Liability

A Pennsylvania senator has introduced legislation that would limit the liabilities for any oil and natural gas producer that uses treated coal mine water to drill and stimulate its wells.

The liability limit for natural gas and oil spill-related damages has been boosted 79% to $134 million from the previous level of $75 million, consistent with recommendations from a federal commission that investigated the Macondo well blowout, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said Thursday.

Federal rules to increase penalties for offshore facilities involved in oil spills has been delayed to give the oil and natural gas industry more time for review, the Department of Interior said this week.

More than two years into the aftermath of the San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion, PG&E Corp. senior executives said Thursday the company is still feeling the aftershocks on its bottom line. They reported a loss for 4Q2012 due to gas pipeline-related issues.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman on Tuesday approved a revised route for the northern portion of TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline that would run through his state. He notified both President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of his decision in a joint letter.

A trial to determine various parties’ liability for BP plc’s Macondo well blowout in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, which destroyed Transocean Ltd.’s Deepwater Horizon rig and killed 11 men, has been delayed until Feb. 25 from Jan. 14 in New Orleans. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier cited tourist events — the NFL Super Bowl and the Mardi Gras festival — that would keep New Orleans’ hotels booked. However, Barbier declined to delay a Nov. 8 hearing on a settlement BP reached with the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee, which is composed of private parties (see Daily GPI, March 6). The tentative settlement for $7.8 billion would resolve a “substantial majority of legitimate economic loss and medical claims,” BP said.

Currently growing inventories of ethane and propane are due to different factors and won’t continue forever, Enterprise Products Partners LP COO Jim Teague said Wednesday. Longer-term, the company remains bullish on the natural gas liquids (NGL) demand story in the U.S. Gulf Coast and beyond.

Houston-based High Point Gas Transmission LLC (HPGT), a newly formed limited liability company, is seeking FERC approval to purchase 617 miles of pipeline and associated facilities located onshore and offshore Louisiana from Southern Natural Gas Co. LLC.

Proposed legislation to require natural gas operators to pay for the costs to remediate contamination caused by drilling wells is being floated by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.