Failure

As its first major decision following the San Bruno pipeline failure two years ago, California regulators on Thursday approved a three-year pipeline enhanced safety plan for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) but denied utility ratepayer support for most of the cost of the utility proposal.

Likely keying off the natural gas screen’s failure to break above $3 on Wednesday, cash points across the country came off mostly by a nickel to a dime on Thursday except for a few spots in the Northeast, which chose their own path.Natural gas futures bulls were dealt a blow Thursday morning after it was reported that a higher-than-expected 57 Bcf storage injection was recorded for the week ending June. 22. While the build was much smaller than historical comparisons, it was still bearish enough when compared to industry expectations to push futures lower on Thursday. The August contract closed the regular session at $2.722, down 7.6 cents.

An equipment failure at a deepwater Gulf of Mexico drilling platform contracted by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell plc released about 319 barrels of biodegradable drilling mud and water last weekend before being contained, according to a report filed with the National Response Center (NRC).

Talisman Energy Inc. temporarily shut down all hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations in North America while it investigated a well control incident that occurred Jan. 17 at a Talisman natural gas well on state forest land in Tioga County, PA, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said Tuesday. DEP is conducting a separate investigation of the incident.

The U.S. Supreme Court last Monday denied Shell Oil Co.’s petition to review a whopping $54 million punitive damage award for the producer’s failure to pay a “net-profits interest” to the owners of an Oklahoma oil and natural gas lease.

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday denied Shell Oil Co.’s petition to review a whopping $54 million punitive damage award for the producer’s failure to pay a “net-profits interest” to the owners of an Oklahoma oil and natural gas lease.

National investigators held the last of their local daily briefings Tuesday night on the San Bruno, CA, utility natural gas pipeline failure and said Wednesday the focus will shift to reports from Washington, DC, where two of the gas industry’s trade associations issued statements on the fatal explosion and fire (see Daily GPI, Sept. 16a; Sept. 13). Meanwhile, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) spokespeople said the utility is focusing on community restoration and state-ordered inspection work.

MRT said late Tuesday afternoon it was immediately lifting a System Protection Warning associated with an engine failure that began July 28 at its Unionville storage facility and was limiting injection capability. In a recent update on Unionville (see Daily GPI, Aug. 10), MRT had expected the restriction to last through Thursday of last week.

Due to an engine failure at MRT’s Unionville Storage facilities, starting Wednesday through approximately Aug. 6 the pipeline will be limited in injection capability there. See the bulletin board for associated transport restrictions.