natural gas

With continued confidence that their proposed Gulf Coast-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project will begin construction next year, Sempra Energy senior executives last week said they are looking for other market growth opportunities from the shale-driven U.S. gas supply boom.

It will be up to risk-taking entrepreneurs –and not Congress– who will lead the way for the oil and natural gas industry, a former U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) official said Wednesday in Denver.

Private equity (PE) continues to put a bead on funding U.S. exploration and production (E&P) companies, and there appears to be a lot more money available than ever before, unconventional operators said at the Colorado Oil & Gas Association’s Rocky Mountain Energy Summit in Denver.

Natural gas and oil companies concerned that fringe protesters will succeed in delaying or canceling projects shouldn’t be, said the chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy. New technology eventually will be embraced, he said, but it will take time.

FERC last Monday ordered BP America Inc. and affiliates to show cause in a long-running case [IN13-15] involving the alleged gaming of the physical and financial markets at the Houston Ship Channel (HSC). The Commission proposed a near-$29 million penalty for transactions taking place from mid-September 2008 through Nov. 30, 2008.

State regulators and alternative fuel advocates are increasingly finding that the roads are getting crowded with natural gas vehicle (NGV) proposals as the transportation sector tries to make more use of abundant U.S. supplies. Oregon, Texas and Utah are the latest to extend their push to expand the market for NGVs.

Technological innovations in the oil and gas industry have marked some remarkable discoveries over its 150-year history. Today, the innovations may be coming more quickly, but there’s still plenty to learn, energy stalwarts said Tuesday at the 25th Annual Rocky Mountain Energy Summit.

U.S. oil and natural gas mergers and acquisition activity (M&A) plunged in the second quarter from the first three months of 2012, with divestitures driving activity, according to PwC US.

Natural gas traders haven’t been able to figure out where prices consistently are headed, but one thing is becoming clearer: output has remained flat for close to a year. And coal generators have a lot of power in determining prices, according to an analysis by Stephen Smith Energy Associates.