History

A Dow Chemical Co. executive said he believes the chemical industry will need several additional Bcf/d of natural gas in as little as two-years’ time, when a long list of petrochemical plant projects begin to come online. It’s a demand that should be easy to meet, he said, as long as the United States hasn’t given away its competitive advantage in the marketplace — a gift from shale gas — through the undisciplined export of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The government of Poland plans to issue draft rules covering shale gas extraction within a week, the next step to help the country take advantage of what may be vast quantities of natural gas, authorities said Tuesday.

While TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline has become controversial in general interest news media and politics, Enbridge Inc.’s. under-the-radar oil pipeline cutting through the nation’s midsection from Illinois to Houston-Port Arthur, TX, has the opposite image. The contrast drew general news media interest over the weekend.

For a second consecutive year, the vibrant history of North Dakota’s oil and natural gas drilling has been replicated in a large illustrated map indicating all 3,461 wells in the Bakken and Three Forks formation at the end of 2011. The map was jointly published by the North Dakota Petroleum Council (NDPC) and Energy/Environmental Research Center.

Adding to its already significant holdings in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southern New Mexico, Concho Resources Inc. on Monday agreed to acquire all the oil and natural gas assets of Three Rivers Operating Co. and affiliated entities for $1 billion in cash.

Energy experts predict that natural gas will surpass coal and become the second most widely used fossil fuel on Earth by 2030, but said challenges remain for the industry to make that a reality.

PG&E Corp. has named Anthony Earley as its new chairman, CEO and president. Earley is the first PG&E CEO to come from outside the utility in PG&E’s more than 100-year history. As head of Michigan-based DTE Energy and its core businesses of Detroit Edison Co. and Michigan Consolidated Gas Co., Earley was credited with running two of the nation’s more respected electric and natural gas utility companies, according to PG&E lead director Lee Cox, who has been serving as interim CEO since Peter Darbee left earlier this year (see NGI, May 2). “We looked across the industry and found the person best qualified to help us win back public confidence,” Cox said. Earley began his utility career with Long Island Lighting Co. in 1985 and joined DTE in 1994. He previously was an officer in the U.S. Navy’s nuclear submarine program, and holds an undergraduate degree, as well as graduate engineering and law degrees, from the University of Notre Dame.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is boasting that one of its conventional natural gas wells in Oklahoma is only the sixth in the state’s history to reach 60 Bcf of cumulative production.

Mexico national oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) said Wednesday it has drilled the deepest well in its history at the deepwater Lakach field in the Gulf of Mexico, and estimates the field may contain 400 to 600 Bcf in gas and condensates.