Global Energy News Briefs for the First Week of May

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News highlights gathered by Industrial Info and IIR Energy (Sugar Land, Texas) over the past week.

PRODUCTION
Devon, Chesapeake Consider Refracking Natural Gas Wells - In their earnings conference calls last week, executives from Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN) (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) and Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) (Oklahoma City) said on Wednesday that they are testing techniques to refrack natural gas shale wells. Devon is testing wells in the Barnett Shale, while Chesapeake has identified older wells in both the Haynesville and Barnett shale areas that could possibly be refracked.

Shale Oil Producers Tentatively Gear Up for Increased Production - Oil's price increase over the past weeks has led some of the major shale producers to begin talking about increasing drilling activity and completing previously drilled wells. Major shale oil producers Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) (Irving, Texas) and EOG Resources Incorporated (NYSE:EOG) (Houston, Texas) have both expressed that they will begin increasing oil production in the shale plays in the coming months if prices continue their current trend.

POLICY
Elections Bring New Energy Policies - The election of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in Alberta, home to Canada's oil sands, ended 44 years of Progressive Conservative rule in the province and sent Canada's energy stocks tumbling as the NDP has pledged to raise corporate taxes and reduce subsidies to the province's oil and gas companies.

In the U.K., the re-election of David Cameron's Conservative government has the wind industry worried, as the party has vowed to stop further development of onshore windfarms.

China's Crude Imports Reach New Record, Coal Declines - China continues increasing its strategic petroleum reserve while crude oil prices remain relatively low. The country imported 7.4 million barrels per day in April, up 8.6% from April 2014 and up 13% from March. The country's coal imports fell 26% from last year.

LNG
Energy Department Grants Export Permission to Cove Point LNG Project - The U.S. Department of Energy has granted permission for Dominion Resources (NYSE:D) (Richmond, Virginia) to export LNG from its Cove Point facility in Maryland to countries without a free trade agreement with the U.S. The plant received permission to export 0.77 billion standard cubic feet per day of natural gas for a period of 20 years.

Croatia Resurrects LNG Terminal Plan - Croatia has resurrected plans to build its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in an effort to reduce its reliance on Russian energy imports. The Balkan country intends to build a 600 million-euro ($674 million) import terminal with an estimated capacity of up to 6 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per annum. Mladen Antunovic, managing director of state-owned LNG Croatia, which is overseeing the project, said that work will start in 2016 and last three years.

Egypt Seeks Second FLNG Terminal - Egypt has issued a five-year tender to lease a second floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) import terminal. The country received its first terminal last month from Norway.

CRUDE OIL
Drawdown in U.S. Reserves Pushes Oil Price Up - Wednesday's report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration that U.S. crude oil reserves had declined by 3.9 million barrels pushed both WTI and Brent crude prices to the highest seen in 2015. The report was the first to show a decline in U.S. crude inventories in 17 weeks. However, a strengthening dollar and the realization that that U.S. crude reserves are still an extremely high 487 million barrels helped drive down crude prices down the following day.

POWER
U.S. Solar, Wind Power to Continue Growth in 2015 - Renewable solar and wind power projects enjoy a great deal of support across the U.S., according to a recent Gallup poll. Electricity-generating companies will add about 20 gigawatts (GW) of capacity to the grid in 2015, most of which will come from renewable energy sources, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) (Washington D.C.).

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About IIR Energy
Energy asset information on power plants, oil refineries and natural gas infrastructure is now more important than ever. A unit of Industrial Info Resources IIR Energy provides infrastructure information on these assets, as well as real-time tracking of planned and unplanned interruptions affecting the trading, logistics and marketing communities. We are the number one source for information about electricity outages, refinery turnarounds and midstream natural gas disruptions.

About Industrial Info
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.