US EIA probed on Alaska, Canada gas, domestic production data

Washington (Platts)--4Mar2004

The US Energy Information Administration's 2004 energy outlook is "overly optimistic" regarding domestic production in 2003, an Anadarko Petroleum official told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Thursday. While EIA in its recently released report estimated a modest increase in domestic gas production, "we believe that there has actually been a production decrease," said Dick Sharples, senior vice president of Anadarko. Initial reports from public companies so far "suggest a 2%-3% decrease in natural gas production from 2002," he said, placing blame on deteriorating well performance in mature basins and moratoria on "many of the most attractive prospects." Sen. Larry Craig, Republican-Idaho, criticized EIA for its overly confident assessment last year of Canadian gas supplies but EIA Administrator Guy Caruso maintained that one of the agency's main priorities this year was to reassess Canada's supply picture. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Republican-Alaska, voiced concern about how Alaska gas was factored into the EIA report. The EIA report assumes the Alaskan natural gas pipeline will be finished in 2018, which would boost Alaskan production from 0.4 Tcf in 2002 to 2.7 Tcf in 2025. But Murkowski said Alaska expects "to see that happen earlier" than 2018. The senator also noted that, in addition to applications to build a gas line from MidAmerican Energy Holdings and a group of producers, the state has received an application for a liquefied natural gas project. The third project should have been considered in EIA's assessment, she said, adding "this is a project we're following closely."