Preliminary

The Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Oregon has won preliminary federal export approvals, but has drawn the ire of the state attorney general’s office. Backers expressed confidence the project is still on a positive track to be a combination import-export facility.

Natural gas has been and will continue to be a major California energy supply source, according to a preliminary draft of the state’s Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR). Nevertheless, gas applications are not without uncertainties and fallout from stepped-up pipeline regulatory scrutiny in the wake of last year’s San Bruno pipeline explosion.

Natural gas has been and will continue to be a major California energy supply source, according to a preliminary draft of the state’s Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR). Nevertheless, gas applications are not without uncertainties and fallout from stepped-up pipeline regulatory scrutiny in the wake of last year’s San Bruno pipeline explosion.

Early results, albeit preliminary and limited, indicate that the Niobrara play in southeast Wyoming is slow in coming to fruition, according to the state’s top oil/gas exploration and production official.

BP plc has received preliminary approval from federal regulators to drill four deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico’s (GOM) Keathley Canyon, its first offshore permit approval since the Macondo well blowout in April 2010.

As Ohio awaits results of preliminary Utica Shale wells, industry leaders told an audience in Columbus last week that the play, if successful, could revive the state’s manufacturing sector.

DCP Midstream LLC and Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) have made preliminary agreements for Oxy’s Occidental Chemical Corp. to provide right-of-way for DCP Midstream’s Sandhills Pipeline LLC and for DCP Midstream to provide a supply option for a proposed Oxy natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionator in Ingleside, TX. The agreement will provide Sandhills with about 14 miles of right-of-way and access to the Mont Belvieu, TX, fractionation complex. DCP Midstream is in the process of securing the remaining right-of-way and environmental permits for the pipeline. The 70-mile system will transport Y-grade NGLs from gas plants in the Permian Basin and South Texas to the various fractionator facilities along the Gulf Coast, along with the Mont Belvieu NGL hub (see Daily GPI, June 10).

In a recent preliminary report, the U.S. Coast Guard and Interior Department concluded that Transocean Ltd., the owner of the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig, and its crew largely contributed to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico a year ago.

In a preliminary report released Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard and Interior Department concluded that Houston-based Transocean Ltd., the owner of the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig, and its crew largely contributed to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico a year ago.