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International news for oil and gas professionals

Authorizing US LNG exports would send positive signals not just to producers, but also to investors who would in turn finance new transportation systems, experts suggested at a conference on American energy exports.

A group of US Midcontinent mayors and the American Petroleum Institute separately urged the US Department of Energy to authorize LNG exports.

The US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's new chairman raised questions about an independent study the US Department of Energy is using to determine whether applications to export LNG are in the national interest.

A Maryland circuit court rejected the Sierra Club's argument that a 2005 agreement allowing construction of a natural gas import terminal at Cove Point does not allow using it to export LNG.

US President Barack Obama called for renewed efforts to address climate change and develop alternative energy in his 2013 inaugural address. He did so in the context of urging Americans to work together and pursue important national goals as previous generations did.

When Ken Salazar arrived at the US Department of the Interior in early 2009, there were comparisons to a sheriff of the Old West, determined to clean things up and run the bad guys out of town. He made it clear that parts of Interior troubled him, and promised reforms.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman (R) notified US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton that he has approved the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline's new route across the state.

The US Bureau of Land Management withdrew its proposed hydraulic fracturing regulations and announced that a new draft will be prepared during this year's first quarter.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. said it intends to drill a minimum of four Utica test wells in Ohio this year. If results are similar to those experienced by offset operators in the area, then further development on the leasehold position is planned later in the year.

Linc Energy Ltd., Brisbane, will seek international partners with expertise and funding to explore and develop shale oil potential in the Arckaringa basin in South Australia, where consulting engineers identified formations that have total organic carbon, permeability, porosity, and thicknesses that compare favorably to the Bakken and Eagle Ford in the US.

North Sea Midstream Partners, recently formed by ArcLight Capital Partners LLC, Boston, has purchased Teesside Gas Processing Plant Ltd. (TGPP) from a consortium of Deutsche Bank, private US equity investor MatlinPatterson, and Carval, a division of the Cargill Group.