Arctic

Insurance giant The Hartford this month instituted a policy to no longer insure or invest in companies that generate more than one-quarter of their revenues or energy production from oilsands or coal.

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a trio of measures that would block Trump administration efforts to expand areas of oil and natural gas drilling off shores of the United States.

Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer Novatek said subsidiary Arctic LNG-1 plans to conduct a geological survey, which if it leads to exploration could create more supply to expand liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.

A federal district court judge in Alaska last Friday ruled an executive order (EO) issued by President Trump in 2017 opening areas of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans to oil and gas leasing was “unlawful and invalid,” and ordered the areas closed to leasing.

One year to the day after Congress passed a comprehensive tax reform bill that included a controversial provision to open a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas leasing, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for a leasing program.

February natural gas was set to open Tuesday about 9 cents higher at around $3.314 as one of the major weather models continued to show another round of Arctic cold arriving early next month.

February natural gas was set to open Wednesday about 3 cents higher at $2.959, helped by bullish adjustments to the outlook for Arctic cold expected move in next week.

February natural gas was set to open about 3.4 cents higher at around $2.948 Friday, building on recent momentum as the market has been able to rally on sustained below normal temperatures heading into the new year.

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.