natural gas data

The U.S. Transportation Department’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has concluded an investigation launched last year looking at Bakken Shale crude rail shipments and said fines may be assessed against three shippers for allegedly not properly testing and classifying the crude.

Physical gas prices for Thursday delivery nationwide continued to bound higher in Wednesday’s trading as intense cold, ice and snow dominated headlines, pipelines restricted deliveries and concerns surrounding end-of-season storage levels intensified (see related story).

Rex Energy Corp.’s proved reserves increased 37% to 849.8 Bcfe at the end of 2013, mostly due to its Marcellus Shale operations in central and western Pennsylvania, the company said.

Ceramic proppant leader Carbo Ceramics Inc. is attempting to get the word out that “low quality” products from China aren’t worth the lower price producers pay to increase oil and gas recoveries.

More than three years after ruptured natural gas pipeline killed eight people and destroyed a neighborhood in San Bruno, CA, officials again are challenging state regulators and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) by filing a lawsuit alleging they failed to produce public documents related to the tragedy.

The window is closing on the opportunity to export liquefied U.S. natural gas to world markets and the U.S. Department of Energy should approve all remaining export license applications by the end of the year, the House Energy and Commerce Committee said in a report released Tuesday.

FERC said it has received an application from four subsidiaries of KKR Financial Holdings LLC to acquire, operate and maintain the Index 301 Pipeline from Gulf South Pipeline LP [Docket No. CP14-51-000]. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) also said KKR requested a Part 157, Subpart F blanket certificate. According to FERC, the 5.917-mile 16-inch diameter pipeline traverses Mississippi’s Simpson and Smith counties. The agency has 90 days to complete an environmental assessment or issue a notice of schedule for environmental review for the request.

Historic flooding that took its toll in the heart of Colorado oil and natural gas production in the Denver-Julesburg Basin last September (see Shale Daily, Oct. 10, 2013) will be the subject of a half-day workshop Thursday afternoon hosted by the state’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC) to discuss “lessons learned” and whether new policies and rules are needed. Record-breaking floods along the Front Range and eastern plain in September inundated oil and gas operations near streams, damaging production facilities and producing spills of oil, condensate and produced water, according to OGCC. Colorado Oil and Gas Association CEO Tisha Schuller is expected to make a presentation at the workshop.

Physical gas prices for Wednesday delivery vaulted higher in Tuesday’s trading as forecasts called for brutal cold, snow and wind to return for a broad section of the country stretching from the Rocky Mountains to New England. The March natural gas futures contract followed suit, soaring back above $5 and closing at $5.375, up 47 cents from Monday’s finish.