Commissioner Scott O’Malia of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a frequent critic of the agency’s Dodd-Frank actions, says many of the rules approved by the agency so far are “unnecessarily complicated, confusing and, in some cases, redundant.”
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CFTC’s O’Malia Calls Dodd-Frank Rules ‘Complicated, Confusing’
Commissioner Scott O’Malia of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a frequent critic of the agency’s Dodd-Frank actions, last week said many of the rules approved by the agency so far are “unnecessarily complicated, confusing and, in some cases, redundant.”
Pennsylvania Interstate Gas Line Secures Customers
Constitution Pipeline Co. LLC, a development launched in February by frequent partners Williams Partners LP and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., on Tuesday executed precedent agreements for the proposed 121-mile natural gas pipeline, designed to connect Marcellus Shale production in northeastern Pennsylvania to Northeast markets by spring 2015.
Chesapeake to Anchor Marcellus-Gulf Ethane Pipeline
A frequent customer of Enterprise Products Partners LP in several shale play infrastructure projects, Chesapeake Energy Corp. has stepped up to be the anchor shipper on the partnership’s proposed pipeline to carry ethane from the Marcellus and Utica shales to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Texas Water Official: Evidence Lacking in Well Contamination Case
A Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) hearing intended to get to the bottom of the matter of whether the Barnett Shale gas drilling activities of Range Resources Corp. led to the contamination of two water wells in Parker County, TX, has been postponed to Jan. 18 from Monday (Jan. 10). In the meantime, one interested observer told Shale Daily that both research that condemns the company and other findings that would exonerate it are incomplete.
Pennsylvania Cracks Down on Marcellus Wastewater Haulers
Pennsylvania State Police said Tuesday three-fourths of drilling wastewater haulers that were stopped by troopers late last month were issued citations and 207 trucks were placed out of service due to violations.
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Matthew R. Simmons, 67, who founded Simmons & Co. International in 1974, died on Aug. 8 in Maine. Simmons founded the Houston-based energy investment bank and had become an industry go-to expert and frequent critic. He routinely filled energy conference halls with his insights and criticism about oil and natural gas issues. Simmons started the investment bank in May 1974 to focus on the oil services industry, and by 1981 the firm employed 13 people. While some financial services firms abandoned the energy sector through the 1980s, Simmons & Co. persevered and began to work on bankruptcy workouts and debt restructurings. In 1995 Simmons & Co. redefined itself to offer “total energy services,” with a focus on companies with natural gas plants, pipelines and other gathering systems, as well as the downstream sector. In 1998 an office was opened in Aberdeen, Scotland. Two years later the firm completed its first investment banking assignment in the exploration and production sector, now a major part of the firm’s business. Simmons was a proponent of the “peak oil” theory; in his book Twilight in the Desert he offered detailed research that he believed indicated that the world was running out of fossil fuels. Simmons retired as chairman emeritus of the bank in June to devote his full time to the Ocean Energy Research Institute, which he founded in 2007. The institute is a think tank and venture capital fund that focused on the challenges of the U.S. offshore renewable energy industry, including wind energy.
Senator Wants Kenai LNG Export Permit Revoked
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), a frequent critic of FERC’s handling of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, has asked Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to review and revoke the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recent order extending until 2011 ConocoPhillips’ and Marathon Oil Corp.’s permit to export LNG from the Kenai terminal in Alaska.
Senator Wants Kenai LNG Export Permit Revoked
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), a frequent critic of FERC’s handling of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, has asked Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to review and revoke the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recent order extending until 2011 ConocoPhillips’ and Marathon Oil Corp.’s permit to export LNG from the Kenai terminal in Alaska.
Still Debated: Morality of Speculation and the CFTC’s Role
Anyone watching and listening to energy markets knows that with higher and more volatile commodity prices comes the more frequent utterance of words such as “speculation” and “manipulation,” often in the same breath.