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Times Picayune

Prompted by recent press reports of oil in the Gulf of Mexico near the site of the Macondo well, BP and the Gulf Coast Incident Management Team conducted a visual inspection of the well. In a joint statement issued Friday, they said there is no release of oil occurring at the well.

A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) video inspection of the well was conducted in the presence of representatives of the management team in New Orleans. Members of the team watching the live video stream included representatives of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, and representatives from the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida, according to the statement.

An inspection was also conducted of the Macondo relief well, and it had the same result.

Small intermittent bubbles were observed coming from cement ports at the base of both wellheads. This was consistent with observations and sampling conducted last year that detected nitrogen bubbles, a byproduct of the nitrified foam used in settling the wells’ surface casing cement, the statement said.

BP also said it and the Coast Guard have conducted several surveys of the area in recent days and have found no evidence of oil sheens in the vicinity of the wells.

Original Article

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Posted 08/24/2011 06:15 PM ET

Energy: A year ago, three oil rigs fled the Gulf of Mexico for better opportunities abroad. Now, it’s 10. Make no mistake, the toll is rising on a business environment marked by the Obama administration’s uncertainty.

It’s a sorry spectacle when rigs, the mighty instruments for extracting oil and gas from miles under the sea floor, are quietly pulling away from U.S. coasts for better business environments oceans away — namely the Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Egypt and Brazil.

“When you have companies that would be spending hundreds of millions of dollars, or in some cases billions of dollars, they need certainty,” Louisiana Oil & Gas Association President Don Briggs told BigGovernment.com. “We don’t have that now, and I don’t expect we will anytime soon.”

The massive planning, capital, project management and luck required to produce energy are uncertain enough.

The climate of government caprice makes it even worse.

The 2010 BP oil spill proved Obama’s anti-energy production talk was more than rhetoric — it was policy.

It started to create uncertainty when the president arbitrarily demanded $20 bil from BP to set up a cleanup fund for its spill in April last year. After it paid, however, what lingered was the image of a president who could extract what he wanted from any unpopular company.

Then the president issued an arbitrary moratorium on offshore drilling, idling rigs and throwing hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work. When a court ordered him to stop, he played three-card monte with the energy industry with an unannounced but real permit moratorium until another judge stopped him.

Meanwhile, lease sales hit their lowest level since 1958. Now at this late date, the president finally set an auction for Dec. 14. But the Interior Department nearly tripled the minimum bid price for deepwater leases in the Gulf of Mexico from $37.50 an acre to $100 an acre.

Why the big increase? More regulators, of course.

Meanwhile, even companies that got permits years ago can have them revoked for minor irregularities. This happened to Exxon Mobil, which spent $300 million to make a billion-barrel discovery of oil, only to have its permit pulled on a technicality. It’s now suing.

With such uncertainty, it’s no wonder that oil producers — which create thousands of high-paying jobs — are heading for places like the Congo. The only certainty now is uncertainty. Until that stops, more rigs will flee.

Original Article

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Written by
Michele Marcotte

Bossier City’s second alternative fuel station officially opened Tuesday as city leaders, state legislators and Louisiana’s natural resources secretary touted the city as a leader in providing access to alternative fuel.

“Bossier City is like a speed boat,” Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Angelle said. “You haven’t waited. “What you’ve said is we’re going to embrace a new, cheaper way to fuel the core of our city.”

The $1.5 million facility, located at 4520 Barksdale Blvd., features compressed natural gas and ethanol-based E85. The city’s first alternative fuel station opened in October on East Texas Street. The city obtained a U.S. Department of Energy grant to fund the CNG component of both fueling stations. The grant was administered through Angelle’s department.

Bossier City Council President David Montgomery said the city has no doubt CNG stations will one day be constructed all across the nation and “Bossier City will have led the way.”

“This is a great addition for our community,” said Mayor Lorenz “Lo” Walker, who recognized several of the behind-the-scenes people who contributed to the project, including the designer of the station.

Vehicles utilizing the alternative fuel were on hand courtesy of the city and local natural gas companies for those in attendance to examine.

City spokesman Mark Natale said the city continues to move forward on the CNG front by adding another 30 alternative fuel vehicles next year. The city currently operates 10 compressed natural gas trucks and 97 vehicles using E85, also known as Flex Fuel.

Original Article

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Written by
Michele Marcotte

Bossier City’s second alternative fuel station officially opened Tuesday as city leaders, state legislators and Louisiana’s natural resources secretary touted the city as a leader in providing access to alternative fuel.

“Bossier City is like a speed boat,” Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Angelle said. “You haven’t waited. “» What you’ve said is we’re going to embrace a new, cheaper way to fuel the core of our city.”

The $1.5 million facility, located at 4520 Barksdale Blvd., features compressed natural gas and ethanol-based E85. The city’s first alternative fuel station opened in October on East Texas Street. The city obtained a U.S. Department of Energy grant to fund the CNG component of both fueling stations. The grant was administered through Angelle’s department.

Bossier City Council President David Montgomery said the city has no doubt CNG stations will one day be constructed all across the nation and “Bossier City will have led the way.”

“This is a great addition for our community,” said Mayor Lorenz “Lo” Walker, who recognized several of the behind-the-scenes people who contributed to the project, including the designer of the station.

Vehicles utilizing the alternative fuel were on hand courtesy of the city and local natural gas companies for those in attendance to examine.

City spokesman Mark Natale said the city continues to move forward on the CNG front by adding another 30 alternative fuel vehicles next year. The city currently operates 10 compressed natural gas trucks and 97 vehicles using E85, also known as Flex Fuel.

Original Article

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(PennEnergy)

Pivotal LNG, a subsidiary of AGL Resources Inc. (NYSE: AGL), has signed an agreement with Encana to supply liquefied natural gas that Encana plans to offer to service providers operating fleet trucks in the Haynesville Shale of Louisiana.

Encana will dispense the LNG through mobile and permanent public fueling stations. Natural gas in a liquid form is easily transported and stored. It is an environmentally responsible fuel ideal for use in large fleet vehicles and heavy-duty engines.

AGL Resources is dedicated to helping “jump start” and expand the use of natural gas for transportation.

Under the terms of the agreement, Pivotal LNG will supply up to 100,000 gallons of liquefied natural gas per day for an initial five-year period to Encana.

“This agreement provides Encana Natural Gas with a secure, long-term supply source of liquefied natural gas for its new LNG fueling stations,” said Eric Marsh, Executive Vice-President, Encana Corporation & Senior Vice-President, USA Division. “Encana is committed to expanding the use of environmentally responsible natural gas, and this is an important step towards building an infrastructure that will enable companies servicing the energy industry to convert their large-freight vehicles.”

Pivotal LNG recently announced it has agreed to purchase an approximately 60,000 gallon-per-day liquefied natural gas facility located in Trussville, Alabama, pending the fulfillment of certain closing conditions, including government approval. The Trussville facility will be AGL Resources’ first LNG facility dedicated solely to the merchant market and will play a role in supplying LNG to Encana.

AGL Resources has been in the business of operating utility LNG facilities for more than 30 years.

Original Article