US President Donald Trump said he intends to nominate acting US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew R. Wheeler as the agency’s administrator. The announcement came during a Nov. 16 Medal of Freedom ceremony at the White House attended by Wheeler and other administration officials. Source: News
Aethon III to buy QEP Resources’ Northwest Louisiana gas assets
Aethon III, a unit of Dallas private investment firm Aethon Energy Management LLC, agreed to buy Haynesville-Cotton Valley natural gas assets from QEP Resources Inc. of Denver. QEP Pres. and Chief Executive Officer Chuck Stanley said the pending $735-million sale is “an important next step in our process of becoming a Permian pure-play company.” Source: […]
Cimarex to buy Resolute Energy for $1.6 billion
Cimarex Energy Co., Denver, agreed to acquire Resolute Energy Corp. in a cash-stock transaction worth a total of $1.6 billion, including $710 million of Resolute’s long-term debt. Thomas E. Jorden, Cimarex chairman, president, and chief executive officer, said the acquisition fits the company’s existing Reeves County, Tex., position in the Permian basin. Source: News
IAGC’s new web site outlines need for Atlantic OCS leasing reforms
The International Association of Geophysical Contractors launched a web site on Nov. 16 making a case for reforms in the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act to remove bureaucratic barriers to federal oil and gas leasing along the Mid-Atlantic US Outer Continental Shelf. The web site identifies specific MMPA flaws, including overlapping and burdensome regulations, lack […]
FERC issues draft EISs for LNG export projects
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued draft environmental impact statements (EIS) for two proposed LNG export operations: one for Eagle LNG Partners’ project near Jacksonville, Fla., and another for Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Gulf Liquefaction Project in Jackson County, Miss. Source: News
Novatek reports gas-condensate discovery
Novatek-Yurkharovneftegas discovered natural gas in the Nyakhartinskiy license area of Russia’s Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area. The PO-1 exploration well flowed more than 300,000 cu m/day of natural gas and condensate from Lower Cretaceous sediments, according to Novatek, of which the operator is a wholly owned subsidiary. Source: News
TransGlobe to develop oil strike in Egypt
TransGlobe Energy plans to develop an oil discovery made by its South Ghazalat (SGZ) 6X exploration well in Egypt’s Western Desert. During tests, the well flowed at a combined rate of 3,840 b/d of light oil from Late Cretaceous Upper and Lower Bahariya intervals. Source: News
MARKET WATCH: NYMEX oil prices close flat after volatile week
Light, sweet crude oil prices settled Nov. 16 at $56.46/bbl, unchanged from the previous day and having stabilized to end a week of steep price swings, including one day in which the crude price fell more than $4/bbl on both the New York and London markets. Source: News
Watching Government: EPA on upstream emissions
Representatives from the oil and gas industry clearly were in the minority when the US Environmental Protection Agency held its Nov. 14 public meeting in Denver about possibly changing New Source Performance Standards that were enacted in 2016. Source: News
Gassco restarting Kollsnes plant, Vestprosess line
Gassco AS is in the process of restarting its Kollsnes gas processing plant and associated Vestprosess condensate pipeline in western Norway after a collision between two ships off the Sture terminal near Bergen early Nov. 8 led to closure of the installations. Source: News