Deeper

New Orleans-based McMoRan Exploration Co. plans to seek permission from the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service to drill deeper on the Blackbeard West prospect, located on the Treasure Island play in the Outer Continental Shelf.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) took another step deeper Thursday into California’s manure-to-methane potential in the state’s agriculture-rich central valley, approving a 10-year contract between Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) and Microgy Inc. for up to 2.8 Bcf of “renewable natural gas.” (RNG) The vote of the five-member CPUC was unanimous.

Canadian natural gas exports have tapered off in a gentle decline expected to foreshadow deeper drops through 2007, when reduced drilling and increased domestic industrial consumption are forecast to keep eroding supplies.

Canadian natural gas exports have tapered off in a gentle decline expected to foreshadow deeper drops through 2007, when reduced drilling and increased domestic industrial consumption are forecast to keep eroding supplies.

Every year Gulf of Mexico Continental Shelf producers drill deeper holes to produce less gas from reserves that deplete faster. And then Mother Nature gives them a whupping (or several) during hurricane season.

For the first time, a record 12 rigs are drilling for oil and natural gas in Gulf of Mexico (GOM) waters that are 5,000 feet or deeper, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) reported Thursday. Director Johnnie Burton called the record ultra deepwater drilling a “very important milestone, which demonstrates how industry continues to focus on new frontiers.”

For the first time, a record 12 rigs are drilling for oil and natural gas in Gulf of Mexico (GOM) waters that are 5,000 feet or deeper, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) reported Thursday. Director Johnnie Burton called the record ultra deepwater drilling a “very important milestone, which demonstrates how industry continues to focus on new frontiers.”

Reliant Resources Inc. on Thursday reported even deeper losses in this year’s first quarter net income than in last year’s due to the poor performance of its wholesale energy trading business and the financial effect of the planned sale of its European energy operations.

AES Corp. CEO Dennis Bakke last week became the latest top executive in the energy business to call it quits. The AES board elected Paul T. Hanrahan as president and CEO effective immediately, and Hanrahan went right to work, promising significant additional steps to restructure AES’ global power operations in order to restore investor confidence.