Subsequent

Due to the 2010 drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico and subsequent permitting slowdown, U.S. offshore drilling was estimated at 6%, or $8.9 billion, of global offshore oil and natural gas investment of $146 billion last year, according to a new report commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute (API). While the offshore industry is taking it on the chin, onshore drilling activity in the U.S. is on the upswing.

Former Petrohawk Energy Corp. CEO Floyd C. Wilson, who recently created Halcon Resources LLC, is working with a group of investors to buy Tulsa-based Ram Energy Resources Inc., a small-cap explorer that operates primarily in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

January natural gas continued its march towards $3 as recent weather forecasts hint of milder conditions and a subsequent low withdrawal from storage inventories. At the close January had retreated 3.1 cents to $3.096 and February gave up 3.1 cents t $3.143. January crude oil gained 35 cents to $93.88/bbl.

TransCanada Corp. said Monday it will find a new route for its controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline around the water-sensitive Sandhills area in Nebraska, and to that end, it is supporting legislation proposed in the state legislature to develop a new route for the portion of Keystone that would cross the state.

The Interior Department on Monday extended 1,381 deepwater oil and natural gas drilling leases to compensate for delays caused by the Macondo well blowout and subsequent offshore drilling moratorium.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives, which last year approved a natural gas severance tax bill only to see it die in a subsequent lame duck session, will have another chance to implement the tax during its 2011 current session.

The strength of U.S. shale plays was a key driver for increased merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in 2010, and will continue to fuel the industry’s movement toward upstream assets, according to a report issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers USA (PwC).

A recently announced acquisition by California-based water handling company Heckmann Corp. is intended to expand the range of water and wastewater services available to producers in the Haynesville Shale in East Texas, and there are plans to take the business to other shale plays.

Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Rep. Christopher Murphy sent a letter to FERC Monday protesting a portion of Iroquois Gas Transmission System LP’s expansion that would provide increased natural gas supplies to Long Island and New York City.