Explore

Royal Dutch Shell plc’s Alaska unit said Wednesday it has abandoned a three-year plan to explore for oil and gas in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea.

House Republicans’ hopes for a hearing Friday to explore the costs of cap-and-trade legislation proposed by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA) were dashed when Democrats failed to provide the emission allocation language that Republicans had requested earlier in the week.

With near-term weather forecasts being classified as anything but supportive, March natural gas futures on Wednesday continued to explore new lows in the downtrend. However, an afternoon round of buying sparked a rally that allowed the prompt-month contract to close at $4.214, up 1.1 cents from Tuesday’s close.

Officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and representatives of the natural gas industry met in Harrisburg, PA, last week for the first of a series of meetings to explore methods of treating wastewater generated by drilling operations in the state, especially an increasing number of operations in the Marcellus Shale.

Officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and representatives of the natural gas industry met in Harrisburg, PA, Tuesday for the first of a series of meetings to explore methods of treating wastewater generated by drilling operations in the state, including an increasing number of operations in the Marcellus Shale.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday vacated the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) approval of Shell Offshore Inc.’s (SOI) plans to explore for oil and natural gas in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska and Canada.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday vacated the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) approval of Shell Offshore Inc.’s (SOI) plans to explore for oil and natural gas in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska and Canada.

The recent unpredictability of energy futures markets was on display yet again Wednesday as crude and natural gas broke ranks to explore different price directions. August crude gained $2.60 to close at $143.57/bbl, while August natural gas dropped 11.6 cents to finish at $13.389.

After breaking above the $13/MMBtu price level on Tuesday, July natural gas futures continued to explore the upside throughout Wednesday. The prompt-month contract climbed an astounding 25.8 cents to finish Wednesday’s regular session at $13.210, backed by low storage injection expectations for the week ended June 13, a $2.67/bbl bump in July crude futures due to Nigerian strike fears and a “couple of distinct waves” traveling in the tropical Atlantic and the Caribbean.