Sep 2012

The Western Australian government has introduced new environmental regulations that force operators to inform the public of the nature of chemicals used to drill unconventional wells in the state

Governments need to strike the right balance between community expectations and the development of unconventional resources in Australia to avoid losing billions of dollars of investment, says the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (Ceda)

The Argentine government has launched its powerful new hydrocarbons commission, which will be tasked with regulating investment and setting prices in the energy sector

Australia has signed up to join the EU’s carbon emission trading scheme in what both hope is the first step towards a global carbon market, but is Europe's troubled market the best model?

Shell has made a long-awaited decision to proceed with Canada’s first large-scale carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project

The rush to develop a shale-gas industry in Australia is gaining pace

The Czech Republic appears to be moving towards a moratorium on shale-gas exploration as ministers plan to meet in October to discuss a proposed two-year ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) while the country seeks to tighten environmental regulations on the controversial drilling practice

Shell has made a long-awaited decision to proceed with Canada’s first large-scale carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project

State-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) is poised to take a stake in Canada’s oil sands. The details of the agreement, with Athabasca Oil Corporation, have yet to be disclosed, vbut Athabasca's shares have risen in anticipation of a deal

Pipeline operator Enbridge has proposed a new natural gas pipeline to link the fast-growing Utica shale with markets in Canada and the US midwest

Chinese unconventional gas developer Henan CBM is set to split its Xiushan shale-gas block into four separate prospects that it plans to offer for joint exploration with foreign companies

An Australian court has told Dart Energy it cannot start drilling at its Fullerton Cove coal-bed methane (CBM) project in New South Wales (NSW) until a full legal challenge from a group protesting its plans is heard

China has launched its long-awaited second shale-gas licensing round, putting 20 blocks on the table

The prospect of gas pricing reforms could help bolster production from China’s coal-bed methane (CBM) sector if Beijing makes good on its promises, say analysts

Neither a stock release nor the promise of Saudi oil is likely to break the market’s fever

Canada’s largest natural gas producer Encana has cleared itself in an internal investigation over allegations that it colluded with Chesapeake Energy in US land purchases, but still faces a potentially costly federal anti-trust investigation over the matter

BP edges closer to divestment target with the sale of Plains Exploration for $5.5bn

Shale gas could bolster Europe’s energy security and lower prices, but it would do little to reduce the continent’s import dependency even under the most optimistic development scenario, the European Commission has said in a new report

Canada’s largest natural gas producer Encana has cleared itself in an internal investigation over allegations that it colluded with Chesapeake Energy in US land purchases, but still faces a potentially costly federal anti-trust investigation over the matter

The company has halted operations temporarily, as it waits for the ice to shift

Bazhenov's potential under the spotlight as Putin backs unconventionals hunt

South Africa has lifted its 18-month moratorium on shale-gas exploration, opening the door for Shell and others to start early-stage exploration work in the Karoo basin, but warned that the country’s regulations need to be bolstered before full exploration – including hydraulic fracturing (fracking) – is allowed to go ahead

After a flurry of major M&A deals in the upstream segment last year, cash-rich companies are making moves a little further up the value chain

The chief executive's resignation makes the sale less likely for Talisman

Cash-strapped Chesapeake Energy is moving closer towards plugging a $13 billion hole in its balance sheet following the $6.9 billion sale of a package of production and pipeline assets in the US

With oil prices expected to remain above $100 per barrel into 2013, the fuel subsidy burdens shouldered by many Asian governments will speed up the pace of market deregulation and could cut oil demand growth, consultancy Wood Mackenzie believes

Investors are primed to get a better understanding of Australia’s shale-gas potential as early as next year once results from Geoscience Australia’s new onshore study becomes available

UK gas group BG is struggling to sell a stake in its Queensland Curtis coal-bed methane (CBM) to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Australia

North Dakota’s liquids production, primarily from the Bakken, is nearing 675,000 barrels per day (b/d) for the first time

The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has opened its doors to coal-bed methane (CBM) exploration after overturning a moratorium on hydraulic fracture stimulation and a freeze on licensing

Governments across Mena should loosen control of their energy sectors, allow private firms a greater share of the upstream and push development of vast natural gas deposits in a bid to diversify their economies and remain competitive, said one of the region’s rising energy stars

BG Group and Spectra Energy Corporation are poised to build and operate an 850 km pipeline

A decision to withhold approvals for US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports will leave domestic producers cooling their heels until after presidential elections

Brazil holds potentially vast unconventional gas resources in basins across the country, but exploration remains at the very early stages and the country’s regulatory framework must be improved before progress can be made, a top official at the ANP, Brazil’s upstream regulator, has said

UK-based BG Group and Houston-based Spectra Energy Corporation are poised to build and operate an 850 km pipeline which will carry feedstock to a liquefied natural gas plant on the British Columbia (BC) coast

The economic-fiscal framework for unconventional resources is rapidly evolving, write Pedro van Meurs, Barry Rodgers and Jerry Kepes

Amid increasing pressure from the industry, Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff has given the go-ahead for the country’s first licensing round since 2008

A new book documenting US-Iran relations since 1979 will leave its readers very glum about the prospects for peace

Weather and protests have contributed to low global production in August

The bond-buying programme is a bid to jump start US economic growth

China’s bid to buy Canadian producer Nexen has met with a cautious reponse

There are plenty of new developments on the table, but producers need to play a long game, says IEA senior gas analyst Anne-Sophie Corbeau

How will the world’s largest gas exporter diversify away from pipeline supplies? Tatiana Mitrova, of the Skolkovo Business School’s Energy Centre, considers the options

Rising production and a deal between Baghdad and the KRG are positive. But fragile politics remain a threat to Iraq

The kingdom doesn't play the spot market, so its pledge to keep pumping can only do so much

Stimulus measures may yet help the country meet its high growth targets. In the meantime, the data remain distinctly bearish

New west-of-Shetland infrastructure should give momentum to exploration and production work in the UK’s last frontier-province

The country’s resources sector has seen growth surge over the past decade, making it one of Latin America’s most attractive destinations for foreign investment. But that success has also sparked a backlash. Justin Jacobs looks at how Peru is reconciling the needs of industry with a growing chorus of domestic demands

Mitt Romney’s energy strategy promises to reach for the stars. Barack Obama’s may be more realistic. Shaun Polczer reports on the US election

The SEC has adopted wide-ranging transparency regulations in a bid to end corruption. The EU is taking steps to adopt similar rules. It is now time for energy sector leaders to fully embrace financial transparency, not hold it up

Alaska’s once-vaunted oil production could fall to nil as early as 2026, according to new estimates by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Australian coal-bed methane (CBM) player Dart Energy is again attempting to spin off its international assets to raise fresh funds after binning a proposed floatation in Singapore earlier this year

Santos has warned that it is too late to avoid gas shortages and higher prices in New South Wales (NSW) following a near two-year delay in coal-bed methane (CBM) exploration in the Australian state

After nearly three years of sitting on the sidelines, ExxonMobil has re-entered the US acquisition market with a $1.6-billion purchase of Bakken assets

Despite reluctance to open its oil sector to foreign investors, Mexico is seeking to expand unconventional natural gas cooperation with the US, including investment in exploration, production and pipelines

Saudi Aramco is looking to delineate unconventional tight-oil and shale-gas resources using expertise gleaned from the US

India’s Reliance Industries and Venezuela’s PdV have signed energy cooperation agreements including a preliminary deal that could see Reliance spend billions of dollars in Venezuela’s Orinoco heavy-oil belt

Shale-gas production in the UK will be slow to come and is unlikely to deliver the kind of cheap natural gas prices buyers enjoy in the US