Processed

Natural gas byproducts now being processed at a nearby plant in Alberta for Shell Canada Ltd.’s refinery have reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and given the company a competitive edge, officials said Thursday.

North Dakota continues to set all-time records for oil and gas production based on the most recent statistics available as of the end of October, according to Lynn Helms, director of the state Industrial Commission’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR). He noted that the oil and gas industry still plans to invest more than $3 billion in the state through 2013.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) budget and the number of drilling permits processed both have increased, but the volume of protests against land development has far outstripped those gains, Rebecca Watson, assistant secretary of the Interior for land and minerals management, said in a speech to western producers.

Excelerate Energy LP said Monday it has signed a sales agreement with ChevronTexaco Natural Gas to market regasified liquefied natural gas (LNG) that will be processed through Excelerate’s Gulf Gateway terminal, the world’s first offshore LNG terminal in the Gulf of Mexico. The inaugural cargo of 3 Bcf of LNG is expected to arrive at Gulf Gateway later this week, a company spokesman noted.