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The chief of New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) said Thursday he was considering whether to extend a 60-day comment period on DEC’s hydraulic fracturing (fracking) report, which was issued in July.

BP plc has appointed Fergus MacLeod as the new strategy chief. MacLeod, a former Deutsche Bank oil analyst, has been in charge of BP’s investor relations unit since 2002 and he will continue to run that unit. Ian Smale, 51, who has been BP’s head of strategy for the past three years, has retired from BP after 30 years. MacLeod will report directly to CEO Bob Dudley. Because MacLeod formerly was an energy analyst, he is expected to be attuned to shareholder concerns as the oil major attempts to revive investor confidence. Dudley said in July that stabilizing the company was his top priority (see Daily GPI, July 27).

Tropical storm activity in the Atlantic Basin may be about to increase, according to WeatherBELL Analytics chief meteorologist Joe Bastardi, who said Tuesday a frenzy of named storms resulting in multiple hurricanes could be unleashed between Aug. 25 and mid-September.

Former BP plc CEO Tony Hayward, as well as former exploration chief Andy Inglis, have scored prominent positions in two energy firms. Vallares plc, an energy fund vehicle backed by Hayward and a group of high-profile investors, raised US$2.2 billion in an initial public offering, which is one-third more than the original target. Vallares, to be based in London, is sponsored by Hayward and financiers Nathaniel Rothschild, Tom Daniel and Julian Metherell, who is the former UK CEO for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The company plans to buy an emerging-market energy firm or an energy asset with an enterprise value of US$4.85-12.9 billion, the sponsors said. Inglis has been tapped to run Petrofac plc’s new integrated energy services (IES) division.

Former BP plc CEO Tony Hayward, as well as former exploration chief Andy Inglis, have scored prominent positions in two energy firms.

FERC Chief Judge Curtis Wagner Jr. has ordered Stingray Pipeline Co. LLC, which is seeking a large increase in its pipeline transportation rates, to continue settlement talks with its shippers.

Forced pooling is critical to ensuring that the Marcellus Shale is developed to its fullest, but crafting those laws will be difficult because of the unique nature of shale and the slim legal history of pooling in Appalachia, a natural resources legal expert told a Pittsburgh audience Tuesday.

A little more than a year after the Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), reorganization of the chief federal regulator of offshore energy projects, the Department of Interior, is struggling, and some of the sprawling agency’s major responsibilities may be suffering, according to a report released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

A little more than a year after the Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), reorganization of the chief federal regulator of offshore energy projects, the Department of Interior, is struggling, and some of the sprawling agency’s major responsibilities may be suffering, according to a report released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).