Energy crises: SNGPL shuts gas supply to Punjab industry indefinitely. The Express Tribune. Fertiliser sector not to be affected, but APTMA threatens street protests if gas not resumed. SNGPL blames CNG stations for aggravating the gas load shedding problem for domestic consumers. LAHORE: The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) issued …
Oilsands operators boost spending plans for 2012. Montreal Gazette, By DAN HEALING, Postmedia News; Calgary Herald December 29, 2011 12:00 AM … US State Department regulatory delays to the Keystone XL pipeline designed to …
News Max: Rasmussen: 53% Favor Keystone XL Pipeline. A majority of voters continue to favor the building of an oil pipeline from Canada to Texas that congressional Republicans are prodding President Barack Obama to approve in legislation passed last week. Republicans see the pipeline as a job creator, while Democrats view it as an environmental risk.
The Hill: Greens say President Obama has no choice but to kill Keystone XL pipeline. Republicans who lobbied aggressively for a measure to force President Obama to make a speedy decision on the Keystone XL pipeline have ensured the project’s demise, environmental groups say. The activists said Obama will be forced to reject the pipeline — which would carry oil sands crude from Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Gulf Coast — under a measure in the two-month payroll tax cut extension that requires the administration to make a decision on the project within 60 days.
Baltimore Sun: Pipeline provision in tax cut deal threatens Maryland coastline. By attaching provisions in favor of a gigantic tar sands oil pipeline to the payroll tax cut legislation, Congress seems intent on putting Maryland’s coasts in peril. The Keystone XL pipeline, which is proposed to run from Alberta in Canada to Texas, would not only put vast areas in the West in danger of oil spills, it would also harm coastal states by accelerating fuel exploitation and global warming.
AP: Oil hovers below $100 after US supplies soar. Oil prices hovered below $100 a barrel Thursday, with a report showing a jump last week in U.S. crude supplies countering concerns about Iran’s threat to block a key Middle East oil shipping route. By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for February delivery rose 29 cents to $99.65 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.98 to settle at $99.36 in New York on Wednesday.
The Houston Chronicle: Gas prices rise before the New Year
Gas prices rose in Houston after declining to near the sub-$3 per gallon mark last week. The average price of gasoline rose to $3.06, up 3 cents from the week before, according to AAA gas gauge. Texas saw prices also rise 4 cents to settle at $3.09, and the national average is up 4 cents to $3.25.
Chesapeake Energy Corp., the most active U.S. oil and natural-gas driller, agreed to sell a pipeline subsidiary to an affiliated partnership for $865 million. Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP will buy Appalachia Midstream Services, owner of 47 percent of a 200-mile gathering system in the Marcellus Shale formation, according to a statement today. The system transports more than 1 billion cubic feet a day and has 15-year contracts with gas producers.
The "If you mandate it, they will build it" mantra fails Congress yet again Wall Street Journal (12/28/11) reports: Hopes for a surge in production of alternative biofuels are falling flat, and the U.S. expects to continue to rely on corn- and sugarcane-based ethanol to meet a national mandate for renewable fuels in 2012…The Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that a tiny fraction—less than one-tenth of 1%—of renewable fuels required to be used in the U.S. next year will come from cellulosic biofuel, based on projected production volumes, despite a congressional target that the fuel made from plant stalks and other inedible materials account for more than 3% of the total…The agency sets volume requirements for renewable fuels every year to implement a 2007 law that requires refiners to use increasing amounts of renewable fuels in gasoline…Cellulosic fuel, which can be made from plant waste such as corncobs, is still far from being able to meet volume mandates laid out by Congress, the EPA said Tuesday, confirming a draft analysis it had published earlier this year. Instead, the agency will require refiners to use other types of advanced biofuels, including sugarcane ethanol, to meet the national standard.
If you cut off the head, two will grow in its place Chicago Tribune (12/28/11) reports: A resurgent green movement is launching a multi-pronged counter-attack against the shale oil and gas boom in the United States that could slow, though ultimately not stop, development…Building upon their unexpected success in the battle against the Keystone XL pipeline, a renewed onslaught from environmentalists is putting the shale industry on the defensive while adding to costs, limiting expansion and potentially scuttling major projects…"I think it’s the totality of what’s going on all at once, that’s the biggest concern," said Barclay Nicholson, a lawyer for the Washington-based Fulbright & Jaworski law firm, which has represented companies involved in shale development.
The only thing new about natural gas production in New York is the debate on natural gas production. In other words, we’ve been producing natural gas for a long time New York Times (12/28/11) reports: In the heated debate over fracking in New York, it is often forgotten that conventional natural gas drilling has been taking place in the state for decades…hemung County, a place I write about in Wednesday’s Times, has been a leader in gas production in the state and is now poised to become a leader in exploration of the Marcellus Shale.
Leave A Comment