Shaping

Next year already is shaping up as another growth spurt for natural gas as a transportation fuel, based on recent announcements. American Honda will be coming off a record sales year for its compressed natural gas (CNG) Civic models, which will have added styling and features next year, but those 2013 cars will not be on the market until all of the 2012 CNG Civics are sold, the company said at the end of November. Ford F-450 and F-550 trucks are being converted for utility and other fleet work by Seattle, WA-based World CNG and by Vancouver, BC-based Westport Innovations. World is providing dedicated CNG conversions and new F-550 Ford trucks, using a bodymaker, Caseco Manufacturing and its Oklahoma City-based installation partner, Clear Sky CNG. Westport said by mid-2013 it will have converted F-450 and F-550 CNG bifuel trucks outfitted at its Kentucky Integration Center, a Ford-qualified NGV modifier. Separately, the city of El Paso, TX, has contracted with Mansfield Gas Equipment Systems to design, build and operate three CNG fueling stations on city property to fuel city-owned and leased vehicles.

Global climate change is shaping up to be a front-burner legislative issue in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which slammed into the Northeast coastline last week with such fury that it destroyed homes and buildings, and left millions in the dark (see related story).

Along the North American West Coast, the prospective liquefied natural gas (LNG) export business is shaping up as a Canadian-U.S. tussle, with the provincial government in British Columbia (BC) and others in western Canada pushing multiple export sites, compared to the lone U.S. project, Jordan Cove, along the Oregon coast at Coos Bay.

The impact of Marcellus Shale drilling on air quality is shaping up to be a major issue this year.

The impact of Marcellus Shale drilling on air quality is shaping up to be a major issue this year.

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.

The 2008 retirement of veteran Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), a key figure in shaping energy policy over the years, will be a major loss to the oil and natural gas industries.

The 2008 retirement of veteran Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), a key figure in shaping energy policy over the years, will be a major loss to the oil and natural gas industries.