Extended

When natural gas markets make a comeback, an extended foray into horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing shows British Columbia (BC) will be ready to fulfill expectations of taking over Alberta’s fading role as Canada’s top source of supply growth.

When natural gas markets make a comeback, an extended foray into horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing shows British Columbia will be ready to fulfill expectations of taking over Alberta’s fading role as Canada’s top source of supply growth.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) White River field office in Colorado has extended to Jan. 28 the public comment deadline for a draft resource management plan (RMP) for parts of the Piceance Basin, which when finalized could result in thousands of new natural gas wells.

Halliburton Co. reported Wednesday that its profits fell in 3Q2012 from a year earlier in part because of inflated raw materials, but the company also took a sharp hit from the decline in U.S. onshore drilling, which likely won’t accelerate until next year, company executives said Wednesday.

Oregon regulators extended for another 12 months the same portfolio of retail energy options for private-sector natural gas and electric utility customers throughout the state. The Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) followed the recommendation of a third-party options committee in letting stand current programs for residential and nonresidential customers of NW Natural, PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric Co. The programs are designed to give utility customers options for supporting alternative energy development. Customers will continue to be able to voluntarily participate in NW Natural’s greenhouse gas emissions offset program and the two electric utilities’ offers for time-of-use, green source and wind power sources.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved a request by El Paso Natural Gas for an early environmental review of a proposed 60-mile lateral that would cross the U.S.-Mexican border to supply more gas to power generation facilities. The 36-inch diameter lateral would extend from El Paso’s existing South Mainline System near Tucson, AZ, southward to the U.S.-Mexican border near Sasabe, AZ [PF12-11]. The Sasabe Lateral would have an initial capacity of 160-210 MMcf/d, with the flexibility to increase to 760 MMcf/d through expansions, El Paso said. It noted that it is in the process of negotiating transportation agreements with MGI Supply Ltd. for the initial capacity of the proposed lateral. An open season is to be conducted prior to filing a certificate application close to January . The pipeline called on the Commission to approve the lateral project by October 2013 so it may be placed in service by September 2014.

In its final rule to eliminate harmful air pollution from oil and natural gas production, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday extended the deadline for full compliance from 60 days to two-and-a-half years — 2015 — which officials said was a “reasonable” time.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead has extended an olive branch to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the dispute over preliminary results from two federally managed groundwater tests concerning contaminated natural gas wells near Pavillion, WY (see NGI, Dec. 12, 2011).

New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens said the agency plans to maintain current staff levels during the upcoming fiscal year because the budget doesn’t include funds to monitor new unconventional wells.