Country

Growing use of gas-fired power plants in the United States is helping, to a large extent, to drive down the country’s emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Since 2006, the United States has led the world in cutting CO2 emissions, the agency said recently.

An efficiency overhaul of Canada’s energy and environment regulatory apparatus, by legislation currently before Parliament in Ottawa, is coming just in time for the country’s chief oil, gas and power watchdog.

An efficiency overhaul of the Canadian energy and environment regulatory apparatus, by legislation currently before Parliament in Ottawa, is coming just in time for the country’s chief oil, gas and power watchdog.

Representatives from a unit of BP plc began signing agreements with landowners in Trumbull County, OH, as the company readies to begin exploring its Utica/Point Pleasant Shale leasehold in 2013. In March BP completed an agreement with the Associated Landowners of the Ohio Valley to lease close to 84,000 acres in an unexplored area of the county, which is in the northeastern part of the state (see Shale Daily, March 28). With the agreements now in place, BP is executing individual terms with landowners, which may take up to six months. BP’s Ohio shale purchase moved it into ninth place among Utica/Point Pleasant leaseholders, according to data compiled from company reports by NGI’s Shale Daily. The top leaseholder is Chesapeake Energy Corp., which has an estimated 1.2 million net acres, followed by EnerVest and EV Energy Partners, which together lease an estimated 760,000 net acres. Chevron Corp. follows with 600,000 net acres.

The Canadian government promised Thursday to speed up the country’s notoriously slow environmental approval process by setting tight deadlines for regulatory agencies, reducing overlap with provincial reviews, improving Aboriginal consultations and making protests potentially tougher to mount.

The Canadian government promised Thursday to speed up the country’s notoriously slow environmental approval process by setting tight deadlines for regulatory agencies, reducing overlap with provincial reviews, improving Aboriginal consultations and making protests potentially tougher to mount.

Natural gas cash prices continued to erode Thursday as mild weather conditions prevailed in many parts of the country. Declines in the East and Northeast were mostly of the 1-3 cent variety, but on the West Coast losses of close to a dime were noted. Futures traders digested an inventory report showing the first build of the season at 11 Bcf, slightly greater than what traders were expecting and prices fell. At the close of futures trading April was down by 9.1 cents to $2.269 and May settled 8.2 cents lower at $2.372. May crude oil dropped $1.92 to $105.35/bbl.

As the price of gasoline edges nears the $4/gallon mark in much of the country and has surpassed it in some places on the West Coast, a group of senators Wednesday introduced legislation that calls on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to use its emergency powers to rein in speculation in the futures markets.

Over the last year or so hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has become a headline issue, and how one feels about it depends to a good degree on who one is. Generally though, as fracking garners more scrutiny the belief that it is worth doing hasn’t wavered much, a recent poll found.