DECEMBER 2012
The Canadian government approved two acquisitions by international, state-owned energy companies (Petronas and CNOOC) for Canadian oil sands and shale gas assets, but indicated that approval for future transactions by other state-owned enterprises for petroleum assets would be approved only under exceptional circumstances.
Latest forecasts call for oil and gas companies to spend $28 billion in the South Texas Eagle Ford play during 2013.
Noble Energy Inc. plans to invest $1.7 billion in the Denver- Julesburg basin, primarily in northern Colorado, during 2013, and the company estimates its net reserves in Wattenberg and Niobrara at 2.1 billion boe.
Light sweet crude: $85/bbl
Natural gas: $2.40/MMbtu
DECEMBER 2015
US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee members generally agreed that tougher federal offshore oil and gas well control regulations should be adopted soon, but they disagreed over whether the Obama administration's proposed regulations go too far or not far enough.
It was hardly surprising that US senators quietly started to discuss ending the 40-year-old ban on exporting
domestically produced crude oil in exchange for extending renewable and alternative energy research tax credits.
Devon Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, has agreed to acquire 80,000 net surface acres in the Anadarko basin STACK play from a Denver-based portfolio company of EnCap Investments for $1.9 billion. In a second deal, Devon has agreed to acquire 253,000 net acres in the Powder River basin for $600 million.
Light sweet crude: $37/bbl
Natural gas: $2.04/MMbtu
DECEMBER 2018
Qatar reported Dec. 3 it would withdraw from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries on Jan. 1, 2019, putting an end to its 57-year membership in the oil producers’ cartel. Qatar, which said it intends to focus on its natural gas production, made the announcement ahead of the Dec. 6 OPEC meeting.
Russia seizes three Ukrainian patrol vessels and their crews in the Kerch Strait near the Black Sea on Nov. 25. The event provides a dramatic reason for speakers at a Nov. 28 discussion at the Atlantic Council in Washington to call for more changes in Ukraine’s energy system, if the government in Kiev is serious about wanting the country to break free of Russian influence.
On Nov. 30, the US Environmental Protection Agency established quotas for renewable fuels in 2019 and for biomass-based diesel in 2020. The EPA said the conventional renewable fuel quota, which is met primarily by corn-based ethanol, will be maintained at 19 billion gal in 2019, while required advance biofuel volumes will climb by 630 million gal from 2018 to 19.92 billion gal.
Light sweet crude: $54/bbl
Natural gas: $4.45/MMbtu
THE REST OF THE YARN
This month, we meet the developers, including the man that reportedly lost more money (on paper) in the stock market than any other American in history.
Pollard Simons, the Dallas developer and builder of one of the world’s largest shopping malls, was warmly received by both the President and the host. Connally was Simons’ close friend and business associate. Simons had given him the highest hill in his thousand-acre Jamaican resort, Tryall, where Connally built a house described by his Dallas decorator as “Oriental contemporary,” with sliding doors and a sunken bathtub. That was Connally’s headquarters for golfing expeditions, undertaken in the well-known patent- leather shoes in burnt orange and white, and for the cattle venture said to be his and Simons’ joint effort near Montego Bay. Connally entertained men of position in Jamaica, including Gerald Ford and Senator Lloyd Bentsen.
Simons, himself a millionaire many times over, shared Connally’s penchant for luxury. He began his career with a loan of $150 from the First National Bank in Dallas to rent a parking garage. (He originally asked for $300 and was told that if he could make it on $300, he could make it on $150.) He and Connally enjoyed the distinctions among life’s necessities that seemed lost upon their mutual friend Nixon.
- Ross Perot, a young man who resembled a Marine recruit in costly civilian dress, his smile quick and slightly uncertain, was as warmly received as any of the guests. Although he was the founder of Electronic Data Systems and a pacesetter in the Texas electronics and data-processing boom, he did not seem experienced enough to be one of America’s richest men. He believed in the absolute power of money. His efforts to free the prisoners of war in North Vietnam had earned him the reputation of maverick philanthropist and latter- day Don Quixote. The guests likely would have applauded his patriotism, while at the same time being secretly horrified that he drew so much attention to himself and his covert undertakings. Nixon admired Perot’s zealous approach, and through Connally, he later appealed to Perot to save the Wall Street firm of duPont Glore Forgan, Inc., and therefore the nation. Perot agreed, thus losing, it’s said, more money on paper in the stock market in one day than any other American in history.
Next month, we meet the lawyers and the bright satellites of leadership.
HISTORY QUIZ
What event signaled the end of efforts to commercialize casinghead gas?
If you would like to participate in this month’s quiz, e-mail your answer to contest@spe.org by noon, December 15.
The winner, who will be chosen randomly from all correct answers, will receive a $50 gift card to a nice restaurant (courtesy of the ProTechnics Division of Core Laboratories).
ANSWER TO NOVEMBER’S QUIZ
The first major gas discovery in the Alberta Province of Canada occurred near Medicine Hat.
OCTOBER'S QUIZ RESULTS
Congratulations to October’s winner, Robert Urbanowski with Precision Drilling.