Permitting

Oil and natural gas permitting in the Lower 48 fell by double-digits in November from a month earlier, driven by losses in the Permian Basin, according to Evercore ISI. The analyst firm, which each month tracks state and federal permitting, said a total of 2,565 permits were issued in November, down by 11% month/month (m/m). …

Venture Global LNG Inc. has requested permission from FERC to bring three additional liquefaction blocks online at its Calcasieu Pass facility in Louisiana as part of the nearly two-year long commissioning process. The Virginia-based liquefied natural gas exporter in a recent filing told Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff that it was ready to place blocks…

FERC is making “significant strides” to address energy infrastructure permitting, considered essential to the nation’s security, according to Acting Chairman Willie Phillips.  Addressing a recent Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, Phillips and his fellow commissioners answered questions about the challenges facing the nation’s energy systems. Phillips also addressed the contentious issue of reforming…

Weak natural gas prices and inflation are likely to be big topics as North American producers and midstream operators unveil their quarterly results in the coming weeks. SLB Ltd., which has its fingers on the pulse of exploration and production (E&P) customers, has revised its North American outlook for 2023 because of languishing natural gas…

Nearly 3,000 permits were issued in February to explore for U.S. oil and gas, a slight increase from January but down nearly 9% from a year ago, according to state and federal data. Evercore ISI, which tracks oil and gas permitting data, said 2,929 permits gained approval in February, up by 211 or 8% from…

A trio of U.S. trade organizations led by the American Petroleum Institute (API) is again calling on the Biden administration to engage forcefully with Mexico over the latter’s energy policies, which the groups say give preferential treatment to Mexico’s state-owned producers of hydrocarbons and electricity. In a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, API…

Equitrans Midstream Corp.’s (EQM) long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) may gain some necessary permits within the next few months, “which will allow us then to bring MVP into service in 2023,” said CEO Thomas Karam.  EQM is expecting the biological opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by next Tuesday, “and based on the…

President Biden, who has championed a zero-carbon emissions future, on Tuesday acknowledged that the United States would need oil and natural gas for at least another decade. However, his silence on exploration and production permitting reform was deafening for some politicos and industry groups. The comments were not part of the prepared remarks in the…

August natural gas and oil permitting across the Lower 48 reversed course from July, particularly in the Permian Basin, but activity still was higher than a year ago, according to data compiled by Evercore ISI. New well permitting declined in August by 3,106 month/month (m/m). Still, the tally last month was 27% higher than in…