7-2-12

 ADN/AP by Dan Joling.  Shell is sending the capping stack, skimmers, boom and a containment dome on board a flotilla accompanying drill ships to Alaska’s northern shores as part of a spill response plan with the blessing of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (NGP Photo). Shell expects final approvals within weeks and drilling by late this month.

Petroleum News.  As Shell moves closer to drilling in the Arctic this summer, Greenpeace is asking a court to stay an injunction against the environmental group while an appeals process plays out.  In March, federal District Court in Alaska banned the environmental group from occupying any of 19 vessels Shell plans to use for exploratory drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas this summer. In May, the court amended the injunction, banning Greenpeace from occupying the vessels not only in U.S. ports and waters, but also in the U.S. exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, and to certain facilities in the town of Barrow.

Today’s CEA links:   The Houston Chronicle: Calculating the Consumer Benefit **Op-ed by David Holt (NGP Photo) Like any other average American, you probably only think about the cost of energy when you’re standing in front of a gas pump or thumbing through your monthly utility bill. But what most consumers don’t often consider is that our energy entails a series of costs and benefits, some of which are beyond our immediate control and most of which are hard to properly quantify.   The Hill: Poll: Voters back Keystone pipeline, but give Obama edge on energy security A new poll shows that 62 percent of registered voters favor approval of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, a project Mitt Romney has pledged to green-light on “day one” if elected while the Obama administration favors more review. The finding suggests that President Obama may be vulnerable to ongoing election-season attacks from Republicans and conservative groups, who have bashed him for failing to grant a permit for TransCanada Corp’s pipeline to bring Canadian oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries.   The Houston Chronicle: Shell moves to pre-empt Arctic drilling challenges During Shell’s seven-year, $4.5 billion quest to search for oil under Arctic waters, environmentalists have put the company on the defensive by challenging government-issued drilling approvals and permits in federal court.The strategy has been so successful that in 2011, Shell was forced to abandon its plans to launch exploratory drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas after air pollution permits essential for the work were tossed out in one of those legal challenges. Instead of waiting for court fights that Shell Oil Co. views as inevitable, the company has filed its own lawsuits against more than a dozen environmental organizations and is asking a federal judge to declare some of its government approvals valid, even before any legal filings calling them into question.   National Journal: Transportation Bill: An Early Christmas Present or a Lump of Coal? In an 11th-hour turnaround, Congress passed a compromise transportation reauthorization (including a student loan interest rate extension and flood insurance reauthorization). The 599-page bill reduces the number of highway programs by two thirds. The controversial coal ash and Keystone XL provisions House Republicans pushed for were dropped, but the streamlining provisions they wanted made it in, including exempting from environmental review certain emergency infrastructure replacements and programs that receive less than $5 million in federal funds.   The Houston Chronicle: Steffy: Peril dead ahead for power market With each passing day of summer, the deregulated electricity market looks more like the Titanic. On Thursday, the Public Utility Commission re­arranged the deck chairs while the iceberg – the prospect of a market failure – looms. As expected, the PUC voted to raise the price limits for wholesale electricity by 50 percent, just days after the state almost ran short of power.   The Houston Chronicle: Oil is up, but a declining trend could curb shale rush Although oil prices jumped today after an encouraging European policy decision, a recent trend of declining oil prices could put a damper on rapid shale drilling in the United States, according to analysis from Simmons & Company International. Oil companies have dramatically ramped up domestic drilling and production over the last two years, inspired to spend heavily on new developments because of the bounty of high oil prices.