2020

Maintenance work on two platforms in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and on a project shutting in some crude oil in Alaska may halt temporarily the growth in U.S. crude oil supplies, but onshore volumes should help alleviate the shortfall, according to energy analytics provider Genscape Inc.

The U.S. natural gas markets likely face demand growth of more than 14 Bcf/d between now and 2020, and while there appears to a surplus of gas still in the ground, demand may be capped by operators’ ability to deliver supply, Barclays Capital analysts said Monday.

Marcellus and Utica shale midstreamer MarkWest Energy Partners LP has expanded its service offerings in the Anadarko Basin in a $245 million cash agreement with Chesapeake Energy Corp.

There appears to be no scarcity of global shale gas opportunities, but it may be two years — or longer — before drilling progresses to commercial success, according to Raymond James & Associates Inc.

Denver-based Forest Oil Corp. Wednesday said it would make interim CEO Patrick R. McDonald the company’s permanent chief, prompting speculation by one analyst that “all strategic options remain on the table for the company.”

While President Obama pledged to support domestic oil and natural gas development, he said he “will not let oil companies write this country’s energy plan.”

Statoil plans to boost its North American production from less than 100,000 boe/d in 2011 to more than 500,000 boe/d in 2020. In the Bakken and Three Forks shale plays of North Dakota, the company said it will get its oil to market through greatly expanded use of rail transport beginning in September.

Royal Dutch Shell plc plans to invest a minimum of $1 billion a year in unconventional natural gas exploration in China, the producer’s top China executive said this week.

California has a mandate to have one-third of its electricity from renewable energy resources by 2020, but energy planners and providers are hoping milder weather prevails this summer in the face of prospects of a permanent shutdown of one of the state’s two major nuclear generating plants.