Explore

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has scheduled two days of hearings on Sept. 3 and 4 to explore the reasons for the massive cascading blackout that hit eight states and two Canadian provinces last week.

FERC said it will hold a public conference on Sept. 23 to explore whether it should reformulate its test for defining non-jurisdictional gathering in the shallow waters of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

A House of Representatives task force, set up on an emergency basis to explore possible actions to shore up failing supplies of natural gas, may consider elimination of the congressional moratoria on oil and gas drilling on the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) as a possible remedy, a knowledgeable Capitol Hill aide said last week.

A House of Representatives task force, set up on an emergency basis to explore possible actions to shore up failing supplies of natural gas, may consider elimination of the congressional moratoria on oil and gas drilling on the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) as one of the possible remedies, a Capitol Hill spokeswoman said.

The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board has approved seismic exploration offshore Cape Breton, but only under strict conditions. The direction to “proceed with caution” means that the first seismic testing may begin late this fall offshore by Hunt Oil Co. and Corridor Resources.

The $6.6 billion 2003 capital budget approved by ConocoPhillips Tuesday may be 25% lower than the prior year stand-alone budgets of its heritage companies, Conoco Inc. and Phillips Petroleum Inc., but the Houston major wants to take a closer look at its vast legacy opportunities worldwide, many of which are expected to help fuel its growing upstream business.

Mammoth equipment again will be used to track down the proverbial elephant-sized natural gas discoveries believed to be located in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea. Devon Canada has told the National Energy Board that it is leaning toward resurrecting one of the biggest exploration systems devised by the late Dome Petroleum Ltd. and its offshore hunting arm, Canadian Marine Drilling Ltd.

Mammoth equipment again will be used to track down the proverbial elephant-sized natural gas discoveries believed to be located in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea. Devon Canada has told the National Energy Board that it is leaning toward resurrecting one of the biggest exploration systems devised by the late Dome Petroleum Ltd. and its offshore hunting arm, Canadian Marine Drilling Ltd.

While agreeing that FERC needs to explore every issue in the California price-manipulation case against El Paso Natural Gas and its merchant power affiliates, Commissioner Nora M. Brownell has called on all parties to the action to “expeditiously” wrap up a supplemental hearing “so we can go to decision and move on.”