Backlog

In a series of postings to Twitter on Wednesday night, FERC Commissioner Neil Chatterjee proposed pay increases, fellowship programs and a new regional office as ways to combat “personnel resource constraints inhibiting” an ongoing review of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal applications.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf wants to more than double natural gas well permit fees and give more money to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to reduce a backlog of permits and modernize the application process to make it more efficient.

Former Pennsylvania state utility commissioner Robert Powelson was officially sworn in as the third commissioner — and the quorum-maker — at FERC Thursday, earlier than some agency onlookers were expecting.

Pledging to make the Interior Department “a better neighbor in the new Trump administration,” Secretary Ryan Zinke issued a secretarial order (SO) on Thursday that calls for streamlining the permitting process for drilling on federal lands.

Department of Interior (DOI) Secretary Ryan Zinke defended the Trump administration’s proposed $11.7 billion budget for fiscal year (FY) 2018, and told two Senate panels that the department was “moving prudently” to fill positions in field offices while limiting hires in Washington, DC.

Houston-based National Oilwell Varco Inc., which provides drilling support services worldwide, sees no relief in sight for its bread-and-butter offshore business, but it is seeing potential opportunities in the U.S. onshore, management said Thursday.

Even if U.S. oil prices were to strengthen this year and producers were compelled to work on their backlog of uncompleted onshore wells, it’s unlikely new production would overcome depleted inventories, based on an analysis by Barclays Capital.

The impact that the number of drilled but not yet completed wells in the U.S. onshore may have on domestic production as prices rebound is going to be big, but just how big is a bit of a mystery, Raymond James & Associates Inc. analysts said Monday.

FMC Technologies Inc., one of the biggest vendors to North America’s oilfield service (OFS) operators, experienced significant declines in North America land operations during the second quarter and now expects no relief before 2016.