The company has contracted FX Drilling Company from Oilmont, Montana, for an eight well drilling program, which is scheduled to commence in January 2008.The Teton prospect covers some 97,400 net acres and is offset to the Gypsy basin which has claimed to have produced over 510,000 barrels of oil from 1280 net acres, to date.
The company said that the key targets for these multi-zone wells are the Madison oil and Sunburst gas formations. The current royalty rate on Primary Petroleum's land in Montana is 12.5%.
December 28, 2007
Primary Petroleum Completes Teton Prospect
MONTANA, Dec 28 (Neo Natura) - Calgary-based exploration and production firm Primary Petroleum has completed its review of the 3D seismic data processing and interpretation on its Teton prospect in Montana, and has initially selected 12 drilling locations to commence its drilling program.
December 21, 2007
More Camelina For Biodiesel
MONTANA, Dec 19 (Neo Natura) - Montana’s newest oilseed crop, camelina, may get a big boost this coming year from two joint ventures announced this fall to develop the crop for biodiesel production.
Montana-based Great Plains Oil and Exploration-The Camelina Co. conducted a series of grower meetings across the state's northern-tier counties in the fall. The company is hoping to recruit growers to expand camelina acres for its new partnerships. In August, Great Plains announced a partnership with INEOS Enterprises, a U.K. manufacturer of specialty chemicals and oil products. The partnership seeks to boost the production of camelina in the state's, Canada and the Pacific Northwest to 100,000 acres. INEOS Enterprises currently has a French plant that crushes more than 100,000 tons of rapeseed each year for the fuel and chemical market. Its Web site indicates plans to dramatically increase its European biodiesel production. Great Plains also has a partnership with Ohio-based Peter Cremer North America LP to supply camelina for the company’s Nexsol brand of biodiesel. Great Plains said it is willing to contract all the camelina acres that Montana growers are willing to plant. In addition, 2007 growers were offered the opportunity to plant up to 50 acres in the fall for harvest in the early summer of 2008 to test the plant’s winter hardiness.
In a separate project, Sustainable Oils Inc. was formed in late November through a joint venture between Seattle-based Targeted Growth Inc. and Houston-based Green Earth Fuels LLC. The new company aims to produce 100 million gallons of camelina-based biodiesel by 2010 in a U.S. location yet to be determined. Targeted Growth is a crop development firm working in the United States and Canada to improve biofuel crops including soybeans, canola and, most recently, camelina. It plans to sell its new camelina seed variety to farmers through Western State Breeders Inc. in Bozeman, Mont. Green Earth operates a 90 MMgy multi-feedstock biodiesel facility in the Galena Park Liquids Terminal owned by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP on Houston’s ship canal.
Montana-based Great Plains Oil and Exploration-The Camelina Co. conducted a series of grower meetings across the state's northern-tier counties in the fall. The company is hoping to recruit growers to expand camelina acres for its new partnerships. In August, Great Plains announced a partnership with INEOS Enterprises, a U.K. manufacturer of specialty chemicals and oil products. The partnership seeks to boost the production of camelina in the state's, Canada and the Pacific Northwest to 100,000 acres. INEOS Enterprises currently has a French plant that crushes more than 100,000 tons of rapeseed each year for the fuel and chemical market. Its Web site indicates plans to dramatically increase its European biodiesel production. Great Plains also has a partnership with Ohio-based Peter Cremer North America LP to supply camelina for the company’s Nexsol brand of biodiesel. Great Plains said it is willing to contract all the camelina acres that Montana growers are willing to plant. In addition, 2007 growers were offered the opportunity to plant up to 50 acres in the fall for harvest in the early summer of 2008 to test the plant’s winter hardiness.
In a separate project, Sustainable Oils Inc. was formed in late November through a joint venture between Seattle-based Targeted Growth Inc. and Houston-based Green Earth Fuels LLC. The new company aims to produce 100 million gallons of camelina-based biodiesel by 2010 in a U.S. location yet to be determined. Targeted Growth is a crop development firm working in the United States and Canada to improve biofuel crops including soybeans, canola and, most recently, camelina. It plans to sell its new camelina seed variety to farmers through Western State Breeders Inc. in Bozeman, Mont. Green Earth operates a 90 MMgy multi-feedstock biodiesel facility in the Galena Park Liquids Terminal owned by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP on Houston’s ship canal.
December 19, 2007
NWE Hikes Utility Rates
MONTANA, Dec 19 (Neo Natura) - State regulators Tuesday granted a temporary 2 percent rate increase for NorthWestern Energy electric-and-gas customers - and it could be permanent by next spring.
The increase, effective Jan. 1, comes on the heels of a proposed agreement by NorthWestern and the state Consumer Counsel to support a permanent 2 percent increase, which would be the first hike in the company's electric and gas delivery rates in nearly eight years. The state Public Service Commission, which approved the temporary rate increase on a 4-1 vote, also scheduled a February hearing on the request to make it permanent.
The 2 percent, $15 million annual increase is about two-thirds less than the amount requested by NorthWestern five months ago.
Under the increase, the average residential customer will pay about $18 more a year for electricity and $25 a year more for natural gas. NorthWestern serves 320,000 customers, most of which are in central and western Montana.
Members of Montana's Public Service Commission say that they want to take a closer look at the rate deal NorthWestern Energy has cut with consumer advocates. The PSC decided on Tuesday to seek more information on the agreement which was reached between the utility and the Montana Consumer Counsel.
Commissioner Brad Molnar, R-Laurel, was the sole commissioner Tuesday to vote against the temporary rate increase.
Molnar said later that NorthWestern already charges the highest delivery rates in the region for natural gas, and that he sees no justification for the high price or an increase.
Molnar also said there's no need to grant NorthWestern a temporary rate increase, because the commission will consider the permanent increase in a couple of months. Approving an increase now amounts to a “piecemeal” approach to rate-making, he said.
Staffers for the PSC pointed out that the Consumer Counsel agreed that the company needs the temporary increase. They also said such increases often take effect while the commission considers an overall rate-change request.
“What it is doing is providing relief for the company,” said Al Brogan, staff attorney for the PSC, noting that NorthWestern faces many inflationary costs.
The increase is in the rates that NorthWestern charges customers to deliver natural gas and electricity to their homes or businesses. Customers pay an additional price for the actual power or natural gas, tied to prices on commodities markets.
The 2 percent increase is on the total price customers pay for the energy and its delivery.
The actual increase that NorthWestern will receive for its delivery rates is higher:
4.7 percent on electricity and 5.4 percent on natural gas.
In July, NorthWestern initially asked for a $42 million increase in electric and gas rates, or 6.6 percent on electricity and about 4 percent on natural gas.
The Consumer Counsel and NorthWestern agreed to support the lower rate in a proposal filed with the PSC on Dec. 7. Consumer Counsel Bob Nelson said the agreement is good for consumers, and NorthWestern said it wanted to avoid a long, contested battle over its rate request.
If the Public Service Commission eventually adopts the agreement, the case would not be complete.
The commission, NorthWestern and others still would have to settle the “rate design,” which is how the increase will be allocated among different types of customers, such as homeowners, business and industrial consumers.
The proposed rate deal includes a promise from the company to provide to customers 21 megawatts of electricity from its Colstrip plant at below-market rates for consumers, for 6 1/2 years.
Eric Eck, chief of utility revenue requirements for the PSC, said Tuesday the below-market power is “an incredible benefit” for customers.
The increase, effective Jan. 1, comes on the heels of a proposed agreement by NorthWestern and the state Consumer Counsel to support a permanent 2 percent increase, which would be the first hike in the company's electric and gas delivery rates in nearly eight years. The state Public Service Commission, which approved the temporary rate increase on a 4-1 vote, also scheduled a February hearing on the request to make it permanent.
The 2 percent, $15 million annual increase is about two-thirds less than the amount requested by NorthWestern five months ago.
Under the increase, the average residential customer will pay about $18 more a year for electricity and $25 a year more for natural gas. NorthWestern serves 320,000 customers, most of which are in central and western Montana.
Members of Montana's Public Service Commission say that they want to take a closer look at the rate deal NorthWestern Energy has cut with consumer advocates. The PSC decided on Tuesday to seek more information on the agreement which was reached between the utility and the Montana Consumer Counsel.
Commissioner Brad Molnar, R-Laurel, was the sole commissioner Tuesday to vote against the temporary rate increase.
Molnar said later that NorthWestern already charges the highest delivery rates in the region for natural gas, and that he sees no justification for the high price or an increase.
Molnar also said there's no need to grant NorthWestern a temporary rate increase, because the commission will consider the permanent increase in a couple of months. Approving an increase now amounts to a “piecemeal” approach to rate-making, he said.
Staffers for the PSC pointed out that the Consumer Counsel agreed that the company needs the temporary increase. They also said such increases often take effect while the commission considers an overall rate-change request.
“What it is doing is providing relief for the company,” said Al Brogan, staff attorney for the PSC, noting that NorthWestern faces many inflationary costs.
The increase is in the rates that NorthWestern charges customers to deliver natural gas and electricity to their homes or businesses. Customers pay an additional price for the actual power or natural gas, tied to prices on commodities markets.
The 2 percent increase is on the total price customers pay for the energy and its delivery.
The actual increase that NorthWestern will receive for its delivery rates is higher:
4.7 percent on electricity and 5.4 percent on natural gas.
In July, NorthWestern initially asked for a $42 million increase in electric and gas rates, or 6.6 percent on electricity and about 4 percent on natural gas.
The Consumer Counsel and NorthWestern agreed to support the lower rate in a proposal filed with the PSC on Dec. 7. Consumer Counsel Bob Nelson said the agreement is good for consumers, and NorthWestern said it wanted to avoid a long, contested battle over its rate request.
If the Public Service Commission eventually adopts the agreement, the case would not be complete.
The commission, NorthWestern and others still would have to settle the “rate design,” which is how the increase will be allocated among different types of customers, such as homeowners, business and industrial consumers.
The proposed rate deal includes a promise from the company to provide to customers 21 megawatts of electricity from its Colstrip plant at below-market rates for consumers, for 6 1/2 years.
Eric Eck, chief of utility revenue requirements for the PSC, said Tuesday the below-market power is “an incredible benefit” for customers.
December 10, 2007
Behind Montana's Natural Gas Usage
Montana currently produces more gas than it consumes. In 2002, Montana produced 86.1 billion cubic feet (bcf) and consumed 69.6 bcf (Tables NG1 and NG2). The bulk of what Montana produces is exported, and the bulk of what Montana consumes is imported. In 1999, for example, Montana produced 61.2 bcf of gas and exported 51.8 bcf total to North Dakota, South Dakota and the Midwest. The reasons for this are the way in which natural gas utilities structure their gas purchasing contracts and the configuration of gas pipelines in Montana.
Most gas produced in Montana comes from the north-central portion of the state. In 2002, the north-central portion accounted for 71% of total production and the northeastern portion of the state accounted for 15% (MBOGC 2003). In-state gas production has been increasing in recent years (Figure 1, below). The south-central and northeastern portions have greatly increased their production level since 1998, resulting in most of the recent statewide increase (MBOGC 2003). Because most gas is exported, increases or decreases in natural gas production in Montana likely have little impact on Montana natural gas consumers.
Coal bed methane development in Montana has not yet become significant, due in part to difficult environmental issues. Some residents in Montana have forcefully opposed methane Connection with Electric Generation Page 2 III-2 development, especially in or near the Powder River Basin. However, with the Montana Environmental Impact Statement completed and released to the public in the fall of 2003, in-state development is expected to increase in the near future. The total amount of methane development that will occur in Montana is yet to be determined. The future extraction of other known gas reserves along Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front likewise is uncertain at this point
December 06, 2007
ConocoPhillips to Expand Montana Refinery
MONTANA, Dec 6 (Neo Natura) - ConocoPhillips is interested in increasing the capacity of its refinery in Billings, Mont., by 16 percent, a state official says.
Jim Hughes, a specialist with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, said officials from the company met with him Wednesday to discuss the project, which would raise the plant's maximum operating capacity to 71,000 barrels a day from 61,000 currently.
Hughes said ConocoPhillips officials told him they plan to submit permit applications for the expansion by the end of February. The project would be completed in 2011.
Houston-based ConocoPhillips had no comment.
The Billings refinery is the second-largest in Montana, behind Exxon Mobil's facility in Billings.
Jim Hughes, a specialist with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, said officials from the company met with him Wednesday to discuss the project, which would raise the plant's maximum operating capacity to 71,000 barrels a day from 61,000 currently.
"They're going to change out their old crude unit and replace it with a new unit," Hughes told Bloomberg News.
Hughes said ConocoPhillips officials told him they plan to submit permit applications for the expansion by the end of February. The project would be completed in 2011.
Houston-based ConocoPhillips had no comment.
The Billings refinery is the second-largest in Montana, behind Exxon Mobil's facility in Billings.
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