Released

A Bureau of Land Management (BLM) field office in southwestern Colorado has released a preliminary environmental assessment calling for 21 parcels and 24,324 acres to be included in an upcoming natural gas lease sale. The draft assessment pared an initial proposal to include 22 parcels and up to 29,811 acres, mostly in Gunnison County, CO, in the auction, which is scheduled to be held Aug. 9. Under the BLM program, obtaining the leases is the first part of a multi-step process in which each lease holder would have to obtain a drilling permit, which would entail another environmental assessment of the individual drilling plans for each lease. It is all part of BLM’s master development plan and its use of multi-well development to help manage federal lease development. Before any exploration and development work can start, however, there will be site-specific reviews and analysis completed as called for under the National Environmental Policy Act, BLM officials said.

The Interior Department Wednesday released a draft programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) for seismic exploration in the Mid- and South Atlantic Planning Areas, the first step toward a survey of the oil and natural gas potential off the East Coast. However, the offshore industry was far from hopeful that the seismic survey would lead to a lease sale in the Atlantic in the near term.

Exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) would have a negligible impact on domestic gas supply and prices in the future, according to a position paper released by a major interstate gas pipeline group last week. The authors urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to continue its existing framework for review of requests to export LNG, by noting that exports would contribute to ongoing development of domestic resources and price stability.

Exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) would have a negligible impact on domestic gas supply and prices in the future, according to a position paper released by a major interstate gas pipeline group Wednesday. The authors urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to continue its existing framework for review of requests to export LNG, by noting that exports would contribute to ongoing development of domestic resources and price stability.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead wrote the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lisa Jackson, on Monday complaining that his state has yet to get a full response from EPA to questions it raised about the federal agency’s two test wells near Pavillion, WY.

In a report released Tuesday, President Obama’s jobs council called for the government to provide more access to oil, natural gas and coal on federal lands, something that the Obama administration has opposed.

North Dakota passed another oil production milestone in November, averaging more than a half-million b/d, according to preliminary data released Tuesday by the state Industrial Commission.

Natural gas forward market prices are signaling a continuation of low natural gas prices through 2012, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in an analysis released Thursday.

An equipment failure at a deepwater Gulf of Mexico drilling platform contracted by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell plc released about 319 barrels of biodegradable drilling mud and water last weekend before being contained, according to a report filed with the National Response Center (NRC).