Onshore

With political tensions and diminishing onshore reserves around the world, the deepwater is “virtually the only place” where giant oil and natural gas fields will be found in the future, the managing director of UK-based Douglas-Westwood told a Houston audience Thursday.

Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources Co. has discovered two new natural gas fields in one of its four onshore core areas, the Edwards Trend in South Texas.

Joint federal-state open houses and scoping hearings will be held Wednesday and Thursday at two onshore interconnection points for NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc.’s proposed Clearwater Port offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal project.

BreitBurn Energy Partners LP is building its stake in onshore natural gas properties under an agreement to purchase all of Quicksilver Resources Inc.’s properties in Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky for $750 million in cash and 21.35 million of BreitBurn’s common units. The transaction, expected to close early next month, is 94% weighted to gas, with a total value of about $1.45 billion.

BreitBurn Energy Partners LP is building its stake in onshore natural gas properties under an agreement to purchase all of Quicksilver Resources Inc.’s properties in Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky for $750 million in cash and 21.35 million of Breitburn’s common units. The transaction, expected to close early next month, is 94% weighted to gas, with a total value of about $1.45 billion.

Dominion on Monday announced the sale of nearly all of its U.S. onshore exploration and production (E&P) properties in a two-way deal that will send its Permian Basin, Antrim Shale and Black Warrior Basin operations to Loews Corp. for $4.025 billion and its Rocky Mountain, Gulf Coast, San Juan Basin and South Louisiana assets to XTO Energy for $2.5 billion. Together, the operations held 3.51 Tcfe of proved reserves at year-end 2006.

Dominion has completed two separate sales of U.S. onshore natural gas and oil operations to a new subsidiary of Loews Corp. and to XTO Energy Corp. for a total of $6.5 billion. The two sales were announced in June (see Daily GPI, June 5).

The age-old debate over energy development versus environmental preservation was heard again during a Congressional subcommittee hearing on land use issues and onshore oil and gas leasing and development last Thursday in Washington, DC.

The age-old debate over energy development versus environmental preservation was heard again during a Congressional subcommittee hearing on land use issues and onshore oil and gas leasing and development Thursday in Washington, DC.