Heavy

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) has a new $6 million grant program to help companies replace their older forklifts and medium- and heavy-duty diesel vehicles with ultra low-emission natural gas- and propane-fueled equipment. The grant program is funded by the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Since 2005, the RRC has awarded $39.5 million in grants to Texas companies and school districts, and has reduced emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides by nearly 5,000 tons. To be eligible for the grants, new equipment must meet the latest emissions standards and operate in one of the 43 counties designated by the TCEQ as having substandard air quality. The grant amount averages $9,500. For more information, visit www.altenergy.rrc.state.tx.us.

Penn Virginia Corp. (PVA) is opening its Eagle Ford Shale oil window wider with the acquisition of 40,600 gross acres (19,000 net) in Gonzales and Lavaca counties, TX, for $401 million from Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. (MHR), which has set its sights, in part, on the Pearsall Shale.

America’s “shale revolution,” combined with increased Gulf of Mexico oil production, the potential for major deposits in the Arctic, and growth in tight and heavy oil, including oilsands, makes North America’s energy picture much brighter than it was not that long ago, Royal Dutch Shell plc CEO Peter Voser said recently at the Chief Executives Club of Boston.

America’s “shale revolution,” combined with increased Gulf of Mexico oil production, the potential for major deposits in the Arctic, and growth in tight and heavy oil, including oilsands, makes North America’s energy picture much brighter than it was not that long ago, Royal Dutch Shell plc CEO Peter Voser said recently at the Chief Executives Club of Boston.

LyondellBasell Industries, a worldwide chemical company based in the Netherlands, said it hopes to join other manufacturers in taking advantage of the abundance of natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) produced from shale formations as it begins construction this month on the first of several projects to expand ethylene capacity in the United States by about 20%.

Canadian Natural Resources — Canada’s second-largest independent natural gas producer and its largest producer of heavy oils — is considering the sale of about 250,000 net acres of its Montney land base, about one-quarter of its total Montney acreage, President Steve Laut said Thursday during an earnings conference call.

Hess Corp., which is facing a shareholder revolt for a perceived lack of focus and crony-heavy board, on Monday said it would become a pure-play exploration and production (E&P) company. The plan involves fully exiting the downstream business, selling Bakken Shale midstream, and bringing aboard six new independent directors.

Encana Corp. has commissioned the Cavalier liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Alberta, considered one of the keys to bring higher volumes of natural gas to heavy-duty trucking and other fleets in Western Canada and elsewhere.

By 2025 natural gas is expected to overtake coal as the second most used fuel worldwide and North America will have transitioned to become a net energy exporter, while by 2040 global energy demand will have increased by almost 35% from 2010 levels, according to ExxonMobil Corp.’s Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040, which wasreleased Tuesday.