Authorities

A citizens group is calling on Murrysville, PA, to ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the borough, located about 20 miles east of Pittsburgh in Westmoreland County.

Federal and state authorities last week turned up the heat in parallel but separate investigations and reviews of the Sept. 9 San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline explosion and fire, and the utility in the middle, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), moved ahead with stepped up pipeline safety checks and operating/maintenance plans.

Shell Offshore Inc. again has asked federal authorities for permission to drill a single, shallow-water exploration well in the Beaufort Sea offshore Alaska.

Shell Offshore Inc. last week again asked federal authorities for permission to drill a single, shallow-water exploration well in the Beaufort Sea offshore Alaska.

For the second time in two years a state appeals board in Oregon on April 12 remanded to the local county authorities part of a land-use approval for the proposed NorthernStar Natural Gas Corp.’s Bradwood Landing LNG receiving terminal along the Columbia River about 25 miles upstream from the Pacific Ocean. Again, the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners is being asked to reexamine part of earlier approvals of the proposed $650 million LNG project.

For the second time in two years a state appeals board in Oregon has remanded to the local county authorities part of a land-use approval for the proposed NorthernStar Natural Gas Corp.’s Bradwood Landing LNG receiving terminal along the Columbia River about 25 miles upstream from the Pacific Ocean. Again, the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners is being asked to reexamine part of earlier approvals of the proposed $650 million LNG project.

For the second time in two years a state appeals board in Oregon has remanded to the local county authorities part of a land-use approval for the proposed NorthernStar Natural Gas Corp.’s Bradwood Landing LNG receiving terminal along the Columbia River about 25 miles upstream from the Pacific Ocean. Again, the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners is being asked to reexamine part of earlier approvals of the proposed $650 million LNG project.

Federal and state authorities joined Tuesday to bring civil and criminal actions against a former trader for the Bank of Montreal (BMO), his supervisor and three executives at a brokerage firm of the bank for deceiving and defrauding the bank about the true value of its natural gas options book.

As part of its much larger restructuring with British and European Commission (EC) financial authorities, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) confirmed last Tuesday that it will be divesting its interest in the fifth largest North American energy trading organization, RBS Sempra Commodities. Initial reports that this move was imminent surfaced out of the United Kingdom (UK) last Monday, and San Diego-based Sempra Energy issued a statement to clarify that any breakup would be orderly and could take several years.