David Bradley

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should protect public health by setting air pollution limits on oil and natural gas wells, and associated equipment near population centers, according to a coalition of 64 environmental and community groups.

Duke Energy Florida is planning construction of a 1,640 MW combined-cycle natural gas plant in Citrus County and two simple-cycle combustion turbine generators at its Suwannee Plant at Live Oak, FL.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is falling short in its charge to manage and oversee oil and natural gas development on federal and Indian lands, failing to inspect thousands of wells that may pose a threat to the environment, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports are expected to increase to 3.5 Tcf in 2029 and remain at that level through 2040 under a reference case used by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), but more than two dozen alternative scenarios put that number at anywhere from 0.8 Tcf to 6.7 Tcf, according to an EIA report released Wednesday.

Midstream operators MarkWest Energy Partners and DCP Midstream Partners each had strong first quarters, opening a plethora of infrastructure and processing facilities in U.S. shale plays, and recording significant earnings increases, the companies said in separate announcements this week.

An explosion and fire at Williams Company’s Opal, WY, processing plant last month put only limited pressure on natural gas prices in the region, and Henry Hub spot prices are expected to decline through this summer, but not to the depths previously forecast, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is proposing expanding the geographic coverage of its monthly natural gas production survey and adding state-level data on crude oil and lease condensate production to better reflect the rapid growth and shifting location of gas and crude production.

Stakeholders in government and the private sector should support research, development and demonstration of new technologies that can reduce energy and water consumption in an effort to ease strains on both ends of the energy-water nexus, according to a white paper released by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the ranking Republican member of Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

President Obama will nominate Cheryl LaFleur, who is currently acting chair at FERC, to a follow-up term on the Commission, the White House said Thursday.