Launched

Leading liquefied natural gas (LNG) importers Japan and India on Wednesday launched a project to research global LNG pricing, AFP reported. The energy-hungry countries pay far more than Henry Hub prices for their imported gas because their supply contracts are linked to oil prices, and they said recently that they would like alternative pricing structures.

Continental Resources Inc. has launched a growth plan to triple production and proved reserves between now and the end of 2017, largely from its leading Bakken Shale position, but also with gains from other onshore holdings, including a discovery in the southwest corner of Oklahoma.

CNG In A Box, a project launched earlier this year to provide compressed natural gas (CNG) refueling options for large- and small-scale retailers, was unveiled Monday by GE and a Chesapeake Energy Corp. affiliate, Peake Fuel Solutions.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a major environmental group, Wednesday launched a project that would offer communities and towns a helping hand in blocking hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The effort would extend to five states, but the focus would be on Pennsylvania and Ohio, where fracking is most pervasive.

Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has launched an investigation following an explosion at a natural gas compression facility in the northern Mexico border town of Reynosa, near McAllen, TX, where at least 29 people were killed and as many as 50 more were injured. Seven people reportedly were missing.

Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has launched production at the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Chinook field, connecting its second well to the first floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel platform in U.S. waters.

CHS Inc., the nation’s largest farmer-owned cooperative, launched a proposal Wednesday to build a $1.1-1.4 billion nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing plant in North Dakota that would take advantage of natural gas feedstock to provide U.S. and Canadian farmers with enhanced supplies of crop nutrients.

CHS Inc., the nation’s largest farmer-owned cooperative, launched a proposal Wednesday to build a $1.1-1.4 billion nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing plant in North Dakota that would take advantage of natural gas feedstock to provide U.S. and Canadian farmers with enhanced supplies of crop nutrients.

An environmental group opposed to high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) in New York State has launched a campaign asking the top 1,000 contributors to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s reelection effort to pressure him to ban the practice.