natural gas prices

The British Columbia (BC) government chopped its liquefied natural gas (LNG) export tax in half Tuesday and added corporate tax cuts as lure to build tanker terminals on Canada’s Pacific coast.

Top regulators from Oklahoma, North Dakota and Ohio all agreed on Tuesday that unconventional oil and gas development in their states shows no signs of slowing anytime soon.

With carbon emissions and well stimulation now regulated by the state, and with new water rules and energy taxes possible next year, oil and natural gas industry representatives expressed mixed feelings Tuesday about the future of their business at Oil and Gas Awards’ West Coast Energy Summit in Bakersfield, CA.

BNK Petroleum Inc. said its latest well in southern Oklahoma’s Tishomingo Field — targeting the Caney Shale, a shallow oil formation in the Ardmore Basin — is flowing back after the company’s largest hydraulic fracture stimulation, and could be its best Caney well to date.

Unconventional drilling in the U.S. onshore boosted Nabors Industries Ltd. quarterly revenues to their highest level in more than two years, as customers sought better technology to finesse their wells.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has introduced the Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducer (EMAT), a pipeline inspection robot, to upgrade maintenance and safety checks on a natural gas pipeline system in South San Francisco. The robot uses ultrasonic waves within the pipe to automatically detect weld defects. The new technology does not require excavation to test the inside of the pipe. The robot travels inside the pipeline to inspect the girth welds.

Patrick Pouyanne has been elected CEO and president of Total SA following the death of chairman and CEO Christophe de Margerie (see Daily GPI,Oct. 21). Pouyanne was president of the refining and chemicals unit. Former chairman and CEO Thierry Desmarest, who since his retirement has been honorary chairman, will assume the chairmanship until the end of 2015. Pouyanne joined Total in 1997 after working for several years for the French government. “The exceptional human and professional qualities that Christophe de Margerie exhibited during his time at Total were largely responsible for the success of the group,” the board stated.

Alaska has awarded two Beaufort Sea leases that had been pending since 2011 based on the state’s belief that it — and not the federal government — controls 3,000 acres of tidal and submerged lands along the Beaufort coastline.

Subsea demand is strong and getting stronger, with a backlog for orders at the highest level in more than four years for Houston’s FMC Technologies Inc., the company reported Wednesday.