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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) took a major step forward Wednesday in the regulation of high-frequency trading (HFT) by proposing a definition for the term that has proved to be elusive.

A CenterPoint Energy Inc. subsidiary on Tuesday bulked up its East Texas and Northwest Louisiana natural gas gathering and processing business after completing two agreements worth a total of $364 million.

The number of “felt” manmade earthquakes induced by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in oil and natural gas operations is negligible, the chair of a major report on seismicity activity told a Senate panel Tuesday. However the disposal of the water associated with fracking of shale gas wells is linked to increased quake activity, an official with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Regulating hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public lands as the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposes to do would cost society $1.499 billion to $1.615 billion per year, according to an analysis commissioned by the Western Energy Alliance (WEA).

Ahead of the annual shareholder meeting on Friday, Chesapeake Energy Corp. acquiesced to demands of major shareholder groups and Carl Icahn, who now holds 7.8% of the stock, and said four existing independent directors would resign from the board. The company also has put up for sale 337,481 net acres in its prized Utica/Point Pleasant Shale, which would give it less than one million acres in the play.

In response to major pipeline accidents in California and Pennsylvania that caused 22 deaths, the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) last week issued recommendations for natural gas pipelines to preserve and verify records related to maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) and advised hazardous liquid pipeline operators to adhere to the same standards for maximum operating pressure (MOP).

Federal environmental regulations have delayed 22 major oil and natural gas drilling projects in Utah and Wyoming that could create thousands of jobs and lead to billions of dollars in economic impacts, according to a new report prepared for the energy industry trade group Western Energy Alliance (WEA). The report examined operators’ proposed well projects across the West and determined that as of Jan. 1, a total of 44,329 wells were under a required review by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Eagle Ford operator Paloma Partners II LLC revealed on Wednesday that it is being taken over by Marathon Oil Corp. for $750 million in cash.

Calpine Corp. has signed short-term resource adequacy (RA) power supply contracts with California’s three major electric utilities to ensure that the natural gas-fired Sutter Energy Center isn’t shut down — at least for now.