Merit

Operational best practices and “robustly enforced” regulation can make hydraulic fracturing (fracking) a safe practice in the United Kingdom, according to a review by the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Several Chesapeake Energy Corp. subsidiaries, along with a privately owned oil and gas exploration company based in Ohio, have filed a counterclaim in federal district court as they look to fight a lawsuit by 17 landowners in western Pennsylvania over a leasing dispute.

Energy Transfer Partners LP, the former partner with Enterprise Products Partners LP in a proposed oil pipeline from Cushing, OK, to Houston, is suing Enterprise and its new partner in a similar project, Enbridge Inc.

Calling the California Attorney General’s lawsuit without merit and an outgrowth of legal threats, Sempra Energy late Wednesday accused the state’s chief law enforcement officer with filing a bogus lawsuit to force a settlement.

In response to anonymous allegations of company wrongdoing, Consol Energy Inc. said Wednesday that while it believes the claims are without merit, it will launch an investigation.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will convene a conference in the near future examining issues that have cropped up related to regional transmission organizations (RTOs), Curt Hebert, the Commission’s chairman, said yesterday. Although specifics on the conference remain somewhat sketchy, it appears that the issue of seams in the broader context of RTO formation will be a key topic of discussion at the gathering.