Planned

Kitimat, a coastal community in northwestern British Columbia (BC), which has its roots as a company town planned and built in the 1950s by the Aluminum Co. of Canada, is quickly becoming the company town for liquefied natural gas (LNG). Royal Dutch Shell plc on Thursday confirmed that it has purchased an marine import terminal there and now is exploring — with its Asian partners — its potential as an LNG export facility.

Kitimat, just in from the coast in northwestern British Columbia (BC), which has its roots as a company town planned and built in the 1950s by the Aluminum Co. of Canada, is quickly becoming the company town for liquefied natural gas (LNG). Royal Dutch Shell plc on Thursday confirmed that it has purchased an marine import terminal there and now is exploring — with its Asian partners — its potential as an LNG export facility.

CONSOL Energy Inc.’s natural gas division said Thursday it produced a record 40.4 Bcf in 3Q2011, or nearly 13% more than the 35.8 Bcf produced in the year-ago period. Separately, Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. also reported strong results in Appalachia, but it said gas sales have been constrained because of “volume limitations” in some midstream infrastructure.

Voters in New York still support natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale by a thin margin, 45-41%, because they believe the economic benefits outweigh environmental concerns, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll.

Government officials, environmentalists and industry representatives carried the debate on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to California’s south-central coast last Thursday in Santa Barbara County, and while there was no across-the-board agreement, local elected officials did voice surprise that fracking is a potential issue in their county where offshore oil/gas development has had a long-standing love-hate relationship with residents.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) plans to hold a special meeting on Oct. 21 to act on draft natural gas drilling regulations, according to Executive Director Carol R. Collier. The proposed regulations would protect water resources of the Delaware River Basin when gas projects are developed and in operation. The DRBC received close to 69,000 comments on the draft rules, which originally were published in December (see Shale Daily, Dec. 10, 2010). The meeting, open to the public, is to be held from 1-3 p.m. in the Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive, Trenton, NJ. A public hearing at the meeting is not planned.

ExxonMobil Corp. and Russia’s OAO Rosneft said Tuesday they have forged an agreement to jointly explore and develop projects in North America, including the tight oilfields of Texas and the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), as well as in Russia and other countries around the world. The two oil giants also agreed to share technology in the wide-ranging transaction.

Alaskans would benefit most from a joint project to build the planned 4.5 Bcf/d pipeline from the North Slope to ship natural gas south to Canada and the Lower 48 states along with a spur distribution line to serve southern Alaska, but the state is going to have to chip in with considerable financial support, according to a federal official.

Alaskans would benefit most from a joint project to build the planned 4.5 Bcf/d pipeline from the North Slope to ship natural gas south to Canada and the Lower 48 states along with a spur distribution line to serve southern Alaska, but the state is going to have to chip in with considerable financial support, according to a federal official.