Table of Contents

International news for oil and gas professionals

Public acceptance of unconventional natural gas development is a critical issue, and the ability to manage risks must be demonstrated, the Center for Strategic & International Studies said in a recent report.

A collaboration involving Utah's Division of Air Quality, county governments in eastern Utah, researchers from Utah State University, and the Western Energy Alliance has produced the first study of wintertime ozone formation conditions and characteristics in the Uinta basin.

The two US senators from different political parties clearly were determined to preserve their committee's bipartisan tradition in 2013.

Canadians are ready to defend the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline project on a greenhouse gas reduction basis now that opponents have shifted their arguments to that arena, a TransCanada Corp. executive said.

The US Government Accountability Office—which has identified areas it believes pose a high risk to federal government operations every 2 years since the early 1990s—added climate change to its list for the first time.

Governors of three US East Coast states asked US Sec. of the Interior nominee Sally Jewell to support offshore energy resource development off their respective states' coasts.

The oil and gas industry so far has avoided any drastic changes in US regulation or taxation, but the risk of change still exists, prompting unconventional asset buyers and sellers to monitor the direction of federal tax and fiscal policy, said the Deloitte yearend 2012 report on mergers and acquisitions.

Global demand for petroleum refining, chemical synthesis, and polymerization catalysts will rise 5.8%/year to $19.5 billion in 2016, according to World Catalysts, a new study from the Freedonia Group Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.