ANWR.  1) Here is how to comment before COB today on this issue which is so important to Alaska’s oil pipeline and a potential gas pipeline.  2)  Review earlier comments.

Tim Bradner (NGP Photo), ADN.  A sense of gloom is spreading through the nation’s energy industry from the Gulf of Mexico, and it’s touching Alaska. Our confidence that advanced technology can handle any problem, even gushers gone wild at the bottom of the sea, is severely challenged.  …  Shell’s planned 2010 exploration for the Arctic offshore is an immediate casualty due to the president’s six-month moratorium on offshore exploration, the practical effect of which is to lose another year for Shell because of seasonal constraints on operating in the north. There will inevitably be big political pressures to extend the moratorium for the Arctic and to even make it permanent.  An immediate concern for Alaska is that Shell’s Beaufort Sea prospects, which are not far offshore and near existing pipelines, represent our best hopes for getting substantial new oil into the trans-Alaska pipeline. This is needed badly given declining North Slope production. We need new oil to keep the pipeline operating so our other fields can produce, even if at diminished levels.  … We also don’t know how this could affect BP’s and Anadarko’s consideration this summer of the huge financial commitments needed for a gas pipeline.

Judith Lavoie, Calgary Herald.  B.C. Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom said this week the province is waiting to see the results of a federal environmental assessment of Calgarybased Enbridge Inc.’ s application to build two pipelines from the Alberta oilsands to Kitimat, B.C.


The Hill.  The Senate this week will return to a pivotal, long-simmering debate over the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. The debate will center on a Thursday vote on a disapproval resolution by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (NGP Photo) that would block the EPA from enforcing emission rules under the Clean Air Act. Murkowski objects to the EPA’s authority and believes that Congress should set such standards instead of the executive branch. Although the resolution is not expected to pass, Murkowski is bringing the resolution forward under the Congressional Review Act, which prevents any filibusters and only requires 51 votes for passage. Murkowski’s measure has 41 formal co-sponsors, including Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) told The Hill that Murkowski’s resolution is "a distraction."

Dan Healing, Calgary Herald.  Under its growth scenario, the Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada this week predicted the following labour shortages in the Canadian oil and gas sector, due in part to workers reaching retirement age: Engineers: Labour shortages start in 2011 for occupations including chemical, mechanical, petroleum, electrical/instrumentation, civil and minining engineers, as well as in jobs typically held by engineers such as drilling co-ordinators and project controllers; Geologists and geophysicists: Labour shortages in 2011; Trades: Labour shortages return in 2012 in occupations such as crane operators, insulators, heavy-duty mechanics, industrial electricians, instrumentation technicians, steamfitters/pipefitters, millwrights and mchinists and welders; Operators: Significant worker shortages in 2012 for steam and non-steam operators; and Services, drilling and geophysical workers, operators and labourers: Shortages begin in 2012.  The trouble with any projection, of course, is that it’s all predicated on a commodity price that no one is very good at predicting.  When the oil price can bounce from $147 to $30 in less than a year, can anyone in the oilpatch truly achieve job security?