Calais LNG folds in Maine, leaving Downeast as only remaining LNG project

CALAIS, Maine - Calais LNG has withdrawn its permit application with state environmental regulators.

Unable to find new money after a primary investor pulled out, the developer blamed lingering impacts from the global financial meltdown.

Calais LNG was one of three terminals planned for the St. Croix River and Passamaquoddy Bay, on the Maine-New Brunswick border.

Following its demise, and the failure of an earlier competitor, Quoddy Bay LNG, a single project now represents the final hope for bringing a new source of natural gas directly to eastern Maine.

"We always believed we'd be the last man standing," said Dean Girdis, co-founder and president of Downeast LNG.

Downeast LNG has a site in Robbinston, downriver from Calais. It's slowly moving through the regulatory process and hopes to gain federal permits next year, and state permits in 2012.

TAPI Pipeline signed, sealed - but not yet delivered

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan - Smiling faces and rosy predictions were abundant in Ashgabat when top officials from Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India signed a deal to build a natural-gas pipeline that promises to change the region's energy fortunes.
But while the four countries finally signed off on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India, or TAPI, natural gas pipeline after 15 years of negotiations, the biggest obstacle remains - ensuring security for a project that would wind through some of the most hazardous territory in the world.
According to an RFE/RL broadcast, Afghan President Hamid Karzai addressed the main challenge to the TAPI pipeline becoming operational in 2014, as planned, during the Dec. 11 signing ceremony in the Turkmen capital.

Afghanistan, Karzai promised, would "put in efforts to ensure security both during construction and after completing the project." The country's Mines and Industry Minister Wahidullah Shahrani confirmed that, "5,000 to 7,000 security forces will be deployed to safeguard the pipeline route."
This "huge" project is not important just for Afghanistan. Turkmenistan is anxious to cash in on its huge natural gas reserves, and Pakistan and India are badly in need of additional energy resources.

Annette Bohr, an associate fellow for the Russia-Eurasia program at the London-based Chatham House, notes that, "all of these actors very much wanting this pipeline, but nonetheless we have these security questions that have not improved but, in fact, have become worse if anything."
TAPI's 1,680-kilometer route originates in southern Turkmenistan, winds south through Afghanistan's Herat Province, and then arcs southeast until it reaches Kandahar Province. Kandahar was the spiritual capital for the Taliban movement in Afghanistan, and the city and its surrounding areas remain the heart of the Taliban insurgency against government and foreign forces.
With construction slated to begin in 2012, these sections of the pipeline are the main areas of concern when it comes to security.
"Embarking on pipeline construction across Afghanistan in the midst of a continuing war between a NATO-backed government in Kabul and Taliban forces still operating effectively in much of the country," Bohr explains, "it's just not going to happen."
Afghan Mines and Industry Minister Shahrani expressed confidence that the ability of the pipeline to provide jobs and benefit local communities by supplying new sources of power and heating would be enough to gain the support of local residents. Shahrani said that once locals see the advantage of the pipeline they will shun the Taliban. But for that same reason, observers say, the Taliban would be likely to focus on preventing the pipeline from being built.

Opponents of Keystone XL object to lobbyist from Clinton campaign

WASHINGTON - A statement issued by Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska said a Dec. 9 letter from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton assured him that "the department won't consider the pipeline permit application (for the TransCanada Keystone XL) until the environmental study is done and the department has taken into account all state and federal views about the proposal."

The environmental community is nonetheless calling for the Secretary of State to recuse herself from the decision expected in 2011. Public statements she made in California in October indicate Clinton was already inclined to approve the Keystone XL project, and the groups also now claim there's a potential conflict of interest involving a TransCanada lobbyist who previously worked for Secretary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Due to the international nature of Keystone XL, the U.S. State Department is in charge of TransCanada's request for a presidential permit to build and operate a 1,702-mile pipeline to carry heavy crude oil from oil sands mines in the province of Alberta and across six states to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.

Nelson and other Nebraskans are worried that almost 300 miles of proposed pipeline through 14 counties in their home state has the potential to irreversibly damage an aquifer.

Three watchdog groups are now seeking any correspondence between the State Department and Paul Elliott, a former presidential campaign manager for Hillary Clinton. Elliott is the chief Washington, D.C. lobbyist for TransCanada.

"One of the concerns is that Hillary Clinton has already made up her mind on this pipeline," Stephen Porter, director of the climate change program at the Washington office of the Center for International Environmental Law told Elizabeth McGowan at Solve Climate News in an interview. "Naturally, we are curious to know what kinds of communications there have been. At this point, we don’t know whether there is any connection. If there are connections that aren’t quite right, we want to make those known."

TransCanada still seeking agreements on Alaska gas pipeline project

JUNEAU, Alaska - TransCanada Corp. says it may not meet its goal of securing binding agreements by year's end for a major natural gas pipeline in Alaska, but the company remains optimistic about the project.
TransCanada spokesman James Millar told The Associated Press on Dec. 7 that officials are pleased with negotiations with gas producers so far, but the process is complicated and takes time.

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Occidental divesting Argentine assets, buying new U.S. assets

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) on Dec. 10 announced it has executed an agreement with a subsidiary of China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec) to sell its Argentine oil and gas operations for after-tax proceeds of approximately $2.5 billion.

Occidental also announced that it had executed agreements to purchase oil and gas properties in South Texas and North Dakota for about $3.2 billion. Additionally, Occidental announced that it has signed an agreement to increase its General Partner (GP) ownership in Plains All-American Pipeline Corp. (NYSE: PAA) to approximately 35 percent; and it has agreed to acquire the remaining 50 percent joint venture interest in the Elk Hills Power Plant.

Occidental expects all of these transactions to be completed no later than the end of the first quarter of 2011, subject to normal regulatory approvals.

Dr. Ray R. Irani, chairman and CEO of Occidental, said "In light of our outlook for improved free cash flow, the Board has agreed to increase our common dividend rate by 21 percent from 38 cents per quarter to 46 cents per quarter effective with the April 15th payment. The formal dividend declaration will be made by the Board of Directors in February."

The South Texas assets will be purchased from Shell for about $1.8 billion and currently produce approximately 200 million cubic feet per day of gas equivalent. Shell has owned and operated the properties for many years. The assets will be 100 percent operated by Occidental.

Occidental is purchasing, from a private seller, approximately 180,000 net contiguous acres in North Dakota which produce from the Bakken formation and are prospective in the Three Forks formation. The purchase price is approximately $1.4 billion. The assets currently produce approximately 5,500 BOEPD and Occidental's net risked reserve exposure is in excess of 250 million barrels of oil equivalent. Combined with Occidental's other interests in the Williston Basin, Occidental will have an interest in over 200,000 net acres and over 6,000 BOEPD of production. Occidental expects to grow production in the Williston Basin to at least 30,000 BOEPD over the next five years.

Occidental is purchasing an incremental 13 percent ownership in PAA's general partner, bringing its total ownership in the GP to approximately 35 percent. PAA's operations compliment Occidental's domestic oil and gas operations. Plains is one of the largest operators of oil pipelines in North America with operations in Texas, California, and North Dakota, among other areas. (Source: Market Wire, Dec. 10, 2010)

Cable to Secretary Clinton contradicts Keystone XL position

WASHINGTON - The latest WikiLeaks document dump is relevant to the controversy over pending U.S. State Department approval of construction of TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada's tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast and points between.

The relevant document implies that a previously confidential diplomatic cable sent to President Barack Obama raised new concerns about the effects of tarsands oil on the environment.

Several environmental groups, including BOLD Nebraska and Friends of the Earth, have criticized Canada's tarsands oil production program. If approved by the United States government, tarsands oil would be transported from Canada to Texas through Keystone XL.

Critics of the pipeline argue a leak would endanger the Ogallala Aquifer which provides much needed water for agriculture and nearly 80 percent of Nebraska's drinking water.

According to the January 2009 cable sent by Terry Breese, the man in charge of the U.S. embassy in Ottawa, the environmental impact of the oil is in question. Breese writes, "There is keen sensitivity over the higher environmental footprint of oil from western Canada's oil sands."

Friends of the Earth is arguing the cable contradicts recent comments from U.S. officials including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has final say over the pipeline and who has indicated she is leaning toward approval.

In a news release, Friends of the Earth says the cable’s "candid admission of the impacts of tar sands oil production, which results in three times more global warming pollution than production of conventional oil, differs markedly from the description of tar sands oil given by the State Department in public documents."