Complaints

Small oil and natural gas operators took their complaints about the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to Capitol Hill Thursday, blaming a slowdown of oil and gas activity on public lands on a sluggish approval process for applications for permits to drill (APD).

Responding to complaints that its findings were biased in favor of drilling, a consulting firm that studied the socioeconomic impact of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in New York has been asked to go back and do more research.

Despite recent complaints from one environmental group about methods used last year to dispose of some of its drilling wastewater, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.’s Marcellus Shale operations in Pennsylvania have been recycling 100% of flowback water for several months, a company spokesman told NGI’s Shale Daily Wednesday.

In the midst of rising complaints from local government officials about the level of its information sharing in the wake of the Sept. 9 San Bruno, CA, transmission pipeline explosion, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) last week announced it was making additional information accessible to customers via the Internet. In the southern half of the state, Sempra Energy’s two gas utilities are taking similar steps.

In the midst of rising complaints from local government officials about the level of its information sharing in the wake of the Sept. 9 San Bruno transmission pipeline explosion, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) Monday announced it was making additional information accessible to customers via the Internet. In the southern half of the state, Sempra Energy’s two gas utilities are taking similar steps.

ExxonMobil Corp.’s new CEO Rex Tillerson took it on the chin from disgruntled shareholders Wednesday listening to complaints about high fuel prices, exorbitant executive pay, underfunded pension plans and lack of a clear policy on alternative energy. But in the end, the protests — loud but mostly polite — failed to make much of a difference.

After receiving 500 complaints from utility customers about Laclede Gas Co.’s estimated billing practices, the staff of the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) filed a complaint against the company, alleging violations of commission rules and recommending penalties and changes to Laclede’s billing methods.

On top of unresolved northern aboriginal relations issues, industry requests for lower tolls and strict affiliate guidelines and complaints about regulatory uncertainty are beginning to pile onto the limping C$7 billion (US$5.6 billion) Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP).

On top of unresolved northern aboriginal relations issues, industry requests for lower tolls and strict affiliate guidelines and complaints about regulatory uncertainty are beginning to pile onto the limping C$7 billion (US$5.6 billion) Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP).