California Postpones Oil, Gas Lease Auctions

California's Monterey Shale is continuing to be the talk of the industry after the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently announced plans to postpone upcoming federal lease auctions in the state. The prolific play, that holds more shale oil than anywhere else in the country, has the potential to pull the state out of its downward debt spiral but has been caught in a tug of war between proponents and environmentalists since the shale boom occurred in the nation.

The federal land managers postponed an auction scheduled for later this month that would have put more than 1,300 acres of prime public lands up for bids. Another auction scheduled in Colusa County, about 75 miles northwest of Sacramento auctioning about 2,000 acres was put on hold until the end of this year.

"Our priority is processing permits to drill that are already in flight rather than work on new applications," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told reporters Tuesday after a Senate budget hearing in Washington.

The Monterey Shale, which stretches from Central California down through Southern California is estimated to hold more than 15.4 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

"We want to get the greenhouse gas emissions down, but we also want to keep our economy going," said Governor Jerry Brown (D, California), during a March 13 press conference to discuss the issue. "That's the balance that is required."

The decision to postpone the auctions is loosely based on a recent federal judge ruling that BLM had violated a key environmental law when the energy auctioned the drilling rights for other parcels near the Salinas River Valley. The judge cited that the agency failed to review the impacts on water, wildlife and air quality. A group of environmentalists sued the bureau for not properly reviewing the environmental risks associated with hydraulic fracturing and other types of oil and gas development.

"America has a game changing opportunity to build a stronger economy and to secure a brighter energy future thanks to our vast supplies of newly accessible oil and natural gas," said John Felmy, American Petroleum Institute chief economist in a conference all to reporters Thursday.

"Full development of these resources could mean millions more jobs, stronger and more rapid economic growth, and trillions in added tax revenue, all while strengthening our position vis-à-vis the geopolitics of oil and natural gas markets. Unfortunately, current federal policy continues to prevent our nation from taking full advantage of this opportunity. The most recent example of this is BLM's decision to postpone oil and natural gas lease sales in California until the fall, at the earliest."  

Postponing the leasing auction does not mean that drilling on existing leases will stop, stated BLM spokesman David Christy in a release. The agency is concentrating its limited resources on enforcement on existing leases and other priorities, such as granting renewable energy permits, he said.

With more than 10 years of journalism experience, Robin Dupre specializes in the offshore sector of the oil and gas industry. Email Robin at rdupre@rigzone.com.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

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California Postpones Oil, Gas Lease Auctions

California's Monterey Shale is continuing to be the talk of the industry after the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently announced plans to postpone upcoming federal lease auctions in the state. The prolific play, that holds more shale oil than anywhere else in the country, has the potential to pull the state out of its downward debt spiral but has been caught in a tug of war between proponents and environmentalists since the shale boom occurred in the nation.

The federal land managers postponed an auction scheduled for later this month that would have put more than 1,300 acres of prime public lands up for bids. Another auction scheduled in Colusa County, about 75 miles northwest of Sacramento auctioning about 2,000 acres was put on hold until the end of this year.

"Our priority is processing permits to drill that are already in flight rather than work on new applications," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told reporters Tuesday after a Senate budget hearing in Washington.

The Monterey Shale, which stretches from Central California down through Southern California is estimated to hold more than 15.4 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

"We want to get the greenhouse gas emissions down, but we also want to keep our economy going," said Governor Jerry Brown (D, California), during a March 13 press conference to discuss the issue. "That's the balance that is required."

The decision to postpone the auctions is loosely based on a recent federal judge ruling that BLM had violated a key environmental law when the energy auctioned the drilling rights for other parcels near the Salinas River Valley. The judge cited that the agency failed to review the impacts on water, wildlife and air quality. A group of environmentalists sued the bureau for not properly reviewing the environmental risks associated with hydraulic fracturing and other types of oil and gas development.

"America has a game changing opportunity to build a stronger economy and to secure a brighter energy future thanks to our vast supplies of newly accessible oil and natural gas," said John Felmy, American Petroleum Institute chief economist in a conference all to reporters Thursday.

"Full development of these resources could mean millions more jobs, stronger and more rapid economic growth, and trillions in added tax revenue, all while strengthening our position vis-à-vis the geopolitics of oil and natural gas markets. Unfortunately, current federal policy continues to prevent our nation from taking full advantage of this opportunity. The most recent example of this is BLM's decision to postpone oil and natural gas lease sales in California until the fall, at the earliest."  

Postponing the leasing auction does not mean that drilling on existing leases will stop, stated BLM spokesman David Christy in a release. The agency is concentrating its limited resources on enforcement on existing leases and other priorities, such as granting renewable energy permits, he said.

With more than 10 years of journalism experience, Robin Dupre specializes in the offshore sector of the oil and gas industry. Email Robin at rdupre@rigzone.com.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

View the original article here

California Postpones Oil, Gas Lease Auctions

California's Monterey Shale is continuing to be the talk of the industry after the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently announced plans to postpone upcoming federal lease auctions in the state. The prolific play, that holds more shale oil than anywhere else in the country, has the potential to pull the state out of its downward debt spiral but has been caught in a tug of war between proponents and environmentalists since the shale boom occurred in the nation.

The federal land managers postponed an auction scheduled for later this month that would have put more than 1,300 acres of prime public lands up for bids. Another auction scheduled in Colusa County, about 75 miles northwest of Sacramento auctioning about 2,000 acres was put on hold until the end of this year.

"Our priority is processing permits to drill that are already in flight rather than work on new applications," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told reporters Tuesday after a Senate budget hearing in Washington.

The Monterey Shale, which stretches from Central California down through Southern California is estimated to hold more than 15.4 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

"We want to get the greenhouse gas emissions down, but we also want to keep our economy going," said Governor Jerry Brown (D, California), during a March 13 press conference to discuss the issue. "That's the balance that is required."

The decision to postpone the auctions is loosely based on a recent federal judge ruling that BLM had violated a key environmental law when the energy auctioned the drilling rights for other parcels near the Salinas River Valley. The judge cited that the agency failed to review the impacts on water, wildlife and air quality. A group of environmentalists sued the bureau for not properly reviewing the environmental risks associated with hydraulic fracturing and other types of oil and gas development.

"America has a game changing opportunity to build a stronger economy and to secure a brighter energy future thanks to our vast supplies of newly accessible oil and natural gas," said John Felmy, American Petroleum Institute chief economist in a conference all to reporters Thursday.

"Full development of these resources could mean millions more jobs, stronger and more rapid economic growth, and trillions in added tax revenue, all while strengthening our position vis-à-vis the geopolitics of oil and natural gas markets. Unfortunately, current federal policy continues to prevent our nation from taking full advantage of this opportunity. The most recent example of this is BLM's decision to postpone oil and natural gas lease sales in California until the fall, at the earliest."  

Postponing the leasing auction does not mean that drilling on existing leases will stop, stated BLM spokesman David Christy in a release. The agency is concentrating its limited resources on enforcement on existing leases and other priorities, such as granting renewable energy permits, he said.

With more than 10 years of journalism experience, Robin Dupre specializes in the offshore sector of the oil and gas industry. Email Robin at rdupre@rigzone.com.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

View the original article here

Iraq Postpones Budget on Account of Kurdistan Dispute

The Iraqi parliament has postponed a vote on the country's 2013 budget, running at $117.5 billion, as lawmakers differ on whether Baghdad should allocate money for companies working in the country's Kurdistan region in the north, lawmakers said Tuesday.

The Kurds have suspended crude oil exports via the Baghdad-controlled export pipeline since December last year, protesting delays in payment to producing companies in the region. Even in November, the Kurds didn't reach the level of 250,000 barrels a day in exports as agreed upon with Baghdad.

"There is no agreement and the vote on the budget has been postponed to an indefinite time," Mahmoud Othman, a leading parliamentarian from the Kurdistan alliance in the federal parliament, told Dow Jones Newswires. The main reason is that the budget hasn't allocated enough money for paying companies exploring for oil and gas in Kurdistan, Mr. Othman added.

The Kurds want the budget to include some 4.2 trillion Iraqi dinars ($3.5 billion) as payments due to oil companies working in the Kurdish region. The Kurds said that this amount would cover retroactive payments from 2010 up to 2013.

Meanwhile the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's bloc in the parliament, the State of the Law, is arguing that the Kurds should first pay for the 250,000 barrels a day they have failed to export from November up to now, said Ibrahim al-Mutlaq, a member of the parliament's finance committee.

The central government in Baghdad has made one payment to companies, but Iraqi officials said last year that they wouldn't pay oil firms a second portion because the Kurdistan Regional Government has failed to reach agreed production under an agreement reached in September.

The KRG further annoyed Baghdad when it started unilateral exports of more than 15,000 barrels a day of oil and condensate via trucks to Turkey at the beggining of January and pledged to increase them gradually. The Kurds also plan to set up their own export pipeline away from the Baghdad-controlled one.

Baghdad paid some IQD650 billion last year to companies but decided to suspend payment of another portion of IQD350 billion because the Kurds suspended exports.

Mr. Othman also said there is disagreement over what percentage of the budget should be allocated to Kurdistan spending. Over the last few years, the national budget has allocated some 17% of spending to Kurdistan assuming that the population in the region makes up some 17% of Iraq's total population.

"Many lawmakers argue that some 17% of budget to Kurdistan is too much and should be made less," Mr. Othman said, adding that the Kurds would accept a fresh population census to determine the percentage but not now as it would delay the budget further.

The KRG and Baghdad are locked on dispute over who should control oil in the Kurdistan region. Baghdad considers scores of oil deals signed with companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Total SA, Gazprom Neft, DNO International ASA and Genel Energy PLC as null and void because they haven't been approved by the central government, while the Kurds argue that they are legal according to the new constitution.

Also there is disagreement over the defense ministry budget, said Mr. al-Mutlaq, a member of the Al-Iraqiya bloc led by former prime minister Ayad Allawi, an opponent of Mr. Maliki.

"The Al-Iraqiya bloc has also asked to deduct some IQD2 trillion from the defense ministry budget and transfer it to families who were affected by recent floods along the river Tigris," Mr. Ibrahim said. "We think that the defense budget is too much," he added.

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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