The American Petroleum Institute and two Republican US senators separately asked the Environmental Protection Agency to address renewable identification number (RIN) costs, which have jumped by 1,400% since the beginning of 2012.

The Obama administration will need to open more onshore and offshore federal acreage to oil and gas development if it expects a proposed energy security research trust fund to work, experts agreed during a discussion of the concept Securing America’s Future Energy originally offered as part of its proposed national energy security strategy on Dec. 3, 2012.

The US Bureau of Land Management is seeking public comments on an environmental assessment of EOG Resources Inc.’s proposed liquids gathering system at the independent producer’s Natural Buttes natural gas leases in eastern Utah.

Existing federal regulations, many of which mandate specific fuels and restrict refining capacity additions, make continued US gasoline price volatility very likely, a Mar. 15 report from Energy Policy Research Foundation Inc. (EPRINC) suggested.

Technological breakthroughs in the last few years have significantly improved the US energy situation, but more needs to be done, US President Barack Obama said on Mar. 15. He specifically called for creation of an Energy Security Trust to develop and deploy transportation alternatives that would be funded by federal crude oil leasing revenue.

China faces significant geologic, development, transportation, and bureaucratic challenges if it expects to fully exploit its shale gas resources, even though they’re probably greater than those in the US, an IHS CERA expert said.

US Sens. John Hoeven (R-ND) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said they will introduce legislation to bypass the White House and federally approve the proposed Keystone crude oil pipeline’s cross-border permit. Their Mar. 14 announcement came a week after House Energy and Commerce Committee members released a similar proposal (OGJ Online Mar. 11, 2013).

Shell Offshore Co. will have to develop a comprehensive operations management program—including closer oversight of its contractors—before it can resume Alaskan Arctic offshore exploration activities, US Sec. of the Interior Ken Salazar said.

Implementing the Trans-Border Hydrocarbons Agreement (TBHA) with Mexico should be as high a priority for the administration of US President Barack Obama as issuing a final decision on a cross-border permit for the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline from Canada, members of a US House Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee asserted.

Venezuela’s national oil company was so badly damaged during Hugo Chavez’s regime that it will need to be replaced, a founding board member of Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) declared.

The American Petroleum Institute plans to launch a television and online video advertising campaign to remind members of Congress that passing punitive oil and gas taxes to reduce the federal deficit would be short-sighted and counterproductive in the long run.

Asian-Pacific nations can be expected to intensify their efforts to improve their energy security as North America achieves that goal, a senior researcher at China’s Energy Research Institute said. Yang Yufeng made that observation as he described conclusions Chinese policymakers reached as they prepared the country’s first Energy Outlook last year.