International news for oil and gas professionals
Despite occasional cold snaps, the US generally has experienced higher-than-average temperatures so far this winter. But during the first week of the New Year, meteorologists at AccuWeather.com forecast waves of frigid air from the North Pole may move south across North America by mid-January, producing much lower temperatures and spurring demand for natural gas and heating oil from the Mississippi Valley to the East Coast.
Congressional Republicans insist their compromise allowing the US to evade widespread tax increases means the fight is finished over taxation in general. Oil and gas companies should expect otherwise.
Countries embarking on shale gas development worldwide stand to benefit from lessons learned in US shale gas operations and water management, according to a recent report from Accenture.
The Kulluk, a conical drilling unit, was safely towed to a harbor on Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska where it will undergo a thorough safety assessment before resuming its journey to its winter harbor in Seattle for repairs and maintenance, said Royal Dutch Shell PLC.
The US Department of the Interior has launched an expedited, high-level assessment of the 2012 offshore drilling program in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, Interior Sec. Ken Salazar announced.
A Transocean Ltd. subsidiary agreed to plead guilty to violating the US Clean Water Act and to pay a total of $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines and penalties for its conduct related to the blowout of the deepwater Macondo well and the explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible.
Construction and operation of the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline along its revised route, with the necessary mitigation measures, could have minimal environmental impacts on Nebraska, the state—s Department of Environmental Quality said on Jan. 4.
The US Senate approved legislation allowing a natural gas pipeline to be built along existing highway right-of-way in Denali National Park. S. 302 would allow a gas line to be buried in the shoulder of the Parks Highway for the 7 miles that the road extends through the national park, sponsor Lisa Murkowski (R-Alas.) noted.
American Petrochemical & Fuel Manufacturers Pres. Charles T. Drevna made his primary 2013 New Year—s resolution early, and quickly started to keep it.
The US petroleum industry is making substantial contributions to improve the nation—s economic and energy security, and stands ready to do more in 2013, American Petroleum Institute Pres. Jack N. Gerard said in his annual State of American Energy Address.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission forcefully responded to the American Petroleum Institute, US Chamber of Commerce, and other groups— legal challenge of its disclosure requirement for foreign operations of US oil and gas companies.
The oil market faces new instability as the Jan. 10 inauguration approaches of newly reelected but apparently ailing President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
