Alaska

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on Tuesday sharply revised downward its estimate of conventional, undiscovered oil within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA) after “recent exploration drilling” revealed “gas occurrence rather than oil in much of NPRA.”

Severe cold will hit Alaska and portions of Canada during winter 2010-11, and the worst of the season’s cold and snow will dominate the Pacific Northwest, northern Plains and western Great Lakes areas, but the U.S. East Coast will be granted a reprieve from the heavy snowfall it experienced last winter, according to AccuWeather.com Chief Long Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the vice chair of the Senate Republican Conference, Tuesday said the major focus of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill should be on “how [to] contain this devastation,” rather than on calling BP officials to Capitol Hill to “assign blame” for the disaster.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has added her name as co-sponsor to legislation that seeks to extend and expand federal tax credits for natural gas vehicles (NGV) and refueling facilities.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is vying for the vice chairmanship of the Senate Republican Conference, which will become vacant as a result of the shakeup in GOP leadership following an admission by Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) of an extramarital affair. Senate Minority Lead Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “talked to her about the position and encouraged her to run for it,” said Robert Dillon, a spokesman for Murkowski. Murkowski is seeking to replace Sen. John Thune (R-SD), who has set his sights on the chairmanship formerly held by Ensign, The Hill newspaper reported. Ensign resigned as chairman earlier this month after he publicly admitted the affair. The Senate GOP is expected to vote Thursday. The vice chairmanship is considered the No. 5 leadership position among Senate Republicans. “I have been participating and giving my input and thinking down the road about the prospect of coming on in an elected capacity,” Murkowski told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner last week. “I did not anticipate there would be an opening until the next Congress…I do feel I have something to offer, a moderating voice in our conference, which is good.” Murkowski has gained prominence in the Republican party over the last couple of years. She plans to remain on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where she is the ranking Republican.

With the clock ticking down to election day, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin last week tried to capture the vote of producers and other proponents of onshore and offshore drilling, saying that a McCain administration would support a policy of “drill here and drill now.”

British Columbia (BC) is joining the states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California to collaborate on energy and climate issues that affect the entire Pacific Coast region under an agreement announced at the annual meeting of the Western Governors’ Association.

An ongoing legal dispute will delay Royal Dutch Shell’s plans to drill for oil and natural gas in the Beaufort Sea offshore Alaska through the rest of the year, the oil major said Friday.

TransCanada Corp., which has its finger in some of the biggest gas projects in North America, including the Alaska Gasline Project and the proposed Mackenzie Gas Pipeline, is looking down the road toward even more opportunities, a company executive said last month.