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Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on Friday announced the department’s final plan for encouraging research, development and demonstration (RD&D) of oil shale and tar sands resources on more than 800,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in three western states.

Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas and Electric Co. (SDG&E) was directed by state regulators Thursday to develop more locally based electricity generation, including some natural gas-fired plants and repowering. SDG&E now seeks to have nearly 300 MW of additional power under contract by 2018.

There could be increased bilateral cooperation between the United States and Mexico in several energy sectors, including development of the Eagle Ford Shale south of the border, depending on developments in Mexico’s latest reform government, according to an expert on Mexican policy.

The South Texas Energy and Economic Roundtable (Steer), which is claimed to be “the most comprehensive Eagle Ford Shale resource in the region,” has opened its offices in San Antonio, TX.

Canadian Pan Ocean Ltd., funded by Asian investors, has put together an operating company in the liquids-rich Duvernay Shale in southwestern Alberta, executing a binding term sheet for a farm-out agreement with Canadian producer Mako Hydrocarbons Ltd. for the producer’s 50% working interest in its Alberta Joint Venture (AJV).

Converting more pipeline in TransCanada Corp.’s troubled mainline to oil service would avert potential railway congestion as well as reduce the old natural gas system’s chronic excess capacity, say federal officials in Ottawa.

Converting more pipeline in TransCanada Corp.’s troubled mainline to oil service would avert potential railway congestion as well as reduce the old natural gas system’s chronic excess capacity, say federal officials in Ottawa.

The Missouri Public Service Commission continues to investigate a natural gas explosion in Kansas City, MO, on Feb. 19, which killed at least one person and injured more than a dozen others (see Daily GPI, Feb. 22). According to Kansas City Manager Troy Schulte, Heartland Midwest LLC did not have a permit to drill and excavate near the site. A Heartland crew contracted by Time Warner Cable Inc. was installing a fiber optic cable when it apparently punctured a two-inch diameter natural gas pipeline operated by Missouri Gas Energy.

The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) agreed Friday to lease more than 6,000 acres under one of the lakes it manages in eastern Ohio to Antero Resources, with a bonus payment of nearly $41 million.