Friday

A group of about 89 landowners in western New York state filed a lawsuit in a U.S. bankruptcy court against Norse Energy Corp. USA on Friday after the company declared a force majeure and extended its oil and gas leases.

The Texas Senate on Friday passed a bill (HB 788) intended to make the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) the state’s permitting authority for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions sources, sidestepping the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where permitting bottlenecks are said to be holding up projects.

The Obama administration Friday released a national strategy that addresses the environmental, climate change and oil and gas development potential in the Arctic Region.

U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) Friday introduced bipartisan legislation (HR 1900) that seeks to bring more certainty to the interstate natural gas pipeline permitting process.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) Chairman Ray Irani on Friday withdrew as a nominee to serve another term on the board of directors, and he was a no-show for the company’s annual meeting in Santa Monica, CA, Oxy said.

A federal court of appeals in Washington, DC, Friday dismissed an industry challenge to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule requiring producers to publicly report how much they pay governments for access to oil, natural gas and minerals.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) COO Clay Williams said Friday the company is facing “headwinds” in North America on weaker-than-expected demand for pressure pumping and equipment.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was put in the hot seat Friday as House lawmakers took the agency to task for what they said are flawed reports on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), most notably the December 2011 report that found groundwater in Pavillion, WY, to be contaminated. That report was later retracted. Before directing any more funds to the EPA for reseach into fracking, the lawmakers demanded that it furnish Congress with more information on reseach activities so far.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) COO Clay Williams said Friday the company is facing “headwinds” in North America on weaker-than-expected demand for pressure pumping and equipment.