MMS May Stop Summer Alaska OCS Work - Canada Considers Gulf Spill - Alaska Gasline Benefits Canada, Too - EPA Jumps Into GOM Spill Action - Henry Hub Gas Prices Down

FLASH.........MMS Director Liz Birnbaum sent a letter yesterday to Shell Oil Company President Marvin Odum confirming that MMS will not make a final decision on the requested permits for the drilling of exploration wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas until the Department of the Interior’s report to the President has been submitted and evaluated.  Also see ADN story by Erika Bolstad.  (Comment: Earlier this week we discussed the cumulative effect of Federal actions to shut down Alaska.  We believe that this newest action could inject fatal uncertainty into this summer's Alaska OCS exploration plans.  -dh)

 

EPA announced this morning that, "...since the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico on April 22, 2010, it has mobilized resources to support the U.S. Coast Guard and protect public health and the environment."  It went on to describe activation of an Emergency Operations Center and dispatch of "trained EPA responders, ...and special mobile equipment ... to the Gulf area."  EPA is promoting several online resources:

  • Get air quality and water data
  • Find answers to common questions
  • Submit technology solutions
2) Social media sites:
  • Administrator Jackson's personal account of the response to the oil spill: Facebook and Twitter
  • EPA's announcements about our response: Facebook and Twitter
  • Information about the spill and efforts to stop the oil from flowing
  • Hotlines to report oil on land or injured wildlife
  • Details of how citizens can volunteer 

 

EIA.  Since Wednesday, April 28, natural gas spot prices fell at most market locations across the lower 48 States, with decreases of as much as 7 percent at some points. The Henry Hub natural gas spot price fell $0.19 per million Btu (MMBtu), or about 5 percent, to $4.00 per MMBtu. Prices at the Florida Citygate posted the only increase in the lower 48 States during the report week.  (Personal Note: The Author's 2006 dissent against Regulatory Commission of Alaska rejection of Henry Hub pricing for a Cook Inlet gas supply contract {APL-5} is more evidence that the marketplace is better positioned to benefit consumers than human judges.  Today's Alaska gas supply would be more secure and the prices would have been lower had APL-5 been approved.  'Regulate where we must but deregulate where we can', was a motto the author frequently employed during the years he served as a regulator.  -dh)

CBC.  The National Energy Board is being asked by some oil companies, the Northwest Territories government and other interested parties to postpone upcoming hearings on Beafort Sea drilling in light of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Lethbridge Herald.  Economic benefits from TransCanada Corp.'s planned Alaska natural gas pipeline are Canada's to lose, the outgoing chief executive of North America's largest gas shipper said Friday.  "The $20 billion or more that will be spent on constructing that pipeline on the Canadian side will be a very big economic shot in the arm for our country and for the Yukon in particular," Hal Kvisle told reporters after presiding over his last annual general meeting at the helm of TransCanada (TSX:TRP).