Category

Natural Gas

Electricity, Natural Gas, Podcast, Regulations

Columbia Energy Exchange: Regulators in the Trenches

March 9, 2018

Interest in energy policy often focuses on Washington, where actions by the Trump administration, Congress and agencies like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission receive much of the attention. But it’s easy to forget how much happens in the states, where utility commissioners play a big role in determining how energy is delivered to consumers and at what cost. That’s why I sat down with John “Jack” Betkoski III, the new president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, in this latest episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast. Listen to it here, and let me know what you think!

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by Bill Loveless
Natural Gas, Oil, Podcast, Policy

Columbia Energy Exchange: Tommy Beaudreau

May 3, 2017

President Trump has ordered the Department of the Interior to consider sweeping changes in the government’s plan for offshore oil and natural gas drilling, including opening areas in the Arctic and off the Atlantic Coast where exploration and production was prohibited by President Obama before he left office. What will it take to implement Trump’s plan, and how likely is it to happen? In this episode of the “Columbia Energy Exchange,” host Bill Loveless looks for answers from a man who ran the offshore oil and gas program for Obama, Tommy Beaudreau. Beaudreau is now a partner with the law firm Latham & Watkins in Washington and a non-resident fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. He and Jason Bordoff, the founding director of the center, have just completed a paper on the topic: “What’s Next…

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by Bill Loveless
Blog, Electricity, Natural Gas, Oil

Oil and gas M&A off to strong start in 2017

April 20, 2017

Investor interest in U.S. oil and natural gas soared in the first quarter of 2017, as measured in mergers and acquisitions. The professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers reports $73 billion in announced deals for the quarter, representing a striking 160% increase in deal value compared to results in the first quarter of 2016. That’s a record high for oil and gas deals in the first quarter of any year since PwC began tracking such activity in 2002. “Pleased by a pro-energy policy agenda taking shape, reassured by the relative steadiness of the price of oil, and encouraged by advances in shale technology, investors entered 2017 with renewed optimism,” PwC says in a report released April 20. The surge was driven by the upstream segment, with the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico continuing to stand out. In all, PwC cites…

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by Bill Loveless