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Shell Canada Ltd., targeted for a buyout by parent Royal Dutch Shell plc, is nearly doubling its investment spending in 2007 to C$4 billion ($3.5 billion) from the C$2.7 billion set aside this year. About one-quarter of the spending will be directed toward natural gas projects.

Shell Canada Ltd., targeted for a buyout by parent Royal Dutch Shell plc, is nearly doubling its investment spending in 2007 to C$4 billion ($3.5 billion) from C$2.7 billion set aside this year. More than C$3.6 billion is directed for capital expenditures, and another C$400 million is tagged for related exploration and pre-development expenses.

Birmingham, AL-based Energen Resources Corp. signed a farmout agreement with Chesapeake Energy Corp. last Monday, setting aside a 50% stake in its 200,000-acre lease position in various shale plays in Alabama for $75 million in cash and a carried drilling interest.

Birmingham, AL-based Energen Resources Corp. signed a farmout agreement with Chesapeake Energy Corp. Monday, setting aside a 50% stake in its 200,000-acre lease position in various shale plays in Alabama for $75 million in cash and a carried drilling interest.

The Senate last Tuesday approved by voice vote a measure that shifts $1 billion in funds that were set aside to aid low-income energy consumers in fiscal year 2007 to the current fiscal year. The bill has been sent to the House for action, where it faces an uncertain fate.

The Senate late Tuesday approved by voice vote a measure that shifts $1 billion in funds that were set aside to aid low-income energy in fiscal year 2007 to the current fiscal year.

Aside from a few spot cargoes over the next two years, Suez Energy North America, operator of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Everett, MA, and the second largest importer of LNG in the United States, said it expects to see no increase in the number of LNG shipments that it brings to North America until 2008 due to a number of limitations both on the supply and delivery ends of the LNG chain.

If emotions about national sovereignty issues can be put aside, the Mexican government could begin removing the prohibitions against foreign investment in the country’s state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) by later this summer, the energy minister said Wednesday.

Amerada Hess Corp. has set aside $4 billion for its capital budget this year, with about $766 million earmarked for overseas opportunities. The New York-based producer plans to spend $570 million for exploration and exploitation, with more than half of the exploratory program focused on the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.