Houston-based Tellurian Inc. (Tellurian), formerly known as Magellan Petroleum Corp. has closed its merger with Tellurian Investments Inc. Tellurian common stock will continue to trade on the NASDAQ under the new ticker symbol “TELL.” Tellurian has appointed Antoine Lafargue as CFO; he was previously CEO of Magellan. “We are developing large scale energy infrastructure on the U.S. Gulf Coast, including the 26 million tonne per annum Driftwood LNG facility in Calcasieu Parish, LA, which is scheduled to begin construction in 2018,” said Tellurian CEO Meg Gentle. “We expect our next major milestone to be filing our formal permit application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for Driftwood LNG.” Late last year France’s Totalacquired a stake in Tellurian, as has GE Oil & Gas.

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) 2018-2019 biennial budget request includes an additional $16.1 million to increase staff salaries, add oilfield and pipeline safety inspectors and improve enforcement tracking capabilities, RRC said. The budget submitted to the Texas Senate Finance Committee requests $85 million for fiscal 2018 and $85 million for fiscal 2019. The amount necessary to bring RRC salaries in line with those of other state agencies is $4.3 million for the biennial. Additional inspectors for the enhanced oilfield safety and pipeline integrity initiative would require $8.8 million and 55 full-time employees. Improving enforcement tracking would cost $3 million and require seven full-time employees, RRC said. The commission is also requesting a supplemental appropriation of about $45 million. Lawmakers in the Texas House have proposed increasing the RRC budget by $35 million, but the Senate has proposed cuts of $13.5 million.