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Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper responded Thursday to criticism from local elected officials in his state who are upset over his government taking the city of Longmont, CO, to court over its oil and natural gas drilling rules. Legal action was what Hickenlooper called a “last resort” in a letter he sent to various local officials considering similar local drilling rules.

Just days after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed last year by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the official hinted that he could file another lawsuit if natural gas drilling moves forward in the Delaware River Basin.

Northwest Pipeline has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for another month to complete and place into service the North Seattle Delivery Lateral Expansion to meet the growing demand for gas in the Seattle area. At the same time, the agency approved Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America’s (NGPL) request for an additional year to complete a project in Oklahoma. It requested that the in-service of the lateral be delayed until Nov. 1, which the Commission approved. The North Seattle Delivery Lateral Expansion, being built for Puget Sound Energy, calls for removing an existing eight-inch diameter pipeline and replacing it with a new 20-inch diameter pipe within the existing right-of-way, and upgrading the existing North Seattle meter station. The expansion will raise delivery capacity on the North Seattle Delivery Lateral by 84,200 Dth/d. NGPL is proposing to increase the maximum allowable operating pressure of the gathering system at its Sayre Storage Field in Beckham County, OK.

Northwest Pipeline has asked FERC to give it an additional month to complete and place into service the North Seattle Delivery Lateral Expansion to meet the growing demand for gas in the greater Seattle, WA, area. At the same time, it approved Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America’s (NGPL) request for an additional year to complete a project in Oklahoma.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon, who Thursday spoke to analysts publicly for the first time in months beyond the Oklahoma City boardroom, said the company remains on track to sell up to $14 billion of assets by the end of the year, including a package of properties in the Permian Basin. He’s also confident that even as the company continues to turn toward more oily production, natural gas prices will strengthen in the coming months.

FERC Thursday was asked to take a look at its no-bump rule, which some generators said shows a preference to customers with interruptible (IT) gas delivery service over those with higher priced firm transportation (FT) contracts.

Shell Canada Ltd. and its trio of Asian energy partners have asked Canadian regulators for approval to build a facility near Kitimat, BC, that would be capable of exporting up to 24 million tons/year (MMt/y) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) beginning in 2019. The proposed facility is double the size of the one Shell announced in May.

Oregon LNG, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) import project proposed for the mouth of the Columbia River at Warrenton, OR, has asked FERC for permission to switch to a bidirectional import-export project and has signed an agreement with Williams’ Northwest Pipeline Co. to expand the capacity of lines bringing Canadian gas into the Pacific Northwest. It is the 14th U.S. project seeking an export permit to cover all nations.

All but two of Encana Corp.’s 35 shut-in natural gas wells were back in service Tuesday in the Piceance Basin as the danger from the Pine Ridge fire along the Western Slope in Colorado continued to subside. The two remaining shut-in wells are “low-producing” and located in the north end of the Piceance, an Encana spokesperson told NGI.