Canada's upstream on upswing; '09 drilling licenses down 47% 01/17/2010
With Canadian government land sales slumping to a 17-year low and average natural gas prices at their lowest point in the past decade, it was no surprise that cash-squeezed producers slashed their dri...

Assuring your approval 01/10/2010
Modern permitting involves doing due diligence, proving sustainable benefits
There was a time when people tended to view permitting as simply a question of obtaining government agency approval for certain specific actions planned for a project. But that's no longer a viable ap...

Industry revival on Canada's horizon 01/03/2010
Firming of commodity prices points to resumption of oil sands growth; natural gas expected to remain weak; consolidation predicted
One of the strongest oil patch forecasts for 2010 has come from a leading Canadian law firm, which is counting on an industry revival as commodity prices strengthen, opening up the investment taps in...

State reverses Holitna license decision 12/13/2009
Overturning a 2006 decision, DNR finds that a gas exploration license in Southwest Alaska is in the best interest of the state
Alaska officials have again decided that an exploration license in the Holitna basin is in the best interests of the state, returning in a 2005 ruling that had previously been overturned. In a decisi...

The Explorers 2009: Interior Alaska basins 11/15/2009
Although analysts think that the majority of Alaska's oil and gas resources lie within the major basins of northern Alaska, Cook Inlet and the Bristol Bay area, there are several other basins around t...

Canada faces gas liquids challenge 11/08/2009
Canada's National Energy Board expects rising imports of condensate to support the oil sands sector will reach 346,000 barrels per day by 2020 compared with 78,000 bpd in 2008. Diluents are needed for...

Koreans stun Canadian oil patch 11/01/2009
State-run KNOC offers premium for Harvest Energy Trust holdings in search for energy security; bolsters chances of new sands market
South Korea's state-run Korea National Oil Corp. has taken a headlong plunge into Canada's energy sector in a highly complex move that is causing widespread head scratching within the industry. The mo...

Canada backs carbon capture 10/25/2009
Governments commit C$1.65B to 2 projects, claim they lead world in developing technology; others say industry should do cleanup
Canadian and Alberta taxpayers are starting to feel a rather large hand in their pockets as the two governments roll out plans for carbon capture and storage projects - their key technological initiat...

Are Cook Inlet gas supplies in crisis? 10/25/2009
As winter approaches, Chevron manager presents facts, figures about natural gas supply and demand in Southcentral Alaska
Natural gas has flowed out of the Cook Inlet basin with apparent ease for around 40 years, in some ways the life blood of Southcentral Alaska, firing heater furnaces, fueling power stations and suppor...

Tackling a new gas equation 09/06/2009
Canadian industry lobby groups join forces to promote the use of gas for power generation and transportation across North America
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers is happy when natural gas prices are high and rising, keeping its member companies profitable and busy. The Canadian Gas Association likes to tell the w...

NEA spuds King Salmon geothermal well 08/23/2009
Exploration targets potential resource under the eastern end of Alaska Peninsula; could provide power for local communities
After more than 10 years of investigation and planning by Southwest Alaska electric cooperative, Naknek Electric Association, the co-op's first geothermal exploration well, the Naknek-G No.1, is augur...

Canada's multitrillion-dollar engine 08/16/2009
Study forecasts petroleum industry could pump incremental C$3.6 trillion into GDP over next 25 years, spreading jobs, tax benefits
The anti-petroleum faction in Canada has been given something to ponder, if it has an open mind. Whatever the industry's failings - and even the strongest defenders concede there are many - the flip s...

Algae: a fuel source for the future? 08/09/2009
Entrepreneurs seek ways to commercialize the use of tiny organisms that devour carbon dioxide to produce feedstock for biofuels
A July 14 announcement by oil giant ExxonMobil that it plans to form an alliance with biotech company Synthetic Genomics, to invest more than $600 million in biofuel generation from algae, has turned...

Showered with praise 08/02/2009
EnCana, Canada's federal regulator and T. Boone Pickens in no doubt that tight and shale gas has changed North American dynamic
EnCana and the National Energy Board, two of Canada's most powerful petroleum voices, along with energy guru T. Boone Pickens, are marching to the same drumbeat in touting the prospects for shale gas...

Alberta bitumen production on the way up 06/21/2009
Province's energy regulator points to 131% increase over next decade to 3 million bpd; forecasts 36% drop in gas, excluding shale
Alberta bitumen production will increase by 131 percent over the next decade to 3 million barrels per day, accounting for 88 percent of the province's total oil output, the Energy Resources Conservati...

An Arctic windfall 06/14/2009
If the Mackenzie Gas Project goes ahead it could pump C$27 billion in direct and spin-off benefits into the Canadian economy over the next 25 years - a small fraction of the projected C$3.1 trillion t...

Native American moves to oust Fowler 06/07/2009
Both sides say they control Palmer-based Fowler Oil and Gas, which has been planning coalbed methane development in Mat-Su
The Palmer entrepreneur who championed a new era of coalbed methane development in the Mat-Su is locked in a vicious battle with his business partners, who have made a bid to force him out. The head o...

Administration provides first biannual AGIA report 05/10/2009
Revenue, DNR, conclude long-term economic outlook for TransCanada gas pipeline project 'remains strong', despite short-term price drops
The administration told Alaska legislators at the end of April that "the AGIA-licensed project remains on track and on schedule." "The economic outlook for the project remains strong despite the rece...

USGS plans CBM tests at Wainwright 05/03/2009
Summer work involves production test of 2008 well and new wells to delineate extent of coal seams near North Slope village
The U.S. Geological Survey is planning to test the flow of natural gas produced from a well it drilled last summer into coal seams near the North Slope village of Wainwright. The federal agency also p...

Aurora Gas working its latest plans 05/03/2009
Company has run into a permitting glitch for proposed Hanna well; wants to develop a gas storage facility at Nicolai Creek
After a 2008 drilling season that followed a nearly two-year litigation-related hiatus in its exploration and development activities on the west side of Alaska's Cook Inlet, Aurora Gas is planning som...

Friend or future foe? 03/29/2009
Will L48 shale gas development help or hinder the sale of Arctic natural gas?
Nowadays ne'er a presentation goes by on the future of the U.S. natural gas market, without a graph depicting ever expanding production from the gas shales that form continuous gas resources under vas...

New alliance for low-impact drilling 03/15/2009
Houston Advanced Research Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustainable development, and Texas AandM University have announced a partnership with seven other U.S. universities to fund resear...

Upstream heads downhill 03/08/2009
Western Canada reeling as drilling, well permits, land sales crumble in the face of tight financial markets, cratering gas prices
Even with land at basement-price levels, the major operators are turning their backs on government auctions in Western Canada, with returns for the three leading provinces totaling C$73.36 million for...

British Columbia enters CBM age 01/25/2009
Joint venture by two juniors leads host of majors into commercial coalbed production, despite widespread condemnation of resource
There's never been any shortage of industry heavyweights poking and prodding around British Columbia's coalbed methane prospects and no shortage of big numbers to inflate hopes of a rich future. Equal...

Canada enters shadows 01/18/2009
Rig fleet hits lowest activity since 1993; well permits drop 5.5% in 2007 from 2006; Alberta oil sands, natural gas hardest hit
The downturn in Canadian drilling is starting to register with the upstream sector operating at its lowest level in 16 years as low commodity prices, tight credit and Alberta's new royalties leave the...