Charlie Passut

Oil and gas companies are claiming too many trade secret exemptions in FracFocus disclosures of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and the registry contains several errors, according to a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) task force charged with reviewing the website.

Private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP (KKR) announced Wednesday that it has closed on a $2 billion fund focused on development of unconventional oil and gas resources in North America.

Pengrowth Energy Corp. executives said the company was continuing its shift toward oil, with construction of the first commercial phase of its Canadian oilsands terminal in east central Alberta remaining on schedule and on budget.

Powhatan Energy Fund LLC, a private hedge fund based in Virginia, has launched a website defending itself against allegations leveled by FERC that it manipulated energy markets through a contract trader in 2010.

President Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal 2015 calls for $11.7 billion to fund the Department of Interior (DOI), including millions for study of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and funds to oversee oil and gas development on federal lands on- and offshore. Some of the funding burden would be shifted onto industry in the form of fees.

President Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal 2015 calls for $11.7 billion to fund the Department of Interior (DOI) and includes millions to help facilitate oil and gas development on federal lands both onshore and offshore. It funds the continued study of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) while shifting some of the funding burden onto industry in the form of fees.

An ethane cracker and associated petrochemical facilities could bring billions to the economy of West Virginia for the next 40 years, but state officials must enact several strategies in order to take maximum advantage of that opportunity, according to a report.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said underground natural gas storage capacity in the Lower 48 states grew 2% in 2013, due in large part to storage gains through salt domes in the Producing region and depleted wells in the West, but there was almost no growth in storage capacity in the East.

National Grid has asked state regulators in Massachusetts and Rhode Island for permission to recover some of approximately $67.5 million in under-collected natural gas costs, stating that near-record demand this winter and associated price spikes make rate adjustments necessary.