Alaska
Leaders Angered by Alaska Drilling Restrictions
The White House moved to
limit both oil and gas drilling in Alaska, angering state officials who said
the plan would eliminate jobs and make the U.S. reliant on foreign resources.
The Interior Department has
already finalized a regulation to block oil and gas development on 40% of
Alaska’s National Petroleum Preserve (NPR-A), where polar bears, caribou and
other wildlife live and are part of the way of life of indigenous communities.
The agency also said it
would reject a proposal by a state agency to construct a 211-mile (340-km) road
intended to enable mine development in the Ambler Mining District in north
central Alaska, according to Reuters.
“I am proud that my administration
is taking action to conserve more than 13 million acres in the Western Arctic
and to honor the culture, history, and enduring wisdom of Alaska Natives who
have lived on and stewarded these lands since time immemorial,” Biden said in a
statement.
The new rule would
prohibit oil and gas leasing on 10.6 million acres, while limiting development
on more than 2 million additional acres. The NPR-Ais a 23 million-acre area on
the North Slope and is the largest tract of undisturbed public land in the
United States.
The White House decision
would not affect existing oil and gas operations, which include ConocoPhillips’ $8
billion Willow project, approved last year by the administration.
Mexico Seizes Air Liquide’s Hydrogen Plant at Pemex Refinery
Mexico took control of a hydrogen plant
at a Pemex state oil refinery that a previous administration sold
to French firm Air Liquide, the government announced.
Mexican officials ordered a temporary
occupation of the facility in December and in February, declaring the U-3400
unit at Pemex’s Tula refinery in Hidalgo state a public good,
according to Reuters.
Compensation to Air Liquide was included
in the order but no monetary amount was specified. Air Liquide said talks on
the compensation were underway.
Oil refineries use hydrogen to reduce the
sulfur content in petroleum products, especially diesel, and Mexico's
government had cited risks to motor fuels production at the Tula refinery due
to the third-party supply of hydrogen.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has
pushed an agenda that reduces to
reliance on imports and bolsters energy security by concentrating industrial
control through Pemex and state power company CFE.
Under his predecessor, however, Pemex's
refining arm had signed a 20-year contract with Air Liquide in 2017 to supply
hydrogen for Tula's operations in a bid to lower costs and improve efficiency.
The Tula facility, located in central
Hidalgo state north of the Mexican capital, is Pemex’s second-largest refinery currently in operation.
CNOOC
Stockpiles Russian Oil at New Reserve Base in China
China National Offshore
Oil has been sending shipments of ESPO blend from Russia’s Far East into a
newly launched reserve base, according to traders and tanker trackers.
This is the first-time
stockpiling of Russian ESPO blend crude at CNOOC’s new reserve base has been
reported, according to Reuters.
The buildup of more than
10 million barrels as estimated by Vortexa Analytics, helped boosted China’s
seaborne imports to a record high level in March.
CNOOC started shipping
the Russian crude last winter to a storage base in east China’s Dongying port, according
to Vortexa.
“ESPO discharges into
Dongying began surging ... after the port put into use three new berths able to
dock Aframax vessels,” said Emma Li, Vortexa’s senior China oil analyst, told
Reuters. Each ESPO cargo contains about 740,000 barrels.
EQT
to Sell Pennsylvania Natural Gas Assets to Equinor
EQT plans to swap a 40%
interest in its non-operated natural gas assets in northeast Pennsylvania to
Equinor USA in exchange for Equinor’s onshore asset in the Appalachian basin
and $500 million in cash, both companies said.
The move gives holders a
cut from the hydrocarbons sold without taking charge of drilling or other
operations, but they would still be responsible for their share of costs.
“We plan to
opportunistically divest the remaining portion of our non-operated assets in
northeast Pennsylvania,” EQT CEO Toby Rice told Reuters at the time, adding the
company would explore a sale of a portfolio of minority stakes in wells in
Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale formation.
EQT’s plan to exit the
position comes as the company tries to accelerate cutting its $5.9 billion debt
and increase shareholder returns.
Final Reforms for US Drilling Called ‘Overly
Burdensome’
The U.S. administration completed
reforms designed to boost returns and address environmental harms from oil and
gas drilling on public lands. Many of the changes formalize portions of the 2022
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Under the new policy,
oil and gas companies will pay higher bonding rates to cover the cost of
plugging abandoned oil and gas wells as well as increased lease rents, minimum
auction bids and royalty rates for the fuels they extract. The rules also limit
drilling in sensitive wildlife and cultural areas.
“These are the most
significant reforms to the federal oil and gas leasing program in decades, and
the will cut wasteful speculation, increase returns for the public, and protect
taxpayers from being saddled with the costs of environmental cleanups,”
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.
About 10% of the nation’s
oil and gas comes from drilling on federally owned land, according to federal
records.
“Overly burdensome land
management regulations will put this critical energy supply at risk,” American
Petroleum Institute Vice President of Upstream Policy Holly Hopkins said in a
statement.
Under the new
provisions, minimum lease bonds will soar to $150,000 under from $10,000, a
level that has been in effect since 1960.
ADNOC Explored Potential
Takeover of BP, Sources Say
Abu Dhabi National Oil
Company (ADNOC) recently considered buying BP, but the deliberations did not make
it past preliminary discussions, according Reuters sources close to the
deliberation.
In the end, it was
decided BP would not be fit into ADNOC’s strategy. Additionally, political
considerations threw water on the potential move, one of source said.
In contrast to BP, ADNOC
recently increased oil and gas production capacity and is trying change its
image to that of a global oil major.
The two companies spoke
directly in recent months, the sources confirmed.
“It didn’t go far,” one
source said of a potential deal, adding ADNOC has also looked at other
international companies to give it access to a bigger gas and LNG portfolio,
the person added.
Both companies decline
to comment to Reuters. P&GJ