Wednesday

Newly installed Interior Secretary Sally Jewell Wednesday announced that more than 21 million acres will be offered offshore Texas in the Western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) in a federal lease sale in August for oil and natural gas exploration and development.

General Electric unit GE Oil & Gas Wednesday said it has been awarded contracts to supply natural gas compression trains for Dominion Cove Point’s liquefaction project in Lusby, MD, which would give the existing import terminal export capability.

In his long-awaited $3.77 trillion budget for fiscal year (FY) 2014 unveiled last Wednesday and forwarded to Congress, President Obama again sought to repeal tax breaks for oil and natural gas producers. He also proposed tacking on new fees and increasing oil and gas royalties to fund renewable fuel development, as well as elevating spending for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

As part of a current fiscal year $90 million program, the California Energy Commission (CEC) on Wednesday awarded two more grants totaling nearly $700,000 to help advance alternative fuel and vehicle technology throughout the state. One grant ($278,000) went to a Southern California school district in Upland, CA, to update the district’s compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling facility to expand its fleet of CNG-powered buses. A second award ($400,000) went to Greenkraft Inc., an automotive manufacturer in Anaheim, CA, to use as buy-down incentives on the purchase of 40 medium-duty propane trucks. These incentives help pay the difference between alternative fuel vehicles and conventional ones. They are available only for new natural gas- and propane-powered vehicles that meet all of the emissions requirements of the California Air Resources Board. The CEC administers the state’s “Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program,” created by the state legislature in AB 118 a few years ago.

In his long-awaited $3.77 trillion budget for fiscal year (FY) 2014 unveiled on Wednesday and forwarded to Congress, President Obama again sought to repeal tax breaks for oil and natural gas producers. He also proposed tacking on new fees and increasing oil and gas royalties to fund renewable fuel development.

The Senate approved President Obama’s nomination of Sally Jewell as Interior secretary Wednesday by an 87-11 vote.

ConocoPhillips on Wednesday put on hold plans to explore Alaska’s Chukchi Sea in 2014, “given the uncertainties of evolving federal regulatory requirements and operational permitting standards.”

President Obama’s $3.77 trillion budget for fiscal year (FY) 2014, unveiled Wednesday, for the fourth time seeks to repeal tax breaks for oil and natural gas producers. It also would tack on new fees for operations on federal lands and increase oil and gas royalties to fund renewable fuel development.

Two key legislators in the Pennsylvania General Assembly introduced a pair of bills on Wednesday designed to make natural gas service available to more consumers in the state.