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Announcing its 4Q2015 results during a conference call Thursday, management for Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) and Energy Transfer Equity LP (ETE) said ETE’s announced merger with The Williams Companies (see Daily GPI, Sept. 28, 2015) is expected to close during the second quarter, pending customary closing conditions.

As a third piece of an ongoing scientific assessment of California’s oil and natural gas sector mandated as part of the new well stimulation rules called for in SB 4, a team of earth scientists is examining the Monterey Shale, but their early observations released on Wednesday indicate they don’t expect their work or the new rules to change much near term in the state’s oil/gas patch.

Amid corporate and governmental decisions and worried local citizen action groups, Long Beach, CA, is holding true to its long fossil fuel history and just keeps drilling.

The skyline of Midland, TX (pop. 114,000) has a long way to go before it can rival those of Houston or Dallas, but the rebirth of the Permian Basin has sparked plans to develop what would be the sixth-tallest building in the Lone Star State.

Long on the defense regarding the historic Macondo well blowout in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico three years ago, BP plc has gone on the offensive to recover some of the settlements it’s paid out for Gulf Coast businesses that may have been inflated or fictitious.

NiSource Midstream Services LLC’s Big Pine Gathering System in the heart of the Marcellus Shale has begun serving XTO Energy Inc. under a long-term agreement. The 57-mile, 20- and 24-inch diameter system stretches into Pennsylvania’s Allegheny, Butler, Armstrong, Indiana and Westmoreland counties and interconnects to the Columbia Gas Transmission system, as well as Texas Eastern Transmission and Dominion Transmission. The system is anchored by XTO; a separate gathering agreement was recently signed with PennEnergy.

Constitution Pipeline Co. LLC has filed its long-awaited application with FERC seeking approval to construct a pipeline to carry natural gas from northern Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale to Northeast markets, the company said Friday, and Iroquois Gas Transmission has filed an application to build a key interconnect project.

While critics and environmental activists are unhappy, the oil and natural gas industry is celebrating long-awaited changes in New Mexico’s rules for disposal of drilling waste known as the “pit rule.”

While critics and environmental activists are unhappy, the oil and natural gas industry is celebrating long-awaited changes in New Mexico’s rules for disposing drilling waste known as the “pit rule.” Fighting for changes in tougher requirements imposed by a previous governor, the New Mexico Oil/Gas Association (NMOGA) hailed changes made earlier this month.