Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu took over as head of the influential Senate Energy Committee yesterday, as outgoing Chairman Ron Wyden took the lead role at the Senate Finance Committee, which was vacated when Max Baucus was confirmed ambassador to China. “Landrieu confirmed that her signature bill to expand the amount of federal offshore oil-and-gas royalty payments given to Gulf Coast states is on her agenda. Landrieu’s plan would also provide revenue-sharing to Alaska, as well to states that may have drilling off their shores in the future.” [National Journal]

NY Governor Andrew Cuomo yesterday announced the state’s Green Bank is officially open for business. The bank, led by Richard Kauffman, Chairman of Energy and Finance for New York and Chairman of NYSERDA, is designed to help private-sector financing flow to energy efficiency and clean energy projects. “The NY Green Bank will be the catalyst for significantly accelerating the flow of private capital to energy efficiency and renewable energy projects and will send a message to the financial markets that expanding our clean energy economy is a priority for New York State,” Governor Cuomo said. “Today’s announcement that the NY Green Bank is ‘open for business’ confirms the State’s unwavering commitment to a more cost effective and resilient energy system, to creating green jobs and to providing a cleaner environment for all New Yorkers.” [NYSERDA]

Oil and natural gas futures moved higher yesterday. Oil markets reacted to an inventory decline at Cushing due to new pipeline infrastructure coming online, including the southern leg of the Keystone pipeline. “This is a very large decline, the largest I can remember,” said Michael Lynch, the president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts. “It looks like the completion of pipelines is ending the bottleneck at Cushing.” [Bloomberg] Natural gas traded higher on anticipated storage draws in excess of 200 Bcf “this week and next week.” [Bloomberg]