Morning

The city of Dallas Plan Commission on Thursday voted to reconsider the application by Trinity East Energy LLC for three zoning permits that would allow it to drill within the city limits. The commission previously voted against granting the permits (see Shale Daily, Jan. 8). The commission now is expected to hold a hearing on the permits Feb. 17. If the specific use permits ultimately receive the commission’s blessing, Trinity East will have an easier time gaining the ultimate approval it needs to drill from Dallas City Council. Some drilling opponents in attendance at the commission meeting chanted “shame” following the vote to reconsider; some wept, and one activist was led from the chamber, according to an online report by TheDallas Morning News.

Five salvage experts boarded the grounded drilling unit Kulluk Wednesday morning on the southeast shoreline of Sitkalidak Island, AK, to conduct a structural assessment to be used in salvage plans being developed by the Kulluk Tow Incident Unified Command.

A fire Tuesday morning at Bill Barrett Corp.’s (BBG) Dry Canyon compressor station in its West Tavaputs natural gas field in northeastern Utah’s Uinta Basin sent two employees to the hospital and shut in production.

Traders were scratching their heads Friday morning as CME Globex natural gas futures and options markets went dark at 10:04 a.m. EDT.

Friday morning Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline lifted a critical day 1 operational flow order (OFO) that had been in effect for balancing parties downstream of its Station 249 in zones 5 and 6 (see Daily GPI, Aug. 31).

A flash fire erupted early Wednesday morning, injuring four contract workers doing maintenance work at a ConocoPhillips natural gas processing plant in Fremont County in Wyoming. The plant had been idle since Aug. 1 for planned maintenance, officials at the scene told local news media.

A sinkhole in a Louisiana bayou that caused four pipelines to be shut in this month expanded again on Thursday morning, swallowing more land as workers continue to assemble a rig to drill an exploratory well at the site.

One person was killed after an explosion at an oil and natural gas well near Bolivar, OH, in Tuscarawas County, on Monday morning.

BP plc said Tuesday it was investigating the cause of an explosion Monday morning at its Pinon natural gas compressor station in western Colorado. One worker was killed and two others were injured.