Government

Government and industry officials are cheering plans for a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling corridor stretching from Pennsylvania into West Virginia along Route 79. It will support the Marcellus shale gas-inspired initiatives for converting hundreds of vehicles to operate on natural gas.

Mexico’s Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) was reported Thursday on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border to be contemplating layoffs of up to 15,000 workers as apart of an overhaul of the government’s energy supply operations. However, NGI sources in California and Mexico City said it may be premature to talk about the possible downsizing of a workforce that is 72% union represented. “Given new appointments [to senior positions], there is a plan to reorganize the company into upstream and downstream segments,” said a Mexico City source who follows Pemex. A total restructuring is “still in process, so nothing has happened so far,” the source said. In California, an energy attorney specializing in Latin America said he had not heard of any layoffs, but any such move would be part of Pemex’s upcoming “modernization and streamlining efforts.” A spokesperson for Sempra Energy, which has extensive holdings in Mexico, said the company’s Mexico City office was unaware of any Pemex plans for layoffs.

Legislators and state government officials in Ohio, as well as industry groups, are discussing a bill that, if enacted, would require oil and natural gas land agents to register with the state and provide homeowners with several disclosure forms.

Royal Dutch Shell plc has dropped plans to develop coalbed methane in British Columbia (BC) following the provincial government’s decision to ban natural gas and oil exploration in the Klappan, an aboriginal area in the northern part of the province.

Government fleets are continuing to embrace natural gas as an alternative fuel as evidenced by recent actions in Pennsylvania, New York City and Denver, and the trucking industry at a recent national summit meeting did the same.

The Canadian government late Friday approved the C$15.1 billion takeover of Canada’s Nexen Inc. by CNOOC Ltd., an arm of state-controlled China National Offshore Oil Co.

In an effort to determine which government agency has oversight authority for the Bushton, KS, natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation plant, three subsidiaries of Oneok Partners LP have filed a declaratory judgment action in federal District Court in Tulsa, OK, seeking a ruling on the jurisdictional limits of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network said more than 50 organizations have signed a petition asking the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to take regulatory authority over natural gas pipelines in the watershed.

CNOOC Ltd. has reportedly agreed to management and employment conditions set by the Canadian government as prerequisites to its proposed C$15.1 billion takeover bid for Calgary-based oil and gas producer Nexen Inc. Two sources familiar with the matter said CNOOC, an arm of state-controlled China National Offshore Oil Co., has agreed to reserve at least half of Nexen’s board and management positions for Canadians, along with other conditions recently requested by Alberta Premier Alison Redford, Bloomberg reported. Shareholders of Nexen voted 99% in favor of accepting CNOOC’s takeover offer (see Daily GPI, Sept. 21). But Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has repeatedly cautioned North American money managers against assuming the bid is a done deal, and some polls indicate that a majority of Canadians oppose the deal. The final Canadian say is in the hands of the federal cabinet under the national Foreign Investment Review Act, which gives ministers wide discretion under a “benefits test” for big corporate deals.