Consortium

PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) pcl, Thailand’s state-owned petrochemical and refining company, has enlisted an international consortium of engineering firms to conduct preliminary design work and cost estimates for its proposed ethane cracker in Southeast Ohio.

The oil and gas industry is lionizing George Phydias Mitchell, 94, who died at his home on Friday in Galveston, TX. Mitchell is credited with pioneering unconventional drilling techniques that have opened up North America’s natural gas and oil potential.

Irving, TX-based Worldwide Energy Consortium Inc. (WEC) is set to begin the initial engineering/permitting phase for a new refinery to be located near Gardendale in La Salle County, TX.

The South Texas Energy and Economic Roundtable (Steer), which is claimed to be “the most comprehensive Eagle Ford Shale resource in the region,” has opened its offices in San Antonio, TX.

LNG Canada Development Inc., a consortium led by Royal Dutch Shell plc to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Kitimat, British Columbia (BC), was granted a long-term export license by Canada’s Ministry of Natural Resources.

Development of oil and natural gas in the Eagle Ford Shale contributed $25 billion in total economic output to the South Texas region last year, according to a study released last Wednesday by the Center for Community and Business Research at The University of Texas at San Antonio Institute for Economic Development.

Development of oil and natural gas in the Eagle Ford Shale contributed $25 billion in total economic output to the South Texas region last year, according to a study released Wednesday by the Center for Community and Business Research at The University of Texas at San Antonio Institute for Economic Development.

A consortium of environmental groups has filed a petition with a Wyoming district court, seeking to require the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commissions to disclose information about specific chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of oil and natural gas wells that are being kept confidential for proprietary business reasons.

South Korea’s Korean National Oil Corp. (KNOC) said it has joined the consortium buying El Paso Corp.’s exploration and production (E&P) business. Apollo Global Management, Riverstone Holdings and Access Industries in February agreed to pay El Paso $7.15 billion to buy the E&P unit to facilitate the company’s takeover by Kinder Morgan Inc. (see Daily GPI, Feb. 27). KNOC and a unit of Samsung Group in late 2011 bought Barnett Shale-focused Parallel Petroleum from Apollo in a transaction worth an estimated $800 million (see Daily GPI, Dec. 1, 2011).