"Royal Dutch Shell's bid to drill in the Arctic this summer took another step forward on Friday when the U.S. Interior Department approved its oil spill response plan for the Chukchi Sea."

"The U.S. and Mexico reached an agreement Monday to cooperate on oil and gas development in the Gulf of Mexico. Signed at a meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico, the agreement would set a process that U.S. companies and Mexico's state-owned Pemex could use to jointly develop waters that straddle the nations' maritime border. It also would provide for the U.S. and Mexican governments jointly to review applications and safety inspections in cases of drilling in the boundary-straddling waters, where oil spills could affect both nations."

"Fort St. James, Canada -- The prime minister is talking about being 'held hostage' by U.S. interests. Radio ads blare, 'Stand up to this foreign bully.' A Twitter account tells of a 'secret plan to target Canada: exposed!'"

"The House by a wide margin [Thursday] night passed a bill to vastly expand oil and gas development off the nation's coasts, in an Alaskan reserve and on experimental shale tracts in the Intermountain West."

"WASHINGTON -- In a quiet shift from the past two years, President Barack Obama's 2013 budget includes no new money for the Department of Energy loan guarantee program, the same program that House Republicans have scrutinized for losing more than $500 million in taxpayer dollars to the now-defunct solar power company, Solyndra."

"Mexico's oil regulator is sounding an alarm over plans by the country's state oil monopoly to drill two ultra-deep-water wells near U.S. waters this year, saying neither the company nor his commission is prepared to handle a serious accident or oil spill there.

"Although both Obama and DOE Secretary Steven Chu have said overhauling federal appliance efficiency standards and building codes is a critical priority, over the last year, progress has ground nearly to a halt."

TransCanada Corp, the backer of the Keystone XL pipeline project, on Tuesday again pushed back its already delayed schedule for building the pipeline. That may signal that the company believes current GOP gymnastics in Congress, trying to force the pipeline to be built, will have little effect -- but that conditions will be more favorable after the 2012 election.