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Wyoming state investigators said Thursday a mechanical failure in the well was the main cause of a natural gas well blowout late in April at a Chesapeake Energy Corp. drilling site. However, operating errors also contributed. The incident lasted about three days; no one was injured (see Shale Daily, April 30).

The Permian Basin in West Texas is the main engine driving Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) to record oil/gas production levels as its overseas operations continue to struggle in the Middle East/North Africa and Colombia, CEO Stephen Chazen said Thursday.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey K. McClendon over the past three years has taken out more than $1 billion in personal loans to finance his stakes in company wells and their operations, news that led some disapproving investors on Wednesday to head for the exit.

Pacific Gas and Electric still has 29 natural gas transmission pipeline segments operating at reduced pressures, including its main Southwest supply line from the California-Arizona border (300 A-B), a spokesperson told NGI last Thursday.

After two days of mostly small upticks to begin the week, it was time Wednesday for a large majority of small gains to be the market’s main feature. Winter may have officially begun Tuesday, but the new season wasn’t readily evident, judging from the generally mild forecasts for its second day in most of the eastern third of the U.S.

At the start of Wednesday’s gas day Destin will end a force majeure event and resume normal operations from its Main Pass 260 platform through the onshore Pascagoula Gas Plant in Mississippi (see Daily GPI, Oct. 18). The alternate delivery point to Viosca Knoll Gathering System will no longer be available for transportation services until further notice, Destin said.

More doubts arose Thursday regarding Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) transmission pipeline testing as it related to its main link (Line 300) to Southwest natural gas supplies at the Arizona border. A California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) hearing is set for Monday on the utility’s request to restore Line 300’s maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP).

Canada’s environment minister indicated that the federal government in Ottawa was keeping a close eye on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and was prepared to intervene if it thought either the provincial or territorial governments weren’t doing enough to safely regulate the procedure.

Marcellus Shale gas operators in Pennsylvania are poised to comply with last month’s request by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to stop delivering wastewater to 15 municipal wastewater treatment facilities by Thursday (May 19).