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...

Projecting the jobs 11/29/2009
AEDC CEO Bill Popp works with Petroleum News and Mining News on new project forecast
Like one of Scrooge's Christmas apparitions, a ghost of Alaska's future could portend doom, or could just prove to be a warning of the consequences of not taking appropriate action. And from the persp...

The Explorers 2009: Cook Inlet basin 11/15/2009
Cook Inlet, a major sea inlet between the Kenai Peninsula and the mainland of Southcentral Alaska, lies over part of a deep sedimentary basin that has formed between the Kenai Mountains and the mounta...

Wrestling with the risks in Alberta 11/15/2009
Smaller oil sands players pinned by startup woes, inability to finance holdings; Suncor not ruling out building on industry-leading position
Some either want out or want a reduced presence; some are struggling to keep their heads above water; some are now paying the price for the rush to complete projects during a frenzied boom that ended...

Renewable energy investments recommended 11/08/2009
Draft report from Senate Resources, Energy committees also recommended 'staying the course' on AGIA state-supported gas project
The draft of a report on the state's energy situation, released Oct. 19 by members of the Alaska Senate energy policy group, provides a wide-ranging look at proposals from energy-efficient buildings t...

Mining News: Recession walloped exploration spending 10/25/2009
As drought in available venture capital eases, miners seeking acquisitions would do well to accelerate the pace of purchases
As the active exploration season winds down in Alaska, both good news and bad is afoot and both sets of news turn out to be the same data. Double speak you say? Read on and judge for yourself. Halifa...

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...

CIRI plans coal to gas 10/18/2009
Underground coal gasification could fuel power generation for Alaska Railbelt
There was almost a round of cheers at the joint meeting of the Alaska House Resources, Senate Resources and Senate Energy committees in Anchorage on Oct. 9, as enthusiastic legislators listened to exe...

Canada's offshore oil patch skirts storm 10/04/2009
Newfoundland, Labrador experiencing private sector growth in economic downturn, mostly due to offshore oil and gas investment
As a perfect economic storm batters global markets one hatch of the Canadian ship of state remains wide open to boom times. Newfoundland and Labrador - known across Canada as The Rock - is experiencin...

No decisions yet on LNG 09/13/2009
The future of the Nikiski LNG plant hinges on the supply situation for Cook Inlet natural gas
The owners of the LNG plant at Nikiski on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula are still evaluating whether to apply for renewal of the federal LNG export license that expires in March 2011, Dan Clark, manager of...

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...

Our Arctic Neighbors: Shell planning Russian Arctic development 07/12/2009
Experience cooperating with shipper Sovcomflot on Sakhalin II project will transfer to natural gas fields on Yamal Peninsula
Russia's largest ship owner, state-run Sovcomflot, has signed an agreement with Shell International Trading and Shipping Co. for cooperation in potential liquefied natural gas shipping projects in Rus...

Theory and practice in CCS technology 06/07/2009
There's a huge worldwide drive towards the use of carbon capture and sequestration, but broad implementation faces several hurdles
Widely blamed for an acceleration in global warming, man-made carbon dioxide has become something of a symbol for human-induced environmental degradation. And in the debate about how to minimize futur...

'Greening' oil sands costly, but possible 05/17/2009
Report from Canadian Energy Research Institute says most likely outcome requirement by U.S., Canada for carbon capture, storage
Shedding the "dirty oil" label for a "green bitumen" uniform will be costly for the Alberta oil sands business, but likely not an option as the United States and Canadian governments move towards low...

Chevron gets approval for expanded Gorgon 05/10/2009
$25 billion LNG project off Australia gets environmental approval for third train, but investment decision is still months away
Chevron Corp. has received approval from Western Australia's Environmental Protection Authority to expand its Gorgon LNG project on Barrow Island. The approval came April 29. The huge project - now ex...

Agrium and the Cook Inlet gas market 03/08/2009
When Agrium Inc. bought the Nikiski fertilizer plant on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula from Unocal Corp. in 2000, Agrium expressed optimism that fertilizer production at Nikiski would enhance Agrium's posit...

A call for peace in CI 03/08/2009
Giard wants to clarify utility gas pricing to end the 'Cook Inlet Gas War'
In December Petroleum News referred to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska's December decision to allow Enstar Natural Gas Company to obtain gas for a year under new contracts with two Cook Inlet gas...

Spanish make landfall in Atlantic Canada 03/01/2009
It's not quite a Spanish Armada, but there's no longer any doubt that the Spaniards have made landfall in Atlantic Canada's oil and natural gas plays. Five days after EnCana reported its long-delayed...

Enbridge Alberta-Gulf pipeline shelved 02/01/2009
Project would have moved Western Canadian crude to Gulf, reversed direction of flow; lacked support from potential shippers
Canadian pipeline company Enbridge has added to the postponement of oil sands-related projects by shelving indefinitely plans for a US$350 million scheme that would have moved Western Canadian crude t...

Natural gas price part of global crisis 02/01/2009
BP, Wood Mackenzie tell Alliance supply, demand out of balance; Alaska gas needed, but recession may have pushed out date
Natural gas demand in the Lower 48 is down - and supply is up. That doesn't sound good for a proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline which would deliver some 4 billion cubic feet a day into Lower 48 mark...

Imports of LNG could rise as Asia cools 01/25/2009
Wood Mackenzie predicts U.S. will import more LNG in the next few years because of declining Asian economies
A new report from Wood Mackenzie predicts a near-term increase in U.S. imports of liquefied natural gas as demand sags in Asia. "The medium-term outlook for LNG in North America is not as dire as oth...

Nearing edge of the cliff 01/18/2009
How close is Southcentral Alaska to the limits of Cook Inlet gas deliverability?
At a Regulatory Commission of Alaska public meeting on Jan. 10 officials from Alaska Railbelt gas and electricity utilities described how peak demand for natural gas during a recent cold snap had test...

Proponent touts coal-to-liquids plant 01/11/2009
The multibillion dollar price tag on a coal-to-liquids plant might seem expensive but a project proponent says the benefits could outweigh the cost. Jim Dodson, executive director of the Fairbanks Eco...

Alberta shifts ground with new report 12/21/2008
In rolling out new energy strategy, government indicates royalty changes possible; promises to be 'solid environmental citizen'
Out of favor with its own petroleum industry and scorned by environmentalists on a global scale, the Alberta government may have had a Road-to-Damascus conversion. In releasing a long-promised provinc...