Looks

The state of Alaska received bids nearly $21 million for petroleum leases on the North Slope and offshore in the Beaufort Sea on Wednesday, as the state looks to increase the volume of crude oil shipped through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS).

The outlook for natural gas, crude oil and refined products pipelines looks good for 2012, according to three separate reports released Wednesday by Fitch Ratings. Fitch based its conclusions on recent past performance in the sector, which it views as stable.

Hitting an all-time high in domestic U.S. energy production with shale plays as a major driver, Occidental Petroleum Corp.(Oxy) still looks to cut its natural gas production in the Midcontinent basins because of continuing low prices, CEO Stephen Chazen said Thursday.

Hitting an all-time high in domestic U.S. energy production with shale plays as a major driver, Occidental Petroleum Corp.(Oxy) still looks to cut its natural gas production in the Midcontinent basins because of continuing low prices, CEO Stephen Chazen said Thursday.

Encana Corp. has close to 11.7 million net acres from which to pick and choose for development in North America’s onshore, but the Horn River Basin in British Columbia (BC) is drawing special attention, in part because of the promise it holds for natural gas demand in the oilsands, as well as promising liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, company officials said Tuesday.

Power generation developers may be taking new looks at added natural gas- and coal-fired plants as an outgrowth of the reaction to the continuing disaster unfolding at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear generating plant, according to the CEO of NRG Energy Inc.

AES Corporation announced Wednesday that it plans to acquire DPL Inc. in a $3.5 billion stock deal as it looks to strengthen its regional holdings.

While the impacts of shale gas and lower overall natural gas prices could eventually alter the status quo, gas storage in the West currently looks adequate, according to sources at Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), a partner in the Gill Ranch near Fresno, CA, the region’s newest underground storage facility (see NGI, Oct. 11, 2010).

While the impacts of shale gas and lower overall natural gas prices could eventually alter the status quo, currently gas storage in the West looks adequate, according to sources at Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), a partner in the region’s newest underground storage facility, Gill Ranch in Northern California (see Daily GPI, Oct. 5, 2010; Sept. 27, 2007).