Monday

Christopher A. Smith, the Obama administration’s point man on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, shed little light last Monday at a national regulatory commissioners’ meeting on when the Department of Energy (DOE) will begin acting on pending applications for authorization to export natural gas to countries with which the United States does not have free trade agreements (FTA).

Dismayed by the “muddle that we currently know as federal energy regulatory policy,” the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Monday published her own energy vision for the future.

Christopher A. Smith, the Obama administration’s point man on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, shed little light Monday at a national regulatory commissioners’ meeting on when the Department of Energy (DOE) will begin acting on pending applications for authorization to export natural gas to countries with which the United States does not have free trade agreements (FTA).

Dismayed by the “muddle that we currently know as federal energy regulatory policy,” the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Monday published her own energy vision for the future.

Antero Resources announced Monday that its proved reserves had increased 73% in one year by the end of 2012, while its proved, probable and possible (3P) reserves had increased 94% and its natural gas liquids (NGL) reserves increased by 170% during the same time frame, all thanks to discoveries in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays.

In an operations update Monday, San Antonio, TX-based Abraxas Petroleum Corp. said a recent Eagle Ford Shale well turned in solid initial performance. The company’s third well in the WyCross area has outperformed a previous top performer.

Atlas Pipeline Partners LP said Monday it was accelerating the completion of a $200 million, 200 MMcf/d processing plant in West Texas and separately has signed a contract with SandRidge Energy Inc., the partnership’s largest producer customer in the Mississippian Lime.

Consol Energy Inc. announced Monday that it plans to spend most its capital expenditure (capex) budget in 2013 on natural gas production in the Marcellus and Utica shales, and will sell millions in other assets.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline has filed a complaint in federal court in Scranton, PA, to enjoin the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) from holding a hearing Monday (Jan. 14) to consider environmentalists’ petitions to block the pipeline’s Northeast Upgrade Project.