Rich Nemec

After several months of decline, rail transport of crude oil is likely to pick up during the rest of the year, according to North Dakota Pipeline Authority Director Justin Kringstad, who said the widening spread in global Brent and U.S. WTI oil prices will drive more shipments back to rail.

Denver-based Berry Petroleum Co. said Wednesday it expects to see its natural gas assets in the Piceance in Colorado and East Texas Haynesville/Bossier Shale decline this year as its continues to target its investment toward oil assets in the Uinta and Permian Basins.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from energy use in the United States last year reached their lowest levels in two decades, in part from a combination of more natural gas use for electric generation, as well as recent mild winters and reduced transportation demand, according to reports published this week by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

A group of Republicans in the California congressional delegation led by Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy warned Gov. Jerry Brown last Thursday that implementation of the state’s new hydraulic fracturing (fracking) legislation (SB 4), signed into law last month, should not get in the way of the state’s oil/natural gas resurgence.McCarthy and 13 other Republican congressional representatives warned that the new regulation shouldn’t be an undue hindrance to the industry. Regulating the latest advanced drilling techniques should not hand-tie the industry, the congressional representatives told Brown.

While the state’s energy officials try to boost future power reliability in the absence of a major nuclear generating source, California is looking at spending up to $2.5 billion annually on efficiency and alternative energy programs.

In the first test of new statewide oil and natural gas drilling chemical disclosure rules established last year, the Colorado Oil/Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) will flex its regulatory muscles soon in pending enforcement activity (Rule 205A) involving 11 operators.

As part of a strategic review aimed at forming a smaller, more profitable company, Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s (Oxy) board of directors on Friday authorized pursuit of selected asset sales, including potentially some overseas and Midcontinent assets, alongwith a portion of a general partner interest in Plains All American Pipeline (PAAP).

As an outgrowth of the North American shale revolution, natural gas increasingly will capture a bigger piece of global energy demand with a denser network offering greater flexibility and improved economics, according to a white paper released Friday by General Electric Corp. (GE).

Newport Beach, CA-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp., one of the nation’s largest providers of natural gas transportation fuels and fueling infrastructure, said Monday it has formed a strategic alliance with the transportation finance unit of General Electric Corp. (GE) aimed at heavy duty trucking fleets.