Barnett Shale

Exxon to expand Baytown chemical production

Exxon Mobil says it plans to add petrochemical production capacity at its Baytown complex to take advantage of inexpensive domesticl natural gas. The Houston Chronicle's FuelFix blog has a report here.

-- Jim Fuquay

Exxon CEO sees more gas demand from power industry

Natural gas will continue to displace coal for power generation, and represents the best opportunity for the natural gas industry to boost domestic demand, Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson said Wednesday.Speaking after the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Dallas, Tillerson predicted that “as additional electricity capacity has to be built out, there’s going to be a substantial increase in natural gas-fired power generation,” both when replacing older coal-fired power plants and when used as a complement to wind power’s fluctuating output.

Tillerson addressed the demand issue in relation to the Irving-based company’s acquisition of Fort Worth-based XTO Energy two years ago. While Exxon expected natural gas prices to weaken from their levels at the time of the purchase, the weak economy has further depressed prices by stalling demand growth, he said.During the shareholder’s meeting, Tillerson also repeated Exxon’s interest in exporting natural gas from North America, where a supply glut has produced the lowest prices in a decade. He said the company continues to study the prospects of a Gulf Coast terminal and a western Canada terminal to ship liquefied natural gas to overseas markets, where the fuel draws a considerably higher price than in North America.

In other actions at the annual meeting, shareholders rejected two environmental proposals, one calling for further disclosure of risks involved with hydraulic fracturing and another for setting goals for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

-- Jim Fuquay

 

Nobody wants the Exxon Valdez

The stigma surrounding the Exxon Valdez and its 1989 oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound apparently remains so strong that India won't even let the infamous tanker to be dismantled in its waters. Indian companies turn retired ships into scrap after beaching them, but the nation's Supreme Court granted an environmentalist's request to ban the Valdez, now named Oriental Nicety, on the grounds that it must first be decontaminated in its country of export. The story is here.

-- Jim Fuquay

Exxon first-quarter earnings down 11 percent

Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp.'s earnings dipped 11 percent in the first quarter to $9.45 billion, or $2 a share, on lower production and downstream earnings. Profit was short of Wall Street estimates and the company's shares were down in early trading. For more, see the Star-Telegram's report here.

-- Jim Fuquay

XTO's Williams says industry at "decisive moment"

Low natural gas prices are lifting the U.S. economy even as "many citizens are asking questions" about environmental impacts, producing "a decisive moment" in the nation's energy policies, XTO Energy's CEO Jack Williams told an industry meeting in Fort Worth today. Industry needs to continue to pursue more disclosure, such as the FracFocus website listing chemicals used in wells around the country, further monitor wells after drilling and completion and address new issues such as earthquakes near oil and gas operations to meet those concerns, Williams said. He applauded President Barack Obama's support for an "all of the above" solution to meeting U.S. energy needs, while asserting that "sound energy policies do not pick winners and losers" or include "punitive tax policies."

Williams said a similar picture exists in much of the rest of the world, where oil and natural gas shale deposits are providing relatively common. Today's low prices present a challenge to the continued development of natural gas, he said, but XTO will continue parent Exxon Mobil's historical long-term approach to development. He said XTO has completed 16 acquisitions since Exxon bought it nearly two years ago.

-- Jim Fuquay

Fortune: "The United States of Natural Gas"

Check out the current newsstand edition of Fortune, which you might say is a gas, gas, gas. The mag gives its cover to its main feature, headlined "The United States of Natural Gas," and its online site lists three stories on the same topic (but, alas, not links to the stories themselves). We'll have to go by the headlines and blurbs listed online, which give a good idea of what's inside: "Exxon's big bet on shale gas," "Will gas crowd out wind and solar?", and "America's new job machine is heating up."  A link to the magazine's online page on the issue is here.

-- Jim Fuquay

Chesapeake sells $2.6 billion in assets

Chesapeake Energy continued its sale of assets to reduce debt, dealing properties and production to three different buyers, including Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp. Bloomberg News has a report here.

-- Jim Fuquay

Industry pushes feds for fracking rules

A look at the back-shop workings of the regulatory process is posted here at The Hill, which details lobbying efforts by the energy industry on federal rules that will govern hydraulic fracturing on federal lands. The popular Capitol blog documents meetings between top regulators and individual companies and trade groups. Not the most exciting reading, but instructional in how the rules get written. And lest anyone think that only corporations lobby, The Hill has a companion piece on the environmental community's efforts to buck up the White House's resolve on upcoming EPA air pollution rules related to drilling.

-- Jim Fuquay

Exxon must allow shareholder resolution on fracturing

The Securities and Exchange Commission told Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp. that it can't refuse to include a shareholder resolution on hydraulic fracturing from its upcoming proxy report. That means it will likely be voted upon at the energy giant's annual meeting set for May 30. Here's a report.

-- Jim Fuquay

Exxon's Tillerson cites government role in developing new reserves

Rex Tillerson, CEO of Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp., told the big CERAWeek energy conference in Houston that state and federal governments will play an important role in the safe and efficient development of crude oil and natural gas reserves transforming the continent’s energy supplies. Bloomberg News has a report here.

 Jim Fuquay