The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a $200,000 citation to Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) for failing to appropriately file a safety-related report to federal and state regulators. On Aug. 19 PG&E discovered a safety-related condition with a natural gas transmission line in Tracy, CA. The condition involved the detection of severe corrosion, which reduced the pipe wall thickness by approximately 41% in the deepest corrosion pit. PG&E reduced pressure on the line on Aug. 21. It replaced the pipe and pressure was restored on Dec. 2. However the safety-related condition was not reported to the CPUC and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) until more than four months after detection. Safety related condition reports are required by the CPUC and PHMSA within five working days after first determination that a condition exists and no later than 10 working days after the day the condition was discovered. PG&E did not report the safety condition to the CPUC until Jan. 9. PG&E has 10 calendar days to pay or contest the citation.

Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) Commissioner David Porter will kick off the 2015 Natural Gas Initiative with legislators and business leadersat a half-day workshop at RRC headquarters on Thursday (March 26). The workshop will feature discussion and analysis of natural gas engine-fuel markets such as vehicle fleet conversion, as well as drilling rigs and pressure-pumping equipment. The Austin Natural Gas Workshop supports Porter’s ongoing series of statewide events that began with the launch of the Natural Gas Initiative in October 2013. The meeting begins at 8:00 a.m. CDT at the RRC offices in Austin.

American LNG Marketing LLC has been granted U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) authorization to export up to 60,000 metric tonnes per annum of containerized liquefied natural gas (LNG) to free trade agreement (FTA) from a liquefaction project under construction by an affiliate in Medley, FL, on the northern portion of the Hialeah Railyard. An application to export from the project to non-FTA countries is pending at DOE. ISO containers designated for delivery to export customers will be loaded onto container ships or roll-on/roll-off oceangoing carriers at the nearby Port of Miami or other Florida ports capable of handling such cargo, the DOE order said [14-209-LNG]. Likely destinations for the cargoes, according to American LNG, are nations in the Caribbean and Central America.