Some Canadian Gas Spending Shifts From Alberta to B.C. - Administration's New Energy Policy

Calgary Herald by Reuters.  A shift in Canadian natural gas spending to British Columbia’s shale prospects from Alberta’s conventional plays won’t arrest a decline in output over the next two years, the National Energy Board said Wednesday.

Alaska Dispatch.  According to The New York Times, the Obama administration plans to expand upcoming Interior Department offshore oil and gas lease sales to include large swaths of the Atlantic Coast and Eastern Gulf of Mexico. Under the plan, pending lease sales for Southwest Alaska's Bristol Bay will be canceled and the area protected, and four pending lease sales in Alaska's Beaufort and Chukchi Seas will be canceled pending scientific research. Read much more, here. The Houston Chronicle is running a story that contains a slightly longer (but still brief) treatment of the Alaska-centric portion of this story. It confirms that proposed Arctic lease sales have been canceled pending baseline environmental research.ABC News notes that despite the other Alaska cancellations, proposed Cook Inlet lease sales still have a green light under the new plan. Prior to the Obama administration's announcement, Alaska Dispatch's own Rena Delbridge spoke to Shell Alaska vice president Pete Slaiby about how critical the new plan would be to the company's offshore Arctic plans. Answer? Real critical. Read more, here.