Canada-owned oil sands mine in Utah to begin producing in fall Mining by  Cecilia Jamasmie.  Canada’s U.S. Oil Sands (TSX-V:USO) is fine tuning details to begin production at its mine in eastern Utah, the first commercial oil sands operations in the United States, after receiving final regulatory approvals from local officials late last week. While the mine had already been approved for construction, the Calgary-based company recently submitted a proposal to expand it. The Utah Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining approved that plan, but ThinkProgressreported it did so on the condition that the [...]

Murkowski Calls Attention to Alaska’s Isolated Energy Systems Calgary Herald by Dan Healing.   Canada’s natural gas industry will continue to shrink unless liquefied natural gas export terminals are built, an outcome that requires prompt regulatory approvals, says the lobby group representing the largely Calgary-based oil and gas business. In a report Wednesday, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said Canadian gas production will decline steadily over the next decade as burgeoning production from U.S. shale gas fields moves into its traditional consumer markets in the American Midwest and Northeast, as well as in Central Canada. [...]

NGI Daily by Joe Fisher.   For decades, multiple Alaska governors have tried to push through a pipeline to commercialize the state's North Slope natural gas. Gov. Bill Walker's strategy so far has been to keep a close eye on the project timeline and to emphasize Alaska's role as a "sovereign" in dealings with partners. Walker told NGI that since the 1980s he has believed a pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal that could access Asian markets were a better bet than a just a pipeline to carry gas to [...]