Broader

As another indicator of what sub-$3 natural gas prices can produce, MDU Resources Group Inc. will be selling some of its gas assets this year — albeit small ones — and raising its proportional amount of oil production from its exploration and production (E&P) mix in the Bakken, Niobrara, Heath, Big Horn Basin and other shale plays, senior executives told analysts during the company’s 4Q2011 earnings conference call.

More than 35,000 manufacturing jobs could be created in Louisiana thanks to affordable supplies of natural gas from shale plays, American Chemistry Council (ACC) CEO Cal Dooley said.

A California regulatory judge last week issued a proposed draft resolution to give safety staff broader authority to issue citations and levy fines for violations of natural gas pipeline regulations. The proposal is in response to a recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in its final report on last year’s San Bruno, CA, pipeline rupture and explosion.

A California regulatory judge on Monday issued a proposed draft resolution to give safety staff broader authority to issue citations and levy fines for violations of natural gas pipeline regulations. The proposal is in response to a recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in its final report on last year’s San Bruno, CA, pipeline rupture and explosion.

A federal judge in Pennsylvania has denied a motion by Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. to dismiss a case brought by Dimock Township, PA, residents who claim that their health and property has been harmed by the producer’s natural gas activities.

The Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) is seeking comment from residential and small-volume commercial customers and others who would be affected by broader retail competition in the state’s natural gas markets.

As part of a broader asset-shedding strategic plan, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s (LADWP) interim general manager proposed selling the utility’s substantial natural gas reserves in Wyoming’s Pinedale Basin.

The plain vanilla merchant power plant developer/operators of the past need to transform themselves into broader renewable, transportation and natural gas fields in the post-carbon world, according to NRG Energy Inc. CEO David Crane, who spoke to financial analysts in Houston Thursday.

The appellate court in Washington, DC, last Tuesday ruled that Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) can move forward uninterrupted with oil and natural gas sales under the contested five-year (2007-2012) leasing plan in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).