Oil Patch Bits: ExxonMobil grants $500,000 to Teach for America 01/17/2010
ExxonMobil said Jan. 6 that its $500,000 grant to Teach for America will be used to recruit more than 1,500 top college graduates from across the United States to teach middle-school math and science....

Mackenzie project gets hearing dates 01/17/2010
The Mackenzie Gas Project has been given its roadmap for the final regulatory phases. Canada's National Energy Board said it will start hearing concluding arguments April 12 in Yellowknife and wrap up...

BP seeks approval for new cost method 01/17/2010
Trans-Alaska oil pipeline carriers want FERC's help with rates; settlement efforts fail in long-running interstate tariffs dispute
Fed up with losing money, the company with the largest ownership stake in the trans-Alaska oil pipeline has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve a new method for allocating the co...

Denali sets open season date 01/17/2010
Will submit package to FERC in April, conduct 90-day OS beginning in July
Both Alaska natural gas pipeline projects have now set dates for their open seasons, the quest for customers to commit to filling a proposed line with natural gas. Denali, a joint venture of BP and C...

Exxon wins a round 01/17/2010
For second time, judge disallows breakup of Alaska's Point Thomson unit
An Alaska judge on Jan. 11 dealt the state government a blow in its quest to wrest control of the rich Point Thomson oil and gas field from ExxonMobil and other leaseholders. Superior Court Judge Shar...

Oil Patch Bits: ExxonMobil contributes $1.8 million to schools 01/10/2010
ExxonMobil said Dec. 30 that through its Educational Alliance Program it has awarded $1.8 million in grants this year to 2,400 schools to enhance math and science programs across the United States. It...

ExxonMobil joins critics of tariff hike 01/10/2010
ExxonMobil is among parties lodging concerns about Cook Inlet Pipe Line Co.'s steep tariff hike. Steven Serpati, on behalf of ExxonMobil, filed a brief public comment with the Regulatory Commission of...

Ho-ho-hold the holidays 01/10/2010
Proponents of Mackenzie gas have tight deadline to respond to 679-page report
It landed Dec. 30 with a thud on desks in the high-rise petroleum towers of downtown Calgary, spoiling whatever hopes employees working on the Mackenzie Gas Project might have had to put their feet up...

Exxon's legal extra 01/10/2010
Just ahead of Point Thomson ruling, firm touts drilling progress; state objects
With a judge on the brink of issuing a key ruling in the battle for control of the rich Point Thomson oil and gas field, ExxonMobil has filed a last-minute statement from its Alaska chief in hopes of...

Noah tells legislators time to choose 01/03/2010
Says Legislature funding too many options, confusing market; Irwin says information isn't in for standalone or AGIA line to market
Alaska legislators heard two different views in mid-December of what they should do about gas projects in the state: Harry Noah, the outgoing project manager for the state's in-state gas project, said...

Mackenzie has liftoff; panel gives support to project 01/03/2010
The Mackenzie Gas Project has surfaced from its prolonged regulatory bog to receive strong backing from a Joint Review Panel which gave approval, along with caveats, based on its examination of the im...

Imperial's plans put at risk 01/03/2010
NEB won't issue advance ruling on same season relief well in Beaufort
Turned down by Canada's federal energy regulator in its efforts to gain an advance ruling on its plans for an exploration well in the Canadian section of the Beaufort Sea, Imperial Oil is now taking t...

ANGDA resolves EIS project description 12/27/2009
Authority's board approves moving ahead with Beluga to Fairbanks gas line permitting work, exclusive agreement on propane project
The Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management appear to have come to an agreement on a project description of ANGDA's Beluga-to-Fairb...

Lawyers debate BP motion 12/27/2009
Company fights Alaska's billion-dollar suit over '06 Prudhoe Bay pipeline leaks
A lawyer for BP on Dec. 21 urged a judge to dismiss much of the State of Alaska's lawsuit against the company seeking $1 billion or more in damages for the 2006 pipeline spills in the Prudhoe Bay oil...

ExxonMobil buys XTO Energy for $31 billion 12/20/2009
XTO has two platforms in Cook Inlet, which will make Exxon a producer in Alaska; main focus of purchase XTO's natural gas assets
ExxonMobil will buy XTO Energy Inc. in an all-stock deal worth $31 billion as the oil giant moved aggressively Dec. 14 to capitalize on the growing supply of natural gas at home. The deal could signal...

What chance now for North Slope LNG? 12/20/2009
World market is growing fast but North Slope gas would need to compete on cost with massive new supplies close to tidewater
Few subjects raise the temperature more in a room full of Alaskans on a cold winter night than the perennial debate about exporting North Slope gas in a pipeline through Canada versus exporting the ga...

Savant ahead of schedule 12/20/2009
Vigil: ACES works for small explorers, producers; hires lobbyist to make sure Alaska legislators aware of independent's position
Savant Alaska is ahead of schedule on the construction of its ice road to the eastern North Slope's Badami unit, where the company plans to finish an oil exploration well it began last winter. The wel...

Mackenzie Gas Project report on its way 12/20/2009
Backers of the Mackenzie Gas Project have a date - Dec. 31. That's when the Joint Review Panel is expected to meet its promised deadline and deliver its findings on environmental and socioeconomic iss...

Exxon seeks new life 12/20/2009
Bets heavily on unconventional gas as fuel of choice by 2030 in takeover of XTO
The tipoff was there for anyone caring to pay attention when ExxonMobil declared on Dec. 8 that natural gas would be the fuel of choice in the United States by 2030, shunting aside coal and oil. Less...

Corps begins work on Point Thomson EIS 12/13/2009
ExxonMobil is moving ahead with development permitting for its Point Thomson project. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published a notice Dec. 4 of intention to prepare a draft environmental impact s...

ExxonMobil expects rising energy demand 12/13/2009
Asia's amazing growth over the last decade or so is likely to continue after a brief speed bump for the 2009 recession. That's the conclusion of ExxonMobil's newly released "Outlook for Energy: A View...

Arctic future at risk; Imperial wants NEB to expedite ruling 12/13/2009
Imperial Oil and its sister company ExxonMobil Canada can't buy a break from Canadian regulators as they mull their future plans for the Arctic. And Imperial has vented its frustrations in a letter to...

LNG bulls running again 12/13/2009
Huge Asian contracts suggest confidence region's long-term expansion won't slow
Gloom and doom about Asia's long-term demand for liquefied natural gas are evaporating about as fast as the fuel itself does at room temperature. Big money deals are being signed between utilities and...

Logistics key to Point Thomson project 12/06/2009
Last year's ice road only available to move materials for four weeks; barges used in summer; rolligons moved significant amounts
ExxonMobil has been fighting a running battle with the State of Alaska over development of its North Slope Point Thomson field - but it has also been waging a logistics battle to get equipment and sup...

Climate change legal impacts heat up 12/06/2009
U.S. legislation, regulation and litigation will all have far-reaching impacts on the Alaska oil and gas industry in coming years
In one sense it makes no difference who is right and who is wrong in the debate over the effect of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases on the Earth's climate: The legal fallout from a broad view...