Alternatives

Fleet operators continue to look for cleaner and less expensive fueling alternatives to gasoline, while some small industries are studying the options of using liquefied natural gas (LNG) or propane, depending on the specific application.

Fleet operators continue to look for “cleaner” and less expensive fueling alternatives to gasoline, while other small industries are studying the options of using liquefied natural gas (LNG) or propane, depending on the specific application, which has moved natural gas into the spotlight nationwide.

Acknowledging that natural gas vehicles (NGV) are catching on in the U.S. alternative transportation market, advocates for diesel and biodiesel alternatives are joining forces to promote their fuel’s viability among Washington, DC, policymakers.

The Marcellus Shale is a “solidly economic” shale play that could play a big role in the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States to Europe and Asia, but regulatory hurdles, stiff competition and market forces are all significant obstacles, according to two energy industry experts.

Double Eagle Petroleum Co. said Tuesday it is joining Warren Resources Inc. to increase its stakes in Wyoming’s Atlantic Rim by acquiring some of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s remaining interests.

TransCanada Alaska Co. LLC (TC Alaska) has suspended development of the North Slope-to-Alberta leg (Alberta option) of its planned Alaska Pipeline Project while it assesses other alternatives to commercialize Alaska North Slope gas, including the potential export of liquefied North Slope gas, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said in a report to Congress. Following an unsuccessful open season, “TC Alaska notified the Commission on May 11 it was curtailing interim work on the Alberta option while requesting to maintain the record in Docket No. PF09-11 for potential future use. Keeping the prefiling docket open will enable the draft resource reports and other information…to remain viable until TC Alaska moves forward on either the Alberta option or another alternative,” FERC said. TC Alaska “also indicated it was working with Alaska North Slope producers to explore the feasibility of developing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project that would include constructing a pipeline from the North Slope to an LNG export terminal at an undetermined location in Southcentral Alaska (LNG option). TC Alaska estimated that it would file an application with the Commission for that project in October 2014,” the agency told Congress. “The Commission will not move forward to the next step in its NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] process until TC Alaska decides whether it will proceed with a pipeline to serve North American markets (Alberta option) or embarks on a project to liquefy and export natural gas to foreign markets (LNG option).”

TransCanada Alaska Co. LLC (TC Alaska) has suspended development of the North Slope-to-Alberta leg (Alberta option) of its planned Alaska Pipeline Project while it assesses other alternatives to commercialize Alaska North Slope gas, including the potential export of liquefied North Slope gas, FERC said in its 14th report to Congress on the Alaska pipeline project.

The decrease in drilling expected in the Marcellus Shale this year could have an unexpected consequence: reducing the amount of flowback water that operators reuse at well sites.

On the ground, the shale boom is a mixed bag as rural landowners weigh the alternatives of securing lucrative royalties at the cost of their land being part of an oil/gas industrial push that critics contend is threatening local environments and public water supplies. The Los Angeles Times last Sunday profiled the dilemma through a feature on two brothers with dairy farms in the rich Marcellus Shale in western New York.