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Over-abundant markets and fallen prices have gutted government natural gas royalties in both of Canada’s main producing provinces, Alberta and British Columbia (BC), according to accounts disclosed by their treasury departments.

Over-abundant markets and fallen prices have gutted government natural gas royalties in both of Canada’s main producing provinces, Alberta and British Columbia (BC), according to disclosures by their treasury departments.

Main Pass Energy Hub (MPEH) LLC has applied to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for authorization to export domestically sourced liquefied natural gas (LNG) from an existing facility 16 miles off the Louisiana Coast in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

Main Pass Energy Hub (MPEH) LLC has applied to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for authorization to export domestically sourced liquefied natural gas (LNG) from an existing facility 16 miles off the Louisiana Coast in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

New Mexico on Wednesday completed a string of hearings spread over four months on a request from the state’s two main energy industry groups that the “pit rule” be modified to make it more cost-effective.

Supply chain solutions company Savage has completed a terminal near Trenton, ND, with direct connection to BNSF Railway’s main line track, to gather crude oil from the Williston Basin and Bakken Shale and facilitate its transport to refinery markets.

The two main competitors to natural gas vehicles (NGV) in the transportation fuel sector — biodiesel and propane — received a boost from the California Energy Commission (CEC) earlier this month, with nearly $2 million in grants from the state alternative fuel production and vehicles fund, which has also given several million dollars to NGV programs this year. A Northern California-based firm, Yokayo Biofuels Inc., will get $1.86 million from the CEC to expand and upgrade its facilities. Production capacity is supposed to grow from 1,400 to 2,000 gallons/d, the CEC said. Yokayo uses an enzymatic process that is supposed to be environmentally cleaner and more efficient than current methods for producing biodiesel. The CEC also doled out $114,000 to Big Valley Ford Inc., a Ford dealer in Stockton, CA, for the state’s buy-down program allowing 19 propane gas-powered vehicles to be purchased with the grant helping to pay the difference between alternative fuel vehicles and conventional ones.

Calgary-based Talisman Energy is abandoning a project it had considered with Sasol Canada to develop Canada’s first gas-to-liquids (GTL) facility to create transportation fuels from natural gas.

Hearings resumed Wednesday in New Mexico on a request from the state’s two main energy industry groups that the state’s “pit rule” be modified to make it more cost effective. An official with the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department indicated that additional hearings may be required by the Oil Conservation Commission (OCC). New Mexico’s Independent Petroleum Association (IPA) and Oil and Gas Association (OGA) have continued to seek administrative changes to state rules for handling natural gas and oil drilling production waste (see Daily GPI, May 22). Earlier, IPA and OGA representatives told the OCC that their costs are rising to comply with the pit rule, and ranchers expressed environmental concerns. After five days of testimony in May, the OCC was taking additional input and that was expected to require additional hearings beyond the one now scheduled for Friday (June 22). A final determination by the OCC will not come up until about a month after hearings are concluded, according to a state resources department official.