Alaska

The Alaska Gasline Development Corp. (AGDC), which is working to develop liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the state, said it has submitted its final responses to post-application data requests made by FERC.

Two months after U.S. and Chinese officials signed a joint development agreement (JDA) to finance Alaska’s long-held plans to export natural gas, Gov. Bill Walker called the accord the “most promising economic opportunity” to develop the state’s vast natural gas reserves and diversify its energy portfolio.

The latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), albeit still not calendar year complete, shows New Mexico, whose southeastern corner has seen a surge in Permian Basin activity, climbing toward the nation’s No. 3 spot behind Texas and North Dakota for crude oil production.

ExxonMobil Corp.’s plan to engineer an expansion of the Point Thomson natural gas project on the North Slope has been approved by Alaska, considered a key step as a long-awaited gas export project takes shape.

Despite placing a record 900 tracts of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) up for auction Wednesday, oil and natural gas producers stayed away, leaving the Department of Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) left to count a paltry seven bids.

Alaska’s planned natural gas export project got another boost this week after Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. executed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp. (AGDC) to secure future supply.

Starting next month, a subsidiary of Italy’s Eni SpA could begin drilling up to four exploratory wells from an artificial island in the Beaufort Sea, after the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) approved the company’s application to drill.

The Alaska Gasline Development Corp. (AGDC) has asked FERC to advance the review of its proposed pipeline and natural gas liquefaction project, in part through adopting the findings of an environmental impact statement previously performed for a similar project.

After more than three hours of debate, lawmakers on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 13-10 in favor of a proposal to open a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas development.