ExxonMobil

Can proposed North Slope gas pipeline take on competition?

Sep. 16, 2009
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The proposed North Slope gas pipeline hit another bump yesterday when a Calgary-based global energy consultant counted down multiple obstacles hindering the success of the project, reports Elizabeth Bluemink of the Anchorage Daily News.
One of the prime concerns was competition between the proposed pipeline, which is planned to run from Alaska through Canada to the lower United States, and cheaper gas found at basins in the lower 48 near metropolitan areas. The consultant said tight control of costs associated with the pipeline project would be the only way to stay in the competition.
The project is being pursued by two separate business groups with holdings in on the North Slope. BP and Conoco Phillips have partnered in promoting the Denali Gas Pipeline, while TransCanada and ExxonMobil are developing plans for their own Alaska Pipeline Project. Vice President Tony Palmer of TransCanada hopes the two projects eventually will merge, according to the article.
Gas prices are down right now, which means even some drills in the Lower 48 have temporarily stopped. The corporations involved in the project are optimistic. They expect natural gas prices will rise in 2010, making the North Slope project competitive again.
InvestigateWest reported earlier on the proposed Alaska pipeline here.
-- Emily Linroth

North Slope drilling continues, affects birds

Sep. 10, 2009
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ExxonMobil completed drilling its second well on Alaska's North Slope, reports the Associated Press. Both wells in Point Thomson, a natural gas and condensatefield, are expected to be drilled to their final depths by the end of 2010. The field contains an estimated 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which is only 25 percent of the North Slope's resources. ExxonMobil plans to cycle gas by injecting it back into the reservoir, making it the largest gas cycling plant worldwide. It also plans to connect a pipeline to the TransAlaska Pipeline System.

The gas in Point Thomson is crucial for the development of a proposed multi-billion dollar pipelinethrough Canada and into the lower 48 states. ExxonMobil is backing TransCanada Corp. in the creation of the pipeline, and BP and Conoco Phillips are working on their own pipeline project, called Denali, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Development of the North Slope has spawned controversy for years about the cost of the pipeline necessary to get the gas out, as well as environmental impacts. A recent study shows the massive project has had a negative impact on birds who nest in the area, reportsAndrew C. Revkin in the New York Times.

– Emily Linroth

ExxonMobil "green company of the year?" Puh-leeze!

Aug. 26, 2009
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It was one thing to see ExxonMobil's ad right on the front page of The Wall Street Journal on Monday, headlined "Energy from algae" and rhapsodizing about how its research efforts could someday result in algae taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Fair enough. If a company decides to spend $600 million on research aimed at heading off disastrous levels of climate change, it can legitimately give itself a highly visible public pat on the back.

exxonmobilheaderlogo1But then I came across the Forbes piece, also published on Monday, that calls ExxonMobil the "green company of the year." Puh-leeze! (Subhead: "Oil from algae? Just a sideshow, Exxon's real thrust into green energy is a big bet on natural gas.")

One need look no further than today's headlines to see that ExxonMobil, far from being a "green" company, is pleading guilty to killing migratory birds.

OK, so obviously Forbes writer Christopher Heiman was reporting his piece long before this dead-birds case hit the news. But still, the mind reels trying to figure out how he and his editors could have come to the conclusion that ExxonMobil is somehow worthy of high praise for its environmental record.

Curtis Brainerd's "The Observatory" column for Columbia Journalism Review does a thorough job of explaining why Forbes stumbled badly here, simply based on the fact that Heiman found that natural gas is significantly better than coal from a greenhouse-gas standpoint. True enough, and it's also true that Exxon's going great guns on natural gas.

ExxonMobil's guilty plea -- a step toward protecting migratory birds?

Aug. 13, 2009
in

Exxon Mobil Corp. pleaded guilty today in the deaths of 85 protected migratory birds, most of which died after landing in or ingesting oily waste in the firm’s natural gas well reserve pits and wastewater storage facilities, reports the Associated Press. A violation of the international Migratory Bird Treaty Act, ExxonMobil  has agreed to pay $600,000 in fines, or around $7,000 per bird.

The battle between waste storage sites and migratory bird routes is a national dilemma, with major bird flyways stretching up and down the continent and spanning the globe. While the birds that died under ExxonMobil’s watch perished in drilling and production facilities in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming, there are similar tales panning out across the West. (Readers: We're working to understand the condition of the Pacific Flyway. If you know about this, please e-mail me at nwalker (at) invw.org.)

In Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, residents and tribe members have been battling state and federal agencies, who plan to use a local repository as a dumping site for nearly 40,000 truckloads of soil contaminated with heavy metals, a byproduct of a century of mining pollution, reports Becky Kramer of The Spokesman-Review. Besides concerns about storing the toxic waste in an area that floods regularly and fear that the 30-feet high dumps may obstruct the views of Cataldo Mission, a National Historic Landmark, the site resides just 3,000 feet from a river and a thriving wetland.

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