International news for oil and gas professionals
Oil and gas companies often come in for rough handling when the general public weighs in on them.
Political discussion in the US has become so polarized that questions about regulation evoke countercharges about the questioners' alleged dislike of government. Yet it's possible to like government in principle while disliking unbridled governance in practice.
The US may need to reconfigure several economic, military, and other strategies as well as energy policies in response to rising East Asian oil and gas demand, experts agreed at a Sept. 20 forum.
The US potentially could exploit East Asia's hunger for LNG, but it will have to move quickly, experts suggested at a Sept. 20 forum.
Regularly scheduled reviews of offshore oil and gas safety and environmental standards and practices could help assure that the complacency prevalent before the 2010 Macondo deepwater well blowout and subsequent oil spill doesn't resurface, an environmental organization official suggested.
The gloves came off on Sept. 25 when Earthworks Action and other environmental organizations directly attacked state oil and gas regulators in a new report.
A federal judge in Brooklyn dismissed a lawsuit filed by New York Atty. Gen. Eric T. Schneiderman seeking a court-ordered comprehensive environmental analysis before the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) issues anticipated regulations that would cover hydraulic fracturing in the watershed.
The US Geological Survey has released its initial findings after taking samples taken from one of two deep monitoring water well outside Pavillion, Wyo., where some residents complained about drinking water, suggesting natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing contaminated certain water wells.
Sanchez Energy Corp., Houston, will accelerate its 2012-13 drilling program in the Eagle Ford shale play, in which it holds 95,000 net acres in the volatile oil, black oil, and gas-condensate windows, with $144.6 million in proceeds from a private placement of preferred stock.
Double Eagle Petroleum Co., Denver, and Warren Resources Inc., New York, the two major owners of the Spyglass Hill and Catalina units in the Atlantic Rim of the Washakie basin in Wyoming, have exercised preferential rights to acquire additional working interest in the units from a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.
Ineos Europe AG, Switzerland, has agreed to ship ethane out of the Marcellus area in western Pennsylvania to Europe through the Sunoco Logistics LP-operated Mariner East pipeline for use in Ineos's European crackers.
The Brazilian Superior Court partially suspended a preliminary injunction order that required drilling contractor Transocean Ltd. to stop operating in Brazil within 30 days. Consequently, Transocean can continue operations except at Frade oil field, which was the site of an oil seep in November 2011.
Many people never would cheat to make easy money. Regulation must account for the people who would and do.
