Considering

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering adding two Texas counties — Wise and Hood — overlying the Barnett Shale in North Texas to the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) nonattainment area, which has failed to meet federal standards for ozone. Gas drilling activities in the region are thought by EPA to be contributing to the ground-level ozone, or smog, problem.

Sasol Ltd. is considering building an ethane cracker and derivatives complex near its existing Lake Charles Chemical Complex in Westlake, LA. If built, it could be one of the largest ethane crackers in the country, with production of up to 1.4 million tons per year.

Regulators in North Dakota are considering a lawsuit to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating hydraulic fracturing (fracking) well stimulation. The state’s Industrial Commission might ask lawmakers for $1 million for the effort.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) is moving ahead with considering a new 300 MW natural gas-fired peaking generation plant adjacent to an existing 600 MW baseload gas-fired plant in Otay Mesa, south of San Diego near the international border. Pio Pico Energy Center is indicative of a move away from the coastal power plant locations in the state and use of sea water for cooling, which is now being phased out. Pio Pico is a revised project on a new site following the withdrawal of an earlier project in the City of Chula Vista, which is losing an existing 600 MW gas-fired baseload plant along the coast due to a redevelopment by the city and Port of San Diego. The CEC will hold a workshop at the Chula Vista City Hall Wednesday to discuss the latest proposal to site a new gas-fired peaking plant adjacent to Calpine Corp.’s Otay Mesa Energy Center, which started commercial operations nearly two years ago under a 10-year tolling agreement with San Diego Gas and Electric Co.

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.

ExxonMobil Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. are considering options to jointly develop two mega-discoveries in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

ExxonMobil Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. are considering options to jointly develop two mega-discoveries in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

Russia’s OAO Rosneft no longer is considering BP plc as a partner for its planned Arctic development, the company’s CEO said Friday.

Russia’s OAO Rosneft apparently no longer is considering BP plc as a partner for its planned Arctic development. The strategic alliance had included an Arctic exploration joint venture as well as a stock swap (see NGI, Jan. 17) BP’s current Russian partner TNK-BP objected and legally blocked the alliance (see NGI, May 30). BP CEO Bob Dudley, who had helped craft the proposed alliance, said the company was “moving on,” readying the launch of 30 global projects by the end of 2016 and returning to work in the Gulf of Mexico.