Leaders

Flanked by House and Senate leaders and administration officials, President Bush signed into law Wednesday long-awaited legislation to open up part of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural gas leasing.

Flanked by House and Senate leaders and administration officials, President Bush signed into law last Wednesday long-awaited legislation to open up part of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural gas leasing.

Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski has written state House leaders to pitch for a third special session to ratify his gas pipeline fiscal contract with a trio of producers before he leaves office. The lame duck governor’s chief of staff said earlier this month that he had dropped plans to call for a third special session (see Daily GPI, Sept. 8).

Two world leaders in coal production and coal-to-liquids technology announced Tuesday they have joined forces to develop a new coal-to-liquids facility in the United States. St. Louis-based Peabody Energy and Denver-based Rentech, Inc., said they would be jointly evaluating potential sites for the facility in the Midwest and Montana under a joint development agreement signed earlier.

Alberta leaders are voicing hope the province will become the world leader in synthetic gas production to prevent massive waste of the natural commodity by its oilsands development rush.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is expected to vote Wednesday on long-awaited legislation, sponsored by the panel’s leaders, that would open more of the natural gas-prone area known as Lease 181 to oil and gas drilling.

A 33-year-old Canadian environmental moratorium will continue to prevent oil and gas drilling offshore of British Columbia, with pro-development provincial leaders blaming the federal government for indecision on plans to lift the ban.

Several Alaska lawmakers and labor leaders are backing a new proposed ballot measure that would place a tax on the booked Alaska natural gas reserves of producers until they place into service a natural gas pipeline to the Lower 48 states.

Senate leaders on Friday named 14 conferees to the upcoming House-Senate conference on the omnibus energy bill (HR 6). The House has yet to appoint conferees.