• Texas Shale - Japanese company buys Eagle Ford stake
• PetroChina buys full oil sands stake
• Pipeline plan reaches a milestone
• U.S. shale luring foreign money
• Power generation may electrify slumping gas demand
• Conflicting electric rules upset balance of power: EPA order may force shutdowns, plant operators say
• Natural Gas Proposal a lightning rod: Sponsor in Legislature touts pipeline's economic potential; bill's opponents say it's unfair
• Natural Gas fueling stations popping up around the country
• Companies Bet Big on South Texas Gas Find
• Natural Gas, The New Oil
• Texas, Louisiana pipeline maps inaccurate: Not Knowing What Lies Beneath

Texas Shale - Japanese company buys Eagle Ford stake

A Japanese company has agreed to buy a 35 percent interest in Dallas-based Hunt Oil Co.'s acreage in the Eagle Ford shale of South Texas for $1.3 billion.

The investment by Tokyo-based Marubeni Corp. includes the cost to drill "several hundred wells" over a five- to 10-year period in the shale, Marubeni said in a statement.

Marubeni, with a broad line of businesses including imports, exports and energy, said that its stake in the Eagle Ford covers about 52,000 net acres and that Marubeni and Hunt have agreed to acquire more acreage in there.

"This project has a very positive future, in our view," said Jeanne Phillips, senior vice president for corporate affairs and international relations at Hunt Oil.

PetroChina buys full oil sands stake

TORONTO (AP) -- PetroChina, Asia's largest oil and gas company, is buying the 40 percent interest it didn't own in the MacKay River oil sands project in Canada for US$673 million.

The deal with Athabasca Oil Sands Corp., announced Tuesday, gives PetroChina full ownership in one of the newest of northern Alberta's oil sands developments. Athabasca had sold PetroChina a 60 percent stake in the project last year.

China's state-owned oil companies have invested billions of dollars in exploration or production ventures in Canada, Africa, Latin America and elsewhere.

Industry officials estimate Alberta could yield as much as 175 billion barrels of oil, which would make Canada third only to Saudi Arabia and Venezuela in crude oil reserves.

Pipeline plan reaches a milestone

A pipeline project that could eventually transport up to 190,000 barrels of ethane daily from Appalachian shale fields to the Texas Gulf Coast has secured enough customers to move forward, Enterprise Products Partners announced Tuesday.

The Houston company, which revealed two months ago that it had lined up its first long-term contract to use the pipeline, now says it has enough in place to make the project financially feasible. The 1,230-mile line is expected to begin pumping in early 2014, taking advantage of increased production of natural gas liquids and their lower price relative to oil-based alternatives.

"The willingness of shippers to commit to a term of at least 15 years reflects the long-term potential of shale development in the Appalachian region and provides us with the assurance necessary to build the midstream infrastructure that will facilitate further development of this important domestic resource," Enterprise president and CEO Michael Creel said in a statement.

U.S. shale luring foreign money

Energy companies are funneling billions of dollars into the booming business of U.S. shale drilling. They are investing euros, yuan and krone, too.

Chinese corporation Sinopec and French company Total this week became the latest in a string of foreign firms to announce big bets on the resurgence of U.S. fossil fuel production.

International energy companies are signing billion-dollar deals with U.S. firms to reap the financial benefits of their oil fields and siphon knowledge from their experience in extracting petroleum from dense shale rock to carry the skills overseas.

In return, they are ponying up the funds to get more wells drilled, so the oil and natural gas bounty trapped deep below can get to market quickly.

"The big motivation for (U.S. companies) wanting to find a partner is finding someone with big pockets," said Scott Hanold, energy research analyst for RBC Capital Markets. "They are just money men at the end of the day."

Power generation may electrify slumping gas demand

The natural gas drilling rush that promises to supply a century of the nation's energy needs with domestic fuel is lacking one critical element:

Demand.

Technology that allows drillers to access densely buried fossil fuels has launched a drilling frenzy in shale rock regions, pushing the supply of natural gas to a record high and its prices to cavernous lows. But heat-efficient buildings and a mild autumn up North have curbed consumers' desire for the fuel.

"There's a lot of gas in the marketplace now, but not a lot of places for it to go," said Bruce McDowell, director of policy analysis for the American Gas Association.

Increasingly, industry watchers say, the most promising cure for the glut isn't natural gas-powered vehicles or manufacturing. It's in the declining popularity of coal, the country's dominant power plant fuel.

The federal push to limit emissions has utilities searching for cost-effective alternatives to traditional coal plants.

"We've got to find a way to increase uses for natural gas," McDowell said. "Power generation is the obvious choice."

Conflicting electric rules upset balance of power: EPA order may force shutdowns, plant operators say

WASHINGTON - New environmental regulations, coming amid warnings that Texas might not meet its electricity needs next summer, could set up a legal dilemma for regulators, grid operators and generators.

The Environmental Protection Agency's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which takes effect Jan. 1, requires plants in 28 states including Texas to cut smog- and soot-forming emissions that cross state lines.

Although they have beyond Jan. 1 to come into compliance, power plant operators and their political supporters say the rule will force shutdowns of power plants needed to keep U.S. grid capacity safely above demand. They cite Dallas-based Luminant Generation Co., which says it will idle two coal-fired generating units Jan. 1 to comply with the EPA rule.

Meanwhile, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the state's main electric grid, has projected power reserves will fall below its desired minimum next year.

Natural gas proposal a lightning rod: Sponsor in Legislature touts pipeline's economic potential; bill's opponents say it's unfair

A bill to be considered in the upcoming legislative session could make it easier for natural gas projects to secure financing. But some groups, including those representing heating oil interests, are crying foul, saying the legislative proposal is unfair and amounts to the state underwriting a particular source of energy. Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, said he sponsored the bill with the proposed Kennebec Valley Gas Co. pipeline in mind. Plans call for the $85 million pipeline to pass through Katz's district on its way from Richmond to Madison. "In my view, this gas pipeline is the most important economic development project in the last 20 years in this area," Katz said. "We all know that our high energy costs are making it really difficult to attract and retain good businesses." Katz said aiding construction of the pipeline is his highest priority for the upcoming session.

Natural gas fueling stations popping up around the country

It had to happen sooner or later. Natural gas is considered a much cleaner fuel than petroleum. Now a company called NCI is building natural gas fueling stations in Lee County, Florida for the general public and businesses. The fist will be a service station near Southwest Florida International Airport. Earlier this year, the city of North Little Rock built its first condensed natural gas fueling station, which is open to the public. Consumers, businesses, and governments are gradually making the shift, which should increase demand for natural gas.

Companies bet big on South Texas gas find

Last October, just as the economy was tilting into crisis, a small oil and gas company in Houston quietly announced the discovery of a mammoth natural gas field in South Texas that at any other time might have garnered bigger headlines.

Petrohawk Energy's find, however, did not go unnoticed in the oil and gas industry — and it didn't take long before oil companies large and small began making their moves.

Today, though the economy and natural gas prices remain weak, the Eagle Ford shale remains one of the hottest prospects in North America, and energy companies are moving forward there even as they're pulling back elsewhere.

That's because of what some companies suggest is a virtually recession-proof combination of highly productive wells and low drilling costs they say can yield profits even as natural gas prices hover near seven-year lows.

Natural Gas, The New Oil: As the age of fossil fuels enters a time of efficiency, Houston has the opportunity to keep its leading role oil

Almost from its beginnings 150 years ago this month, the oil industry has been a high-risk international business driven by speculators and technological innovation.

Edwin Drake and the New Haven, Conn., investors who funded the United States' first commercial oil drilling operation in rural Pennsylvania aren't so different from today's venture capitalists betting big on a new, unproven technology, author and energy industry analyst Daniel Yergin says.

Drake was labeled "mad" and came within days of tapping out his funds as he adapted equipment that previously had been used only for water wells in search of a lamp fuel cheaper than whale oil.

Within just a few years, the forest of wells that followed was feeding an international market, says Susan Beates, the curator at the Drake Well Museum in Titusville, Pa.

Despite the similarities with 1859, though, the oil industry in 2009 faces challenges that make past barriers seem like mere bumps in comparison - surging energy demand from the developing world, volatile price swings that spawn both boon and bust, and demands to limit the environmental damage of fossil fuels.

"But the age of oil is not over," Yergin says. "Over the next two to three decades, on a global basis we'll see oil demand increase, but there will be a tremendous drive for us to use it much more efficiently."

That drive, and particularly the role that natural gas may play in it, could help keep another generation of workers in Houston's office towers and refineries employed.

Texas, Louisiana pipeline maps inaccurate: Not Knowing What Lies Beneath

 View Graphic: Pipelines out of position

ON THE CALCASIEU RIVER, LA. - The state-issue Boston Whaler plowed through the beer-bottle-brown Calcasieu River, stirring the calm waters that concealed what coursed below.

From their boat, John Snead and Robert Paulsell were tracking Louisiana's man-made rivers of commerce: the thousands of miles of pipeline that crisscross the state transporting fuel, oil and natural gas mined and refined along the Gulf Coast to distant gas stations and homes.

The two men, mapmakers with the Louisiana Geological Survey, knew the pipelines were down there. They just weren't sure where.

"A map of pipelines in Louisiana looks like a web made by a spider on LSD," Snead said.

The problem is that Louisiana — like many other states, including Texas — doesn't know exactly where all its pipelines are. And the federal government, which is supposed to keep maps of pipelines crossing state lines nationwide, may not be much help, a Houston Chronicle review shows.