natural gas

Like other areas of the country with plentiful supplies, Texas is cashing in on natural gas use in vehicles and the fueling infrastructure that goes with them. The Railroad Commission of Texas reported that to date there has been $174 million invested in natural gas vehicles (NGV) and fueling stations to support them in the state.

The third quarter proved to be a quiet period for global oil and gas merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions compared to the previous three months of this year, but 2014 continues on track for stronger spending than in 2013 on the strength of U.S. dealmaking, specifically because of the Permian Basin.

Chevron Corp. is selling a nearly one-third stake in its Duvernay Shale project in west-central Alberta to a unit of Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co. (KUFPEC) for $1.5 billion.

BP plc has asked U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier of the Eastern District Court in New Orleans to reverse his findings or grant a new trial that found the producer grossly negligent for the April 2010 Macondo well blowout (see Daily GPI,Sept. 4). BP claims Barbier used evidence excluded at trial, including an assertion by a witness about compressive forces on cement production casing pumped into the well to adopt a theory that the casing was breached because of debris. The breach allegedly was the source of oil and gas seeping into the well before the blowout. BP wants Barbier to revise the findings and change how much fault is apportioned to Deepwater Horizon rig operator Transocean Ltd. and cement contractor Halliburton Co. or order a new trial to allow BP to “explore the lack of basis for the witness’s opinion.”

A convoluted weather pattern in the Northeast, mixed power loads and next-day prices, and a benign temperature outlook were enough to prompt $1-plus declines in New England in Friday’s trading for weekend and Monday delivery.

Weekly natural gas spot prices posted yeoman-like gains for the week ending Oct. 3. Points in South Louisiana, the Midcontinent, and South Texas made double-digit strides higher, and most locations saw gains of a nickel to a dime. Only a few Northeast points fell into the loss column, and theNGI National Spot Weekly Gas Price average was $3.71, up 10 cents.

Louisiana LNG Energy LLChas chosenBechtelto provide front-end engineering and design for a planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility and export terminal in Louisiana, south of New Orleans on the Mississippi River. The modular design of the project is intended to shorten the construction schedule and accommodate future expansion, Bechtel said. The facility would have an initial LNG export capacity of 2 million metric tons/year and useChart Energy and Chemicalstechnology. Completion is expected in late 2017 (seeDaily GPI,Oct. 6).

Natural gas futures had the trajectory of a safe falling from a 10-story window following the release of government storage figures that were greater than what the market was expecting.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources will hold its annual North Slope, Beaufort Sea and North Slope Foothills areawide oil and gas leasesales on Wednesday, Nov. 19. Bid opening will begin at 9 a.m. local time at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage. The total lease area encompasses 14 million acres. Bidding methods, minimum bids and lease terms remain the same as northern Alaska areawide lease sales held from 2011 to 2013 (see Daily GPI,Nov. 7, 2013). The North Slope and Beaufort Sea sale areas continue to include terms and conditions to incentivize exploration of tracts adjacent to federal lands, which include the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. “The results from the past three sales show that investors have continued interest in obtaining new state oil and gas leases for exploration in northern Alaska,” said Bill Barron, director of the Division of Oil and Gas. Bidders must be qualified by Nov. 14 and bids must be received no later than Nov. 17.