Political

The post-Japan earthquake/tsunami political aftershocks continue in California with the state’s two major coastal nuclear generating plants receiving increased scrutiny from elected and regulatory officials even as utility operators and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) assure the public that the plants are safe.

North American upstream companies affected by political upheaval in North Africa and the Middle East should be able to manage cash flow implications, Fitch Ratings said in a report. Higher crude price realizations, insurance recoveries and capital expenditure reductions should offset any cash flow issues, the report said. U.S.-based integrated companies with exposure are Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil Corp. and Marathon Oil Corp. Independents include Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Apache Corp., Hess Corp., Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Pioneer Natural Resources Co. In addition, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Nexen Inc., Suncor Energy Inc. and Murphy Oil Corp. have operations in the region, Fitch said.

The day before the Pittsburgh City Council voted to prohibit natural gas drilling there (see Shale Daily, Nov. 17), commissioners in South Fayette Township, on Pittsburgh’s southwestern edge, voted to ban drilling in conservation areas and all residential zones, including suburban communities and rural farmland.

Natural gas and oil prices are no longer connected, and strong gas supplies, the anticipation of warmer winters and a weak economy provide little evidence that prices will reconnect in the near future, according to Ernst & Young (E&Y). However, regulatory pressure to decrease carbon emissions could lift gas demand and prices, E&Y said Monday in its 4Q2009 outlook for the energy industry.

Drilling off the coast of Virginia is shaping up to be a political hot potato in the state’s gubernatorial race, with the presumptive Republican candidate urging the Interior Department to proceed full speed ahead with a scheduled 2011 offshore lease sale while the Democratic candidates are anti-offshore drilling and pro-green energy.

Drilling off the coast of Virginia is shaping up to be a political hot potato in the state’s gubernatorial race, with the presumptive Republican candidate urging the Interior Department to proceed full speed ahead with a scheduled 2011 offshore lease sale while the Democratic candidates are anti-offshore drilling and pro-green energy.

President Bush handed the incoming Obama administration a political conundrum Friday as the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) issued a draft five-year plan to allow oil and natural gas leasing in long-banned areas offshore. Obama, who previously voiced support for “responsible drilling” now has to decide whether to allow the draft plan to move forward, or explain how reinstating a decades-old moratorium would help the United States gain its independence from foreign energy supplies.

President Bush handed the incoming Obama administration a political conundrum Friday as the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) issued a draft five-year plan to allow oil and natural gas leasing in long-banned areas offshore. Obama, who previously voiced support for “responsible drilling” now has to decide whether to allow the draft plan to move forward, or explain how reinstating a decades-old moratorium would help the United States gain its independence from foreign energy supplies.

Flexing their political clout in the new Congress, Democrats have reintroduced a bill to designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as wilderness, permanently barring oil and natural gas drilling in the area.