Coming

Dry natural gas drilling is coming to a standstill, but BP plc is “looking to see if it might expand” in the liquids-rich Utica Shale after securing a leasehold earlier this year, CEO Bob Dudley said Tuesday.

In the latest of a rash of energy proposals coming from Republicans, Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota and Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California Thursday introduced legislation that calls for the Interior Department to add a lease sale off the coast of Virginia to its five-year plan, to step up permitting for energy development on federal lands, and give the go-ahead for the construction of the northern leg of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

It will add to the hydrocarbon-rich state’s mitigation of flared associated natural gas supplies in the Bakken Shale play.

Asia will represent the “lion’s share” of natural gas demand growth in the coming years, Royal Dutch Shell plc’s Marvin Odum, director of the America’s upstream business, told a Washington, DC, audience last week.

Asia will represent the “lion’s share” of natural gas demand growth in the coming years, Royal Dutch Shell plc’s Marvin Odum, director of the company’s America’s upstream business, told a Washington, DC, audience last week.

The U.S. natural gas market is staring down a “summer of extremes” because of record storage inventory, which means production curtailments are coming, but they won’t prevent a repeat of sub-$2.00 spot pricing later this year, according to Bentek Energy LLC.

The U.S. natural gas market is staring down a “summer of extremes” because of record storage inventory, which means production curtailments are coming, but they won’t prevent a repeat of sub-$2.00 spot pricing later this year, according to Bentek Energy LLC.

The shale-revitalized North American natural gas industry is coming together with the automobile/transportation industries in an effort to forge a robust natural gas vehicle (NGV) sector that will prosper long term, according to Kevin McCrackin, vice president for utility markets at AGL Resources’ seven-utility group.

The nation’s energy capital will get a little bigger in the coming years as Irving, TX-based ExxonMobil Corp. expands its Houston campus, which is under development, to accommodate employees it will relocate from Fairfax, VA, and Akron, OH. Affected will be the Fairfax offices of ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Co.; ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co.; ExxonMobil Fuels, Lubricants & Specialties Marketing Co.; the Akron-based employees of ExxonMobil Chemical Co.; and select positions from ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co. and ExxonMobil Chemical Co. now at the company’s Baytown, TX, refinery complex. The new campus will have multiple low-rise office buildings, laboratory, conference and training centers and facilities such as child care, a wellness center and other amenities. Construction began in 2011 at the 385-acre wooded site near the intersection of I-45 and the Hardy Toll Road. The facility will accommodate about 10,000 employees who will move to the new campus in phases beginning in early 2014. Full occupancy for employees is expected by 2015.