Marketwire.  Proponents of the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline were awarded six licenses comprised of Shell Canada Limited (3 licenses), Imperial Oil Resources Ventures Limited (2 licenses) and ConocoPhilips Canada Resources Corp. (1 license). 

Petroleum News by Eric Lidji (NGP Photo).  Alaska is one of the least attractive places in NorthAmerica for oil and gas investment, according to recent survey of international petroleum industry executives.  The State of Alaska ranked 83rd out of 136 jurisdictions while the federal Alaska Outer Continental Shelf ranked 78th, according to the Global Petroleum Survey by the Fraser Institute, a right-leaning Canadian think tank.  In addition to its low ranking this year, Alaska “slipped considerably” from its rankings last year, when survey respondents placed the State of Alaska at 68 and the Alaska OCS at 57 among 133 jurisdictions.  The annual survey gauges how higher-ups in the oil and gas sector view provinces, states and countries around the world by measuring 17 factors, including fiscal systems, regulatory certainty, political stability, local infrastructure and outstanding land claims.  The most attractive areas for investment are almost entirely in North America, Europe or Australia and New Zealand, according to the survey. Mississippi topped the list, followed in the top five by Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. The Dutch North Sea ranked highest of regimes outside North America.  The five least attractive jurisdictions are all in South America or the Middle East: Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Iran and Kazakhstan….