David Bradley

The governors of six New England states have committed to work together with the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO New England) to advance an energy infrastructure initiative that diversifies the region’s energy supply portfolio while ensuring that the benefits and costs of transmission and pipeline investments “are shared appropriately” among the states.

Nearly a decade after entering the U.S. natural gas trading market, Deutsche Bank said Thursday it is significantly scaling back its commodities business and will exit the dedicated trading desks for energy, agriculture, base metals and dry bulk.

Regulation of all kinds, including rules governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and other energy practices, have gotten out of control and many outdated regulations need to be repealed, according to Thomas Donohue, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The U.S. Supreme Court has asked the Solicitor General to file a brief in a case in which a lower court decision revived state law challenges regarding companies that may have fixed natural gas prices during the energy crisis in 2000-2002, an indication that the court may reconsider that decision.

The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) has taken on additional regulatory functions, including responsibility for the Public Lands Act and Part 8 of the Mines and Minerals Act for all oil, natural gas, oil sands and coal development in the province, and has launched an online private surface agreements registry and expanded public notice of applications, the agency said Monday.

A study by France’s Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices (OPECST) concludes that propane stimulation is a “promising alternative” to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) — which is banned in the country — according to eCORP Stimulation Technologies.

Statoil and the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) have formed a partnership to explore how technologies and knowledge from the space and oil and natural gas industries can be relevant to one another, the Norway-based company said.

Texas Gas Transmission is holding a binding open season through Jan. 13 for primary firm natural gas backhaul transportation service from Ohio’s Marcellus and Utica shales into Lebanon, OH, pipeline interconnects, with an ultimate destination to serve utilities in the Midwest and South.

The northern United States and southern Canada will be dominated by colder-than-normal temperatures over the next three months, while above-normal temperatures are expected across the U.S. South, according to forecasters at Weather Services International (WSI). The heavily populated Boston-to-Washington, DC, corridor may avoid much of the winter’s coldest weather, WSI said.