Leading

While the opportunities associated with shale gas are “quite great,” an executive with a leading global investment firm Thursday cautioned industry about the “current euphoria around shale,” saying it could be “wrong-minded” if the challenges are not considered.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) to Dominion Transmission Inc. (DTI) for a proposal to expand its pipeline system in Pennsylvania to deliver more Marcellus Shale gas to markets in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region.

Two West Coast utilities — one private- and the other public-sector — are leading the nation in offering green power programs to retail customers, according to the Department of Energy (DOE). Portland General Electric (PGE) in Oregon has more renewable energy customers than any utility in the nation, DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) indicated in national rankings released Tuesday. At the end of 2010, PGE had nearly 78,000 residential and business customers, or 12.6% of its eligible customers, enrolled in a renewable power program, well ahead of the national average of 2%. Portland, OR-based PGE led the nation in renewable sales in 2010 for the sixth consecutive year. In California the Santa Clara municipal utility, Silicon Valley Power, is in the top 10 nationally with its green power program, drawing more than 100 businesses and nearly 4,000 homes to the program, NREL’s report confirmed. Silicon Valley sold more than 70,000 MWh of green-based power last year.

As Senate Democrats prepares to take up legislation to end the oil and natural gas tax perks, the Senate Finance Committee has called the leading producers to testify Thursday.

Russia’s leading producer, OAO Rosneft, has given BP plc until next Monday to negotiate an acceptable alternative to their historic share swap agreement announced in January, which in total is estimated to be worth about $16 billion.

Natural gas faces some road hazards on the way to becoming a leading alternative transportation fuel, suggested speakers at a forum Wednesday in Washington, DC.

Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, has requested all of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) documents related to its investigation of water well contamination in North Texas by Range Resources Corp.

The growing abundance of shale gas and liquids production is leading to a “paradigm shift” in the global oilfield services industry that should lead to business growth over the next two years, especially in the U.S. land market, FBR Capital analysts said in a new report.

Leading Republican policymakers on energy and the environment Monday filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court challenging the authority of the judicial branch to address environmental and economic issues associated with federal climate change policy.