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Three years after the Macondo well blowout and resulting drilling moratorium, oil and gas exploration has been slowly but surely returning to the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). On Wednesday Royal Dutch Shell plc reported a successful exploratory well at Vicksburg in the deepwater GOM.

Backed by Germany’s government, three global firms have begun a three-year project that will attempt to make the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) into a useful component of various industrial processes, starting with abundant natural gas supplies as a feedstock.

Former FBI Director Louis Freeh was appointed Tuesday as a special master to investigate apparent misconduct by one of the lawyers who helped manage BP plc’s $7.8 billion settlement fund with Gulf Coast plaintiffs over the deepwater Macondo well blowout in April 2010.

Physical natural gas prices on average gained a penny Tuesday with traders seeing no immediate need to make purchases during a holiday-muted trading week. Upper Midwest points added a couple of cents, and West Coast citygate prices were lower as forecasts of power demand were tempered. At the close, August futures were up 7.7 cents to $3.654 and September had added 7.8 cents to $3.651. August crude oil rose $1.61 to $99.60/bbl.

As part of President Obama’s climate action plan, the Department of Energy Tuesday announced a draft $8 billion loan guarantee solicitation for the development of advanced technologies aimed at avoiding and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil fuels.

Some time ago, the North American shale gas surprise gathered enough momentum to turn liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers bound for the United States around, sparking a frenzy to construct liquefaction and export capacity on U.S. and Canadian shores. A “big flood” of LNG is on its way in the next several years, an industry veteran told NGI.

Shares of Linn Energy LLC and LinnCo LLC took a tumble Tuesday after the companies disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was looking into details of LinnCo’s planned merger with Berry Petroleum Co.

Her resignation from the Commission does not come as a surprise as she informed President Obama in January that she planned to leave the CFTC before her term ended (see Daily GPI, Jan. 28). Asked where she intended to go after the CFTC, Sommers told NGI, “I don’t know. I have not started looking for my next opportunity yet.”

The Deep Panuke natural gas production facility offshore Nova Scotia is “closer to natural gas production but not quite there yet,” an Encana Corp. spokeswoman said Tuesday.