-The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis today reported the energy industry drove strong economic growth in states such as Texas and North Dakota last year. Via FuelFix, the economies of both states grew more than 3.5% last year. The national GDP, meanwhile, grew by 1.8%. Not all energy-producing states were so lucky — the economies of Pennsylvania and New York grew less than 1% and Alaska was the only state whose GDP declined last year.
-Kinder Morgan subsidiary Tennessee Gas altered its Northeast Expansion Project to include a 117-mile supply link between its pipelines in Susquehanna County, Pa., and Schoharie County, N.Y. The link will connect with the Iroquois Gas Transmission System. Via Platts, the expanded project — renamed the Northeast Direct Energy Project — will be scalable up to 2.2 billion cubic feet per day of capacity and may cost $2-3 billion to construct.
-TransCanada CEO Russ Girling said his company would file an application for a CAN$12 billion pipeline in mid-August. Via Reuters, the Energy East pipeline would carry 1.1 millions barrels of oil sands crude per day to refineries in Quebec and New Brunswick.
-Royal Dutch Shell sold its Orion oil sands property in Alberta to Osum Oil Sands Corp. for CAN$325 million. Via the Financial Post, upstart Osum is optimistic about its prospects in the oil sands, where other small firms have thus far struggled due in part to a lack of producing assets. The Orion field pumped approximately 6,700 barrels of bitumen per day in the first quarter of this year.
-The House Energy and Commerce committee will hold a hearing June 19 on President Obama’s newly released emission reduction standards for existing power plants. The proposal seeks to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 30% of 2005 levels by 2030. Critics of the rule say it would render coal-fired power generation economically unviable in the U.S.
