Regulatory

Mexico’s natural gas market will continue its modernization and expansion in 2024, regardless of who wins the presidential election on June 2. Natural gas demand in Mexico, driven by the power sector, continues to rise. Power demand was up by around 440 MMcf/d in 2023 to 4.603 Bcf/d, according to Wood Mackenzie data. Natural gas…

Mexico’s state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) plans to substantially increase downstream production of refined products and fertilizer this year, according to CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza.  Romero did not offer projections for upstream oil and natural gas production during a presentation on Thursday (Jan. 4) at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s morning press conference. This…

ExxonMobil is warning that it expects to have a one-time writedown of $2.5 billion in 4Q2023 for the reduced value of some upstream assets in California, similar to a one-time quarterly impairment expected by Chevron Corp. The one-time impairment would be for the idled Santa Ynez Unit (SYU) and associated oil and gas facilities, ExxonMobil…

As policies incentivizing clean energy continue to mount, renewable natural gas (RNG) is poised for more growth, the scale of which could depend on the outcome of state and federal legislation.  The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) launched investments into alternative fuels, including RNG, in part because of the expansion of investment tax credits…

Editor’s Note: NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index, a leader tracking Mexico natural gas market reform, is offering the following column by Eduardo Prud’homme as part of a regular series on understanding this process. The Comisión Reguladora de Energía (CRE) has given Cenagas authorization for a new list of rates for Mexico’s national pipeline system known…

A multi-year effort to pause oil and natural gas development across a portion of Colorado’s Western Slope may soon be finalized, according to federal officials. A draft environmental assessment (DEA) issued in December by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) found there would be “no significant impact” if federal mineral leasing was withdrawn for 20 years…

A divided appeals court on Tuesday affirmed its ruling that the first natural gas ban enacted in the United States, in Berkeley, CA, is preempted by federal law, setting the stage for more legal fights across the country. In a 65-page amended opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit threw out Berkeley’s…

Shell plc is looking to intervene in a complaint against Venture Global LNG Inc. one of its fellow contract holders, BP plc, filed with FERC late last year. In December, BP filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requesting it compel Virginia-based Venture Global to release confidential information about the extended commissioning process…

Chevron Corp.’s upstream oil and natural gas assets are set to take a big one-time hit in the fourth quarter results, primarily because of “continuing regulatory challenges” in California, where the integrated major is headquartered.  The San Ramon-based producer on Tuesday detailed the upstream impairments in a Securities and Exchange Commission Form 8-K filing.  The…