Offered

Analysts offered a range of estimates for the impact of the Obama administration’s freeze on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), depending on whether it extends beyond the announced six months and what the new rules will be going forward.

Speaking with reporters Wednesday night in Houston, BP plc CEO Tony Hayward offered some candid comments about his company’s response to the unrelenting oil leak at the Macondo well in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) (see Daily GPI, May 11).

Senate Republicans last Thursday offered an amendment to strike a Democratic provision in the financial regulatory reform bill that could prohibit any kind of federal assistance to swap dealers, such as Wall Street banks, that engage in derivatives transactions.

A major producer group Wednesday blasted the Obama administration’s decision to withdraw leases that were offered to producers in December to develop oil and natural gas on more than 100,000 acres in northeastern Utah.

More than 21,000 acres of federal lands in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas will be offered for oil and natural gas leasing by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wednesday, but leasing of acreage near proposed wilderness and national conservation areas has been deferred or removed until the agency receives guidance from Washington, DC.

A study that contended that Spain’s government-subsidized green jobs program has destroyed 2.2 jobs for every new green job created and offered “a note of caution” to U.S. policymakers was based on non traditional research methodologies, lacked supporting statistics and ignored policy differences between the two countries, according to a white paper issued by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

A study that contended that Spain’s government-subsidized green jobs program has destroyed 2.2 jobs for every new green job created and offered “a note of caution” to U.S. policymakers was based on non traditional research methodologies, lacked supporting statistics and ignored policy differences between the two countries, according to a white paper issued by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Tax breaks for compressed natural gas (CNG) infrastructure development offered by the state of Oklahoma appear to be working as Houston-based Apache Corp. has said it will construct two more CNG refueling stations to take advantage of the incentives.

Alaska natural gas producers are being offered a chance to win shares in a $3 billion bonus if they sign up for delivery capacity on TransCanada Corp.’s entry in the contest to build a pipeline to the Lower 48.