Have

A decision by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) that D&L Energy Inc. cannot keep its injection well permits and must properly dispose stored material has been upheld by the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission.

Two people have now died as a result of Thursday morning’s explosion at the Williams Geismar, LA, olefins plant in Ascension Parish.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) and a coalition of business groups have asked the appellate court in Washington, DC, to stay the Securities and Exchange (SEC) mandate requiring producers to publicly report how much they pay governments for access to oil, natural gas and minerals.

Under a five-year memorandum of understanding (MOU), Sandia National Laboratories and SRI International have partnered to explore, test and evaluate a range of hydrogen and natural gas fuel systems and components for transportation. The MOU is the first agreement in Sandia’s new Center for Infrastructure Research and Innovation (CIRI), an alternative fuel research facility whose goal is to accelerate hydrogen and natural gas infrastructure technologies. The collaboration also will capitalize on research at Sandia’s Combustion Research Facility (CRF). CIRI will be located at Sandia’s Livermore Valley Open Campus, adjacent to the CRF.

Following an unsuccessful open season, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) has shelved plans for the Freedom Pipeline, which would have carried Permian Basin crude oil from Texas to California refineries.

For the fourth year in a row, ExxonMobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. investors soundly defeated proposals calling for more disclosures regarding shale extraction operations.

In an attempt to lure foreign investment back to its shale natural gas plays following several high profile defections, the country’s finance minister said a severance tax on unconventional production will take effect in 2015 but no tax would be levied until 2020.

While natural gas prices have recovered to nearly $4/MMBtu, the National Energy Board (NEB) reported Thursday that Canadian natural gas producers are undertaking minimal natural gas drilling activity, as current prices do not cover the full costs of developing most natural gas prospects.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday they have reached a memorandum of agreement (MOA) aimed at bolstering the working relationship of the two agencies to improve the management of the safety and environmental protection responsibilities on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).