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FERC is considering modifications to its policies for evaluating oil pipeline index rate changes and data reporting requirements that would make it easier for shippers to challenge rates that they believe exceed industry costs.

The amount of natural gas traded in the United States increased in 2015 for the first time in four years, with overall trading volumes up 4.1% compared to 2014, according to an analysis of FERC Form 552 submissions by Cornerstone Research.

The capacity of underground natural gas storage facilities increased by about 2% from November 2011 to November 2012, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a new report. The increase was seen in both demonstrated maximum and design capacities.

World energy consumption will increase by 56% between 2010 and 2040, driven largely by increased demand from developing countries, according to the International Energy Outlook 2013 (IEO2013), which was released last Thursday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). It sees global natural gas demand increasing by 64%.

Bolstered by record production, especially in the southwest Pennsylvania portion of the Marcellus Shale, and revisions to its estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) curves, Range Resources Corp. reported net earnings of nearly $144 million for the second quarter of 2013.

Oneok Inc. plans to spin off its natural gas distribution business to create ONE Gas Inc., which would be one of the largest gas utilities in the United States with more than two million customers in three states and the only publicly traded, 100% regulated, pure-play gas distribution utility.

Industry executives who recently offered Oregon regulators an updated natural gas outlook for the Pacific Northwest said they see faint signs of potential added gas-fired industrial loads taking shape, but flat near-term demand projections nevertheless dominated their forecasts.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last Thursday quashed an appeal by the state Public Utility Commission (PUC), leaving in place an earlier court order that the commission cannot use a review process to enforce some provisions of Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

A unit of Halliburton Co. on Thursday agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of destroying evidence in connection with the April 2010 Macondo well blowout in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said. The settlement is subject to district court approval.