Input sought on new forms of oil, gas production, including hydrates in Alaska

The Bureau of Land Management and Minerals Management Service are seeking public input on potentially promising new forms of oil and natural gas production, including gas hydrates found in Alaska.

BLM and MMS, acting under provisions of the National Energy Policy Act of 2005, invited public comments in notices of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register March 8.

One proposal would provide economic incentives for production of natural gas from gas hydrates on the Outer Continental Shelf and federal lands in Alaska. Gas hydrates are crystalline substances composed of water and gas together in solid form.

The second initiative would provide economic incentives for using carbon dioxide and other appropriate gases to boost petroleum production in oil and gas fields under federal management.

Mail comments on the rulemaking proposals to Director (630), Bureau of Land Management, Administrative Record, Room 401 LS, Eastern States Office, 7450 Boston Boulevard, Springfield, VA 22153. Or e-mail them to [email protected]; or go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov, and follow instructions at link. Refer to 1004-AD81 for comments on gas hydrates and to 1004-AD82 for comments on the carbon dioxide process.

—Petroleum News