Annual

The state of Alaska pushed back the date of its annual Beaufort Sea, North Slope and North Slope Foothills lease sale to possibly expand the sale’s North Slope acreage offering as well as provide prospective bidders additional time to prepare.

El Paso said during its annual bottom-hole survey and emergency shutdown/Department of Transportation inspection at the Washington Ranch Storage Facility, scheduled for Monday through Sept. 19, its “operational flexibility will be extremely limited as no injection or withdrawal will be possible.” This is in addition to limitations from ongoing unscheduled anomaly remediations on Lines 1100, 1103 and 1110 between the Pecos River and Guadalupe compressor stations, El Paso said in an appeal to shippers asking them to stay balanced on transportation nominations during this time.

An updated outlook for natural gas prices in the Pacific Northwest will be given Wednesday at an annual meeting called by the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) at its headquarters in the state capital of Salem. Representatives from the Northwest Gas Association and three natural gas utilities will offer insights at a mid-morning session.

The United States and Canada will require an annual average natural gas midstream infrastructure investment of $8.2 billion, or $205.2 billion overall (in 2010 dollars), over the nearly 25-year period from 2011 to 2035 to accommodate new supplies, particularly from shale plays, as well as growing demand for gas in the power generation sector, according to a study sponsored by the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) Foundation.

The United States and Canada will require an annual average natural gas midstream infrastructure investment of $8.2 billion, or $205.2 billion overall (in 2010 dollars), over the nearly 25-year period from 2011 to 2035 to accommodate new supplies, particularly from shale plays, as well as growing demand for gas in the power generation sector, according to a study sponsored by the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) Foundation.

Energy efficiency continues to make a dent in the national energy markets, with more states than ever formally measuring the annual impact of utility driven energy savings programs, according to two reports from the independent nonprofit American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE). Twenty-four states have implemented energy efficiency resource standards (EERS) in the past six years, following the lead of Texas and Vermont, and 13 of the 19 states with EERS policies in place for two years or longer achieved 100% or more of their goals; three states reached 90%; and the remaining three achieved 80%, according to ACEEE’s first report, “Energy Efficiency Resource Standards: A Progress Report on State Energy Saving Targets.” The second report documents how utilities are planning to increase their efforts to hit these higher energy saving levels. Six states with reportedly the largest and most successful efficiency programs — California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York and Vermont — are highlighted in some detail in terms of their ongoing and planned programs. Another six states among the next tier are also highlighted — Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has asked Senate leaders to set aside legislation to raise his annual salary by $19,600 after a senator threatened to block it if the pace of “new” permitting in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) did not return to the pre-BP plc Macondo well disaster rate. Salazar fired off the letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) after Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) vowed to block the request for the pay raise if the department did not resume issuance of “new” permits for GOM deepwater exploratory drilling at the same rate before the explosion aboard the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig. “It’s just my way of keeping the boot on the neck” of Interior, Vitter wrote in his letter to Salazar last Monday. Although the department has reissued a number of permits to resume activities that were interrupted as a result of the Deepwater Horizon incident, it has issued only one “new” deepwater exploratory drilling permit since the moratorium was formally lifted in October. Salazar accused Vitter of “attempted coercion.” That position “is wrong, and it must be made perfectly clear that his attempt cannot and will not affect the execution of the solemn legal responsibility that the department undertakes on behalf of the American people,” Salazar said. The bill to raise Salazar’s salary was introduced by Reid earlier this month. His current salary is $180,000, The Hill reported.

Chevron Corp. CEO John Watson on Wednesday found himself face to face with some rambunctious activists who came to the annual shareholder meeting in San Ramon, CA, to voice their opposition to the oil major’s global drilling practices. In the end, however, the company’s majority shareholders won the day, turning back resolutions that included calling for more disclosure about hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking).

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has asked Senate leaders to set aside legislation to raise his annual salary by $19,600 after a senator threatened to block it if the pace of “new” permitting in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) did not return to the pre-BP plc Macondo well disaster rate.