PNA by Kristen Nelson. Aging oil and gas fields in Southcentral Alaska’s Cook Inlet basin may no longer be attractive to major companies, but for a mid-sized Houston independent, Hilcorp Energy, finding ways to produce more oil from big old fields is a way of life.
ADN/PNA by Wesley Loy. Executives with Cook Inlet Energy LLC are looking to lay a subsea pipeline across the Inlet to carry west-side crude oil to Tesoro’s Kenai Peninsula refinery.
Today’s CEA Energy Links:
Associated Press: Officials: North Dakota energy policy is model for country
North Dakota’s robust and diverse energy sector can provide a model for creating jobs and help reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, officials said Monday.
Sen. John Hoeven and Gov. Jack Dalrymple were among the speakers at the Renewable Energy Action Summit in Bismarck. They, along with government and industry officials, said North Dakota’s energy policy has expanded traditional and renewable energy sources, advanced technology, provided certainty for developers, spurred investment and created jobs.
Inside Climate News: Law Prevents N.H. Governor from Implementing Clean Fuels Program **Article mentions CEA
New Hampshire’s Republican-controlled legislature became the first to strip the governor’s authority to implement a regional low-carbon fuels program, saying the scheme would drastically drive up fuel costs. Other state leaders, however, are taking a stand in favor of low-carbon fuel standards. Last week, the attorneys general of Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont—and of Oregon, where a program is already in the works, and Washington, which is considering its own scheme—filed a legal brief in California courts to show support for clean fuel regulations in the Golden State and elsewhere. The brief comes after the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), a coalition that includes oil companies and trucking and transportation groups, sent letters to attorneys general in the 11 Northeast states, cautioning them that a mandate requiring cleaner fuels would bury their states in costly lawsuits—as it has in California.
Republicans in the House of Representatives are insisting that a measure to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline must be part of a transportation funding bill, a stance that could hobble negotiators sprinting to try to reach a deal on the legislation this week. Senate negotiators have sought to keep Keystone out of the bill, and have discussed ways to hold a separate vote on fast-tracking approvals for the TransCanada project, a senior Senate Democratic aide said.
The White House has said President Barack Obama would veto a bill that overrides his decision this year to block the pipeline, pending further environmental study.
Senators involved in marathon talks on a two-year deal for funding U.S. road, bridge and rail projects said on Monday they were close to a compromise with House Republicans, although they might need to work through a Friday deadline to finish negotiations. "We’ve just made some major breakthroughs and I feel very good about it," Republican Senator James Inhofe told reporters on Capitol Hill, noting meetings continued on Monday night.
Houston Chronicle: As storm tracks away, workers go back offshore
Fossil fuel producers began sending workers back to the Gulf of Mexico on Monday after evacuating many of them and shutting down 44 percent of Gulf oil production as Tropical Storm Debby threatened. The storm, along the Florida Panhandle Monday evening, continued a northeasterly crawl at 5 mph, drenching the state, the National Hurricane Center said. Because of its position and direction, it’s likely track no longer would take it to offshore energy installations, the American Petroleum Institute said.
The Houston Chronicle: Shell tests Arctic capping for feds
Shell tested its first line of defense against runaway Arctic oil wells for federal inspectors on Monday, marking a major step in the company’s final preparations to launch exploratory drilling in seas north of Alaska. The tests focused on the capping stack that Shell intends to station between planned drilling operations in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas this summer in case of an emergency. Marine tracking data showed a Shell ship carrying the capping stack circled an area of Puget Sound today after other Shell support vessels previously docked in Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., moved nearby. A source with knowledge of the deployment confirmed it took place on Monday.
The Houston Chronicle: Power demand sets June record
Texans cranking air conditioners to deal with triple-digit temperatures Monday sent electricity demand to a record for June, the state’s main grid operator reported. Electricity use from 4 to 5 p.m. averaged 65,047 megawatts, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said, besting the previous June high of 63,102 megawatts on June 17, 2011.
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