Mining News: Wanted: Mineral prospectors with skills 01/17/2010
Far North territories, B.C. governments use mining incentives to ease financial burden of grassroots exploration by individuals
Just as junior and major mining companies have important roles to play in the chain of developments that lead, hopefully, to discovery of substantial mineral deposits and subsequent commercial develop...

Greening of Oil magazine launches 01/17/2010
Anchorage-based Petroleum News has launched a new, international online magazine at www.greeningofoil.com. Greening of Oil is a science-based publication that tracks the environmental footprint of fos...

Tales of woe on North America's refinery row 01/17/2010
The trail of wreckage on North America's Refinery Row gained another victim Jan. 7 with Royal Dutch Shell's decision to turn its Montreal facility into a fuel terminal after failing to find a buyer fo...

Chukchi air permit takes Shell closer to 2010 drilling program 01/17/2010
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Jan. 7 decision to propose an amended air quality permit for Shell's planned exploration drilling in the Arctic Alaska outer continental shelf of the Chukchi...

Greening of Oil: Canadian biofuels document triggers official denials 01/17/2010
Environment Canada at odds with U.S. study claiming subsidies a waste
A spreading North American debate over the costs and benefits of ethanol and biofuel policies lends itself to easy misunderstanding. Take the case of what has been described as a "poorly worded" Cana...

Time to take a stand on climate change? 01/10/2010
Alaska legislators want information to determine a strategy on responding to climate change actions and the use of the ESA in AK
The stakes are high and the rhetoric climbing in the debate between those who want to apply the Endangered Species Act for the protection of wildlife potentially threatened by a warming climate, and t...

Crowley issues Pathfinder spill estimate 01/10/2010
Valdez-based tugboat hit infamous Bligh Reef two days before Christmas; plans made to tow craft to shipyard for repairs
Crowley Maritime Corp. was continuing work to patch up its damaged tugboat Pathfinder for towing from Valdez to a still undetermined shipyard for permanent repairs. Meantime, the company released an e...

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...

Oil Patch Bits: Crowley ATB is largest to transit Alaska waters 01/03/2010
Crowley Maritime Corp. said Dec. 15 that its petroleum transportation group recently made history, as its 155,000-barrel Articulated Tug Barge, Sea Reliance/550-1, became the largest of its kind to ha...

Rain for Rent announces newest high-flow pump 01/03/2010
Rain for Rent said Dec. 10 that it was pleased to announce its newest high-flow pumping innovation, the DV-600c Power Prime pump. The portable centrifugal 30x24-inch pump is the largest-flow pump avai...

Shell goes for reduced OCS footprint 01/03/2010
Macrander says using advanced technologies to minimize environmental impacts makes business sense and protects the Arctic offshore
The use of advanced technologies that reduce environmental impacts and improve business efficiency distinguishes Shell in the oil and gas industry, Michael Macrander, Shell's Alaska lead scientist, to...

Gas could be answer in warming fight 01/03/2010
Utilities looking at natural gas because it emits half as much carbon as coal when burned to generate same amount of electricity
An unlikely source of energy has emerged to meet international demands that the United States do more to fight global warming: It's cleaner than coal, cheaper than oil and a 90-year supply is under ou...

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...

Tugboat hits Bligh Reef 01/03/2010
Coast Guard probes collision with infamous rock; Alaska oil tankers delayed
A tugboat used to help manage oil tankers at Valdez ran aground two days before Christmas, spilling diesel fuel into Prince William Sound and mildly disrupting Alaska crude shipments. The mishap has g...

Oil Patch Bits: Air Liquide completes project for Shell Hydrogen 12/27/2009
Air Liquide said Dec. 16 that it has completed the installation of a fueling system for Shell Hydrogen in Bronx, N.Y. In addition to the fueling equipment, Air Liquide is also supplying the hydrogen g...

Energy policy: a neglected stepchild? 12/27/2009
The Congressional focus on greenhouse gases and climate change is pushing U.S. energy policy into the background, lawyer says
While debate in the U.S. Congress centers on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, energy policy and U.S. energy security have become somewhat neglected, Tom Roberts, a member of Washington, D....

Enbridge warns of possible pipeline over-capacity 12/27/2009
Between TransCanada and Enbridge - Canada's two biggest energy pipeline companies - there's seldom a meeting of the minds. From the time they got caught up squabbling over rights to ship Alaska North...

Mining News: We've stepped through the looking glass 12/20/2009
Climate change debate accelerates society's departure from using deductive reasoning, logic; mushrooming litigation fuels trend
As I age up, the world does appear to be, as Alice would say, curiouser and curiouser. I have long been bemused by the obvious observation that logic and reason have little to do with how humanity co...

Planning for different power outcomes 12/20/2009
In developing an integrated resource plan for power generation and transmission in the Alaska Railbelt, consultancy firm Black and Veatch evaluated four possible future power scenarios, Kevin Harper, Bl...

Legislators want heavy oil discussions 12/20/2009
Heavy oil is thick as honey and hard to pump out of the ground. That's where most of it has stayed while lighter crude is available. But heavy oil may be the future of Alaska's petroleum development,...

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...

BBNC opposes offshore leasing, Pebble 12/20/2009
Native regional corporation says oil and gas leasing, mine development are too risky for fish-rich Bristol Bay; others fire back
A major stakeholder in the Bristol Bay region has come out against offshore oil and gas leasing in the North Aleutian basin. The Bristol Bay Native Corp. announced Dec. 11 its board passed a resolutio...

Canada: Cleaning off a 'dirty' image 12/20/2009
Canadian, Alberta political, industry leaders defend record in oil sands, say they are ready to participate in any Copenhagen deal
Government and industry leaders are fighting back against a tidal wave of criticism and abuse flowing from the Copenhagen climate change summit that has Canada cast as a "corrupt petro-state" because...

Power for the future 12/20/2009
AEA publishes draft integrated resource plan for Alaska Railbelt electricity
The Alaska Energy Authority has published a draft regional integrated resource plan that presents options and recommendations for the future of electricity power generation, transmission and demand ma...