Five

Under a five-year memorandum of understanding (MOU), Sandia National Laboratories and SRI International have partnered to explore, test and evaluate a range of hydrogen and natural gas fuel systems and components for transportation. The MOU is the first agreement in Sandia’s new Center for Infrastructure Research and Innovation (CIRI), an alternative fuel research facility whose goal is to accelerate hydrogen and natural gas infrastructure technologies. The collaboration also will capitalize on research at Sandia’s Combustion Research Facility (CRF). CIRI will be located at Sandia’s Livermore Valley Open Campus, adjacent to the CRF.

BP plc’s Alaska presence will become more visible over the next five years as the oil major pours an additional $1 billion into natural gas and oil development on the North Slope with a to-do list that includes adding more drilling rigs and more workers, the operator said Monday.

Range Resources Corp. has the potential to produce up to 8 Bcf/d from the Marcellus Shale, an executive said Tuesday.

A Canadian-based exploration/production (E&P) company founded five years ago put a chill on its bullish joint venture aimed at drilling on some of its extensive Monterey Shale acreage in California just as federal leasing policy in the state has been called into question for slowing development.

Responding to the increase in natural gas production out of the Uinta Basin, Questar Pipeline Co. will be holding a binding open season to solicit support for an expansion of takeaway capacity by extending its Jurisdictional Lateral 138 (JL138) to the Myton Yard in Myton, UT.

Chevron Corp. said it has reached agreements to acquire two adjoining parcels of land totaling 61 acres in Moon Township in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area as a potential site for its regional headquarters office campus.

Range Resources Corp. won permission from a Texas appeals court to proceed with a defamation lawsuit seeking $3 million in damages from a man who accused the company of tainting his drinking water with drilling activities in the Barnett Shale (see Shale Daily, April 4). Two of the company’s claims against Steven Lipsky were allowed to stand by the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth. However, it ordered the trial court in Weatherford, TX, to dismiss Range’s claims against Lipsky’s wife, Shyla, and environmental consultant Alisa Rich, who was hired to assist in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs have claimed that Range tainted the Lipsky water well, but the Railroad Commission of Texas found otherwise after it investigated. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also had blamed Range for contaminating the well, the agency later backed down (see Shale Daily, Feb. 13; Feb. 21, 2012).

Over the next four to five years, about 70-80 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction capacity will be coming online, thanks mainly to Australia, expanding the global market for LNG by about one-third, Malcolm Johnson, a director at eMJay LNG Ltd. and industry consultant told NGI. Where all the LNG goes and at what price remains to be seen, he said (see related story).

Over the next four to five years, about 70-80 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction capacity will be coming online, thanks mainly to Australia, expanding the global market for LNG by about one-third, Malcolm Johnson, a director at eMJay LNG Ltd. and industry consultant told NGI. Where all the LNG goes and at what price remains to be seen, he said.