Making

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) is making progress in creating a “safety-first culture” in its natural gas pipeline operations, but in past years the combination utility lost its safety edge with the merger of its electricity and natural gas utility operations, according to Executive Vice President of Gas Operations Nick Stavropoulos.

While Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) is making progress in creating a “safety-first culture” in its natural gas pipeline operations, in past years the combination utility lost its safety edge with the merger of its electricity and natural gas utility operations, according to Nick Stavropoulos, PG&E executive vice president of gas operations.

The two state chief executives agreed that environmental safeguards are imperative from both the public’s and the industry’s perspective. They offered their views during a keynote panel discussion moderated by the huge annual energy confab’s founder Daniel Yergin, the well-known global energy author/expert.

Elected officials in a third town in Colorado, Erie, on Wednesday night adopted a six-month moratorium on oil/gas development on an emergency basis, making the halt effective immediately.

A former Helmerich & Payne Inc. (H&P) drilling manager has been charged with making false statements to the Department of Interior’s Office of Inspector General regarding a key safety device on a Gulf of Mexico drilling rig. Donald Hudson, 49, of Walnut Grove, MS, was employed by H&P as the drilling rig manager for Rig 206 from Oct. 14, 2009 until May 27, 2010. Rig 206’s blowout preventer (BOP), like other BOP systems, has to be pressure tested at regular intervals prior to continued drilling operations, and results of the tests, including any problems or irregularities, also are to be recorded. On March 30, 2011 Hudson allegedly lied to investigators about instructing the rig’s crew to falsify BOP testing results, according to U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, who oversees the Eastern District of Louisiana. Testimony by other crew members revealed that Hudson had told the crew to close valves on the BOP choke manifold to prevent leaks, said Letten. In May 2011 H&P indicated in a regulatory filing that it suspended operations on an offshore rig after an employee reported possible “testing irregularities” and said “certain employees” were fired. No environmental or other harm occurred and the BOP system ultimately was repaired, Letten noted. If Hudson is found guilty, he faces up to five years in prison, as well as a fine of up to $250,000 and up to three years of supervised release following a prison term.

Federal prosecutors in New Orleans have charged a former Helmerich & Payne Inc. (H&P) drilling manager for making false statements last year to the Department of Interior’s Office of Inspector General regarding a key safety device on a Gulf of Mexico drilling rig.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed a bill Thursday that offers tax breaks to companies that build an ethane cracker in the state, then jetted off to Houston to meet with Royal Dutch Shell plc executives about their plans to possibly build such a facility in the Mountain State.

Domestic energy companies increasingly are making unconventional resources part of their production strategies, a survey of 100 U.S. oil and gas CFOS has found.

A newcomer in the electric vehicle (EV) sector is making a direct run at part of the natural gas vehicle (NGV) sector’s niche market, light-duty fleet pickup trucks, with the introduction Tuesday of an extended-range EV model at the nation’s premier automotive show in Detroit.