natural gas prices

Apache Corp. President Roger Plank, who joined the company in 1981, is retiring. Plank has served in numerous executive roles at Apache, including CFO. He became president in early 2009 and was named chief corporate officer in 2011. He is the son of Raymond Plank, one of Apache’s founders. Alfonso Leon, senior vice president (SVP) and chief of staff, has been appointed executive vice president and CFO. Leon is to lead financial, commercial, stakeholder relations, planning and strategy functions. Tom Chambers was tapped to serve as SVP, finance.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has fined a subsidiary of Halliburton Co. $1.8 million for 255 violations of the state’s Solid Waste Management Act between 1999 and 2011. The DEP on Tuesday said Halliburton had waived its right to appeal and signed a consent agreement for the fine against subsidiary Halliburton Energy Services. DEP became aware of the violations in 2011 during an inspection of a Homer City facility in Indiana County, PA. Inspectors discovered that Halliburton had stored, treated and transported hydrochloric acid waste without obtaining proper DEP permits. A further investigation revealed that the company had committed the violation on multiple occasions to 1999. DEP said between 1999 and 2011 Halliburton transported acidic waste that originated at well sites without identifying the waste as “hazardous,” without the proper trucking permits and without using a licensed hazardous waste transporter. Additionally, the company sent the waste to an unauthorized treatment and disposal operation. The DEP said no evidence suggests the waste handling caused any harm to the public or environment.

Apache Corp. President Roger Plank, who joined the company in 1981, is retiring. Plank has served in numerous executive roles at Apache, including CFO. He became president in early 2009 and was named chief corporate officer in 2011. He is the son of Raymond Plank, one of Apache’s founders. Alfonso Leon, senior vice president (SVP) and chief of staff, has been appointed executive vice president and CFO. Leon is to lead financial, commercial, stakeholder relations, planning and strategy functions. Tom Chambers was tapped to serve as SVP, finance.

The Federal Railroad Administration said it could take months to investigate the cause of a Norfolk-Southern Corp. (NS) crude-by-rail incident on Thursday morning after 21 of 120 cars derailed near Vandergrift, PA (see Shale Daily, Feb. 13). NS said at least 3,500 gallons of crude oil spilled from a tanker car. No injuries were reported, but 35 people were evacuated from MSI Corp., a specialty metals firm that was hit by one of the cars. NS, which is conducting an internal investigation, said the spill was contained to a parking lot and didn’t enter storm drains or nearby waterways.

Weekend and Monday gas gained ground in Friday’s trading with New England leading the march higher by posting multi-dollar gains.

A paralyzing concoction of snow, ice, sleet, and abnormally low temperatures for much of the East prompted a wide range of changes to the natural gas pricing matrix. A series of storms began the week in North Louisiana and by Friday residents of Philadelphia were shoveling more than a foot of snow. NGI’s weekly spot gas average nationally fell $1.90 to $7.53 for the week ended Feb. 14, but the regional swings were wide, almost as wide as the variations posted by individual points.

Spot natural gas for Friday delivery continued its downward trek in Thursday’s trading as the snow and ice storms that pummeled the South turned to unleash their fury on the Eastern Seaboard.

U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. and Union Pacific Railroad Co. have struck a deal to build a rail-accessible silica sand storage facility in Odessa, TX, a move that enables the company to bring more of its products to the Permian Basin for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations.

A fire that erupted Tuesday morning at a Chevron Appalachia LLC natural gas well site in Greene County, PA continued to burn Wednesday, and it may not be clear for some time what caused it, officials said.