Decades

Reform of the three-decades-old Endangered Species Act (ESA), which has proved to be a major headache for oil and natural gas producers and pipelines over the years, faces an uncertain future in a Democratic Congress, but some proponents remain upbeat.

In the final hours of their second special session Alaska lawmakers Thursday night passed the biggest rewrite of the state’s oil and gas taxes in decades, giving Gov. Frank Murkowski the tax on net profits that he wanted but with a higher rate. Revision of the state’s oil and gas tax regime is a crucial step to moving forward with plans for a $20 billion gas pipeline to bring Alaska gas to the Lower 48. However, the gasline still is far from certain.

The number of U.S. land drilling rigs and their utilization rate are at their highest levels in decades, and that bodes well for the oilfield services sector, says Raymond James.

Calling it the most comprehensive energy bill to be put before Congress in decades, House and Senate negotiators on Tuesday ended a four-year stalemate by wrapping up work on the sweeping measure that promotes expanded production of oil, natural gas, electricity and renewable fuels, as well as the construction of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, pipelines and gas storage facilities.

For decades the Asia-Pacific region has accounted for almost 70% of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, but the emergence of a plethora of projects in North America and Europe may lead to more price parity, according to an ExxonMobil Corp. executive.

It will take two decades for supply development triggered by the Mackenzie Gas Project to disturb even 4% of the vast Northwest Territories, says a new study that highlights the scale of the frontier about to be opened up by the Canadian foray into Arctic industry.

It will take two decades for supply development triggered by the Mackenzie Gas Project to disturb even 4% of the vast Northwest Territories, says a new study that highlights the scale of the frontier about to be opened up by the Canadian foray into Arctic industry.

TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., disappointed but refusing to be discouraged after decades of trying, declared itself still ready to collaborate with any credible new contender to build the American half of the Alaska natural gas megaproject after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway withdrew its $6.4-billion entry (see Daily GPI, March 26).

After decades as a research project, coalbed methane shows signs of spreading north and maturing into production on an industrial scale in Canada as natural-gas producers scramble at least to maintain current supplies.