Priority

BP plc CEO Bob Dudley said Tuesday his top priority is to continue to stabilize the company one year on after the Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). In other words, he said, don’t look for the company to spin off its refinery operations anytime soon.

Removing a moratorium on new drilling in Pennsylvania state forests is not a priority, the acting secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) told a state Senate committee during confirmation hearings earlier this month.

Unconventional plays in North America will be ConocoPhillips’ priority going forward, with the focus on fields rich in liquids and oil, CFO Jeff Sheets said Wednesday.

RPM Energy LLC and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) have formed RPM Energy Partners LP to target joint venture opportunities with exploration and production companies in unconventional plays. They offer RPM’s expertise and KKR’s deep pockets.

Producers and large natural gas consumers are banking on the Senate making financial regulatory reform a priority when it returns this month, and on the final legislative product mirroring the House bill passed in mid-December, which exempted “end-users” and commercial traders who use over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives to hedge commercial risk from being centrally cleared and traded on regulated exchanges (see Daily GPI, Dec. 14, 2009).

Acknowledging that the construction of an in-state natural gas pipeline takes priority over the development of a larger pipeline to serve the Lower 48, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has submitted two pieces of legislation to the state House and Senate rules committees as part of an plan to jump-start a pipeline that would tap North Slope supplies and deliver them to the southern region of the state.

Acknowledging that the construction of an in-state natural gas pipeline takes priority over the development of a larger pipeline to serve the Lower 48 states, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has submitted two pieces of legislation to the state House and Senate rules committees as part of an action plan to jump-start a pipeline that would tap North Slope supplies and deliver them to the southern region of the state.

The Interior Department and its policies are a high priority of President Obama, said Michelle Obama Monday, who reportedly was the first First Lady to drop in at the agency since Eleanor Roosevelt.

The manufacture of synthetic gas is rising on the Alberta government’s priority list of industrial research projects as, not least, a productive way to dispose of an environmental byproduct of the oilsands.