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.

Policies that encourage responsible development of more US oil and gas could significantly help the nation address its serious federal budget deficit and unemployment problems, US Chamber of Commerce Pres. Thomas J. Donohue said.

Progress Energy Canada Ltd. has selected TransCanada Corp. to design, build, own, and operate the proposed 470-mile Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project.

Southern Pacific Resources Corp. said rail shipments have begun of diluted bitumen (dilbit) produced at its STP-McKay thermal oil sands project in Alberta to a terminal in Mississippi as production at the project ramps up (OGJ Online, Oct. 11, 2012).

The Association of Oil Pipelines (AOPL) asked the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Jan. 7 to fix a developing dispute that the trade association says threatens pipelines’ ability to get financing for new construction.

A consortium of companies developing natural gas liquefaction to handle production off Mozambique has awarded a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract to a joint venture of Fluor Corp., Irving, Tex., and Japan’s JGC Corp.

Anticipated US natural gas exports are expected to provide economic benefits to gas importing countries but probably will not trigger a significant rise in US gas prices, said a report released by Deloitte’s Center for Energy Solutions.

Phillips 66 signed a 5-year contract with Global Partners LP under which Global will use its rail loading, logistics, and transportation network to deliver crude oil from the Bakken formation of North Dakota to the Phillips 66 Bayway refinery in New Jersey.

Statoil and partners have submitted plans for development of deepwater Aasta Hansteen natural gas and condensate field offshore Norway and for an affiliated pipeline that will make further exploration and development possible in the northern Norwegian Sea (OGJ Online, July 13, 2012).

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.