Obstacles

Ohio Gov. John Kasich unveiled his proposed biennial executive budget on Monday, which includes a two-tier severance tax structure that would, for the first time, differentiate between horizontal and vertical wells drilled into the emerging Utica Shale.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) within the oilfield services sector should pick up steam over the next one to two years, with most of the activity centered in North America, according to a survey by Ernst & Young.

A committee of West Virginia lawmakers made little progress this week toward settling the remaining obstacles to a Marcellus Shale regulatory reform bill, instead using their time to debate — but ultimately leave unchanged — a steep increase in permitting fees.

Legal challenges and other obstacles have caused California to postpone for one year the implementation of its proposed carbon emissions cap-and-trade program, which was scheduled to start Jan. 1. Although still “on track” to begin next year, it has been put off until 2013, the regulator responsible for implementing the 2006 climate change law (AB32) told a state Senate committee last Wednesday.

Legal challenges and other obstacles have caused California to postpone for one year the implementation of its proposed carbon emissions cap-and-trade program, which was scheduled to start Jan. 1. Although still “on track” to begin next year, it has been put off until 2013, the regulator responsible for implementing the 2006 climate change law (AB32) told a state Senate committee Wednesday.

Estimates of the recoverable natural gas resources in British Columbia’s Horn River Basin now appear to average around 37 Tcf, which would be comparable in size to the gas reserves of Alaska’s North Slope, a preliminary analysis by Wood Mackenzie suggests.

Time is rapidly running out for the power sector to remove the remaining obstacles to sustainable competitive power markets in the U.S., the chairman of the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) warned audience members last Thursday at KEMA’s 17th executive forum on energy markets in Washington, DC.

The Rocky Mountain region is seen by many as the supply savior of the U.S. natural gas marketplace, but production growth in the region probably will be lower than many expect for the same reasons that have hindered development historically: pipeline takeaway constraints and the slow regulatory process, particularly drilling permitting, said Stu Wagner, an analyst with Petrie Parkman in Denver.

The Rocky Mountain region is seen by many as the supply savior of the U.S. natural gas marketplace, but production growth in the region probably will be lower than many expect for the same reasons that have hindered development historically: pipeline takeaway constraints and the slow regulatory process, particularly drilling permitting, said Stu Wagner, an analyst with Petrie Parkman in Denver.