Disaster

The Interior Department Wednesday ended its overhaul of offshore safety practices brought about by Deepwater Horizon disaster a little more than two years ago, issuing a final rule on requirements for safety equipment, well control systems and blowout prevention (BOP) practices.

After touring the site of the San Bruno, CA, pipeline disaster earlier in May, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood reiterated that there will be stronger federal regulations of the nation’s natural gas transmission pipelines, according to a member of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) who accompanied a group of federal officials at the site south of San Francisco.

Power generation developers may be taking new looks at added natural gas- and coal-fired plants as an outgrowth of the reaction to the continuing disaster unfolding at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear generating plant, according to the CEO of NRG Energy Inc.

After assessing public fear of an Arctic repetition of the Gulf of Mexico drilling disaster, the National Energy Board (NEB) is circulating a reminder that northern Canada has a different regulatory regime than the southern United States.

After assessing public fear of an Arctic repetition of the Gulf of Mexico drilling disaster, the National Energy Board (NEB) is circulating a reminder that northern Canada has a different regulatory regime than the southern United States.

In response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Tuesday proposed establishing an “Ocean Energy Safety Institute” to promote research and development (R&D) and training in offshore drilling safety, blowout containment and spill response.

BP plc on Friday pledged a bundle of its U.S. Gulf of Mexico assets as collateral for the $20 billion Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust, which was set up to pay for disaster claims.

On the 59th day of the ongoing Macondo well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico BP plc CEO Tony Hayward took a tongue lashing from House lawmakers during a subcommittee hearing that shed little if any light on what caused the nation’s worst environmental catastrophe.

The U.S. natural gas industry collectively is holding its breath to see whether the grim Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil spill disaster impacts onshore drilling one way or the other, but in the near term, a positive influence is unlikely, an energy executive said last week.