely in the Arctic." Ms. Epstein then dismisses decades of data that indicate otherwise and claims drilling in the Arctic would lead to a "reasonable likelihood of disaster." The fact is, Shell and others have successfully drilled more than 35 wells in the Alaska offshore without incident — not counting the Cook Inlet wells that have helped heat Anchorage homes for over 50 years.

 

Tulsa World:  Owner of injection well to lower pressure after Ohio earthquakes

State officials say they believe injecting wastewater near a fault line created enough pressure to cause seismic activity. The latest and largest quake was Saturday in the Youngtown area and registered at magnitude 4.0, which can cause moderate damage.

(Comment:  Minor earthquakes have been caused by water injection into fault zones, most famously in Denver by a military well in the 1960s.  Appears the Ohio well is causing the same difficulties.  The anti-fracing activists are using Ohio as yet another argument against the production enhancement technique. – AG) 

 

 

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