Commission

The three-member North Dakota Industrial Commission, including Gov. Jack Dalrymple, which oversees oil and natural gas operations in the state, on Wednesday directed commission staff to come up with mitigation plans to protect vulnerable areas from exploration and production (E&P) impacts.

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) said it plans to hire an in-house seismologist, presumably to study the seismic events that have occurred in the Barnett Shale in North Texas and the Eagle Ford Shale in the southern part of the state.

At FERC’s 1,000th meeting Thursday, former commissioners who had a major hand in opening both the natural gas and electricity markets to competition, reminisced about how the agency has evolved from a relatively obscure regulator to one that is at the center of domestic energy delivery.

FERC on Tuesday issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) of Northern Natural Gas Co.’s West Leg 2014 Expansion Project in Nebraska and Iowa.

FERC’s Office of Enforcement (OE) said Thursday it raked in $304 million in civil penalties and almost $141 million in unjust profits that included the largest penalty ever assessed by the agency in settlements during the current fiscal year.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead and the Wyoming Pipeline Authority (WPA) have called on FERC to reject Trailblazer Pipeline Co. LLC’s proposed revisions to its natural gas quality standards, saying they would be not only harmful to the state but the rest of the nation as well.

Colette D. Honorable “is very confirmable,” said an industry spokeswoman.

BP and affiliates have urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to dismiss allegations that they gamed the financial and physical energy markets.

EQT Gathering LLC’s request for a limited certificate to provide jurisdictional compression service through the nonjurisdictional Derry Compressor Station planned for Westmoreland County, PA, has been given the green light by FERC. Commissioners also approved a waiver of all filing and reporting requirements that would otherwise apply as a result of EQT providing interstate service.