Dollars

With its shareholders picking up about 80% of the tab, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) spent more than a half-billion dollars last year on natural gas transmission pipeline/storage safety-related work, according to a report the utility filed with state regulators last Friday. The total was $81.9 million more than a budget settlement approved at mid-year 2011 by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Fort Worth, TX-based Quicksilver Resources Inc. has added depth to its North American lineup of oil and gas prospects with two large-scale commercial projects — one in search of a partner — which altogether would give it a large presence in seven North American basins, officials said Thursday.

An official with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) said a recent media report that the commission was poised to rake in millions of dollars from a five-year deal to sell lake water for use in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) was exaggerated.

An official with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) said a recent media report that the commission was poised to rake in millions of dollars from a five-year deal to sell lake water for use in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) was exaggerated.

Department of Interior (DOI) Secretary Ken Salazar announced Tuesday that the agency is considering simplifying the process used to calculate billions of dollars in royalty payments to the federal government for oil and gas production from publicly owned land and offshore sources.

Major producers Thursday defended themselves against Senate Democrats’ claims that they don’t need the billions of dollars of federal tax breaks that they currently receive (see Daily GPI, May 12; May 4).

Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal told members of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association (LMOGA) Thursday that he would veto any bill to repeal or lower severance tax exemptions for horizontal drilling, which would keep producers operating in the Haynesville Shale.

Retail natural gas consumers in the Lone Star State have paid “tens of millions of dollars more” for the commodity than they should have due to “one-sided” decisions by the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), a coalition of Texas cities’ analysis charges.

Retail natural gas consumers in the Lone Star State have paid “tens of millions of dollars more” for the commodity than they should have due to “one-sided” decisions by the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), a coalition of Texas cities’ analysis charges.