A decision due early next year from the US Department of State forces the world's largest oil-consuming country to look at energy with uncharacteristic realism.
The US Supreme Court plans to address legal questions with potential to expose emitters of greenhouse gases to huge liability for harm from natural phenomena.
As was generally expected, oil ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries made no official production changes during their brief Dec. 11 session in Quito, Ecuador.
The proposed Keystone crude oil pipeline expansion would provide an estimated $100-600 million/year of net economic benefits from improved transportation and processing efficiencies in addition to an immediate boost in construction employment, a new Energy Policy Research Foundation Inc. (EPRINC) study concluded.
The American Petroleum Institute is preparing a major grassroots and advertising campaign to support the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline project, an API official disclosed.
Emphasizing that the administration of US President Barack Obama remains committed to developing federal offshore oil and gas resources, Interior Sec. Ken Salazar said on Dec. 1 that Atlantic Ocean and eastern Gulf of Mexico areas will be excluded from the 2012-17 Outer Continental Shelf 5-year leasing program.
The American Petroleum Institute announced that it supports the state-based voluntary chemical registry that is being jointly developed by the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission.
The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) stepped forcefully into the Marcellus shale gas discussions on Dec. 9 with proposed regulations covering all gas development projects regardless of their targeted geologic formation.
US National Transportation Safety Board investigators have initially found longitudinal weld variations in pipe recovered following the Sept. 9 explosion on a San Bruno, Calif., natural gas gathering system, NTSB announced.
Colombia's National Planning Department let a contract to Petroleum Development Consultants (PDC), London, to develop the model contract and technical regulations for the development of the country's unconventional resources.
Japan's oil and gas industry got a boost last week when a five-company consortium led by JGC Corp. received exclusive negotiating rights to build a refinery in Vietnam.
Brazil's Petroleo Brazileiro SA (Petrobras) has taken exception to earlier claims by BG Group concerning the estimated volumes of recoverable oil equivalent, as well as the capital and production costs of the Tupi and Guara fields in the Santos basin off Brazil.
