Dodged

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz may be new at his job, but he successfully dodged a barrage of questions from the audience and reporters as to when his department would approve more licenses for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports at the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Energy Conference Monday.

Oil and natural gas producers have dodged — at least temporarily — a bullet in the deficit-reduction package that President Obama and congressional leaders agreed to in time to avert a default on the government’s debt obligations.

Oil and natural gas producers have dodged — at least temporarily — a bullet in the deficit-reduction package that President Obama and congressional leaders agreed to late Sunday.

Texas lawmakers are not yet into the meat of their current legislative session, but the oil and gas industry appears to have dodged one bullet already, according to the president of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO). Still, it’s early, and lawmakers in budget-strapped Texas could very well look to the state’s oil and gas breadbasket to take up some of the slack.

Texas lawmakers are not yet into the meat of their current legislative session, but the oil and gas industry appears to have dodged one bullet already, according to the president of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO). Still, it’s early, and lawmakers in budget-strapped Texas could very well look to the state’s oil and gas breadbasket to take up some of the slack.

Oil and natural gas producers dodged a bullet last Wednesday when Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) agreed to withdraw a controversial amendment that would have required service companies to publicly disclose the fluids used in hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracing), a technique used to stimulate production of natural gas from wells drilled in shale gas plays.

Oil and natural gas producers dodged a bullet Wednesday when Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) agreed to withdraw a controversial amendment that would have required service companies to publicly disclose the fluids used in hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracing), a technique used to stimulate production of natural gas from wells drilled in shale gas plays.

Producers may have dodged a bullet on the windfall profits tax (see Daily GPI, Dec. 3), but majors and independents still are concerned that Congress may revise or strip away existing tax benefits for oil and natural gas to offset revenue losses and narrow the budget deficit.

The White House last week dodged questions about how the $33.5 billion in tax incentives and credits passed by the House of Representatives in its omnibus energy bill — more than three times the amount proposed by President Bush — would be funded.