Explosion

BP plc Wednesday received a permit to drill in the Keathley Canyon of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), making it the first drilling permit approved for the producer since the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig and subsequent oil spill in April 2010 (see Daily GPI, April 22, 2010).

Federal regulators Monday issued their final report and recommendations on the deadly Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion in San Bruno, CA, a year ago. The 140-page document goes into more detail about what led up to the conclusions and recommendations released at the end of last month (see Daily GPI, Aug. 31).

An explosion and fire occurred Monday night at a Continental Resources natural gas well near Watonga, OK, in Blaine County. There were no injuries, the company said.

While there are multiple messages in the exhaustive report approved Tuesday on last year’s San Bruno, CA, natural gas pipeline rupture and explosion by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) (see Daily GPI, Aug. 31), there is one that rang out loudest from the five-member panel — tougher pipeline regulation is needed at both the state and federal levels.

A rise in shale gas supplies and implications from last fall’s San Bruno, CA, pipeline rupture and explosion have caused California Energy Commission (CEC) planners to rethink their update of the state’s 2011 Integrated Energy Policy Report.

A rise in shale gas supplies and implications from last fall’s San Bruno, CA, pipeline rupture and explosion have caused California Energy Commission (CEC) planners to rethink their update of the state’s 2011 Integrated Energy Policy Report.

A rise in shale gas supplies and implications from last fall’s San Bruno, CA, pipeline rupture and explosion have caused California Energy Commission (CEC) planners to rethink their update of the state’s 2011 Integrated Energy Policy Report.

While natural gas interests in California are wary about several proposed laws aimed at transmission pipeline operations in the wake of the San Bruno explosion last year, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is raising a red flag on another gas issue that is tied to some of the current proposals to begin cutting into a $25 billion state budget deficit.

Analysts for FBR Capital Markets called the Interior Department’s issuance of the first deepwater drilling permit since the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig a “positive incremental step toward normalization of the regulatory environment” in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), but they cautioned investors against chasing stocks with GOM exposure in the near term.