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The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has released an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) on vapor pressure requirements for the transport of crude oil and other hazardous liquids by rail.

Whether the optimistic outlook permeating the energy sector is more cautious or full-speed ahead will become increasingly clear in the coming weeks as operators unveil their year-end earnings results and, more important, their spending plans for 2017.

While there have been some signs of reawakening from the long commodity price slumber in the Bakken Shale, the effects of more than two years of low crude oil prices continue to show in the number of drilled but uncompleted (DUC) wells.

A heavy equipment operator working on the four-state, nearly 1,200-mile Dakota Accessoil pipelinein North Dakota died at a hospital in Minot, ND, Friday following head injuries sustained on the job. The man, whose identity has not been released, was working as a subcontractor for the $3.7 billion Energy Transfer Partners’ pipeline project being built by Dakota Access Pipeline LLC. The incident occurred nearly 200 miles north and west of ongoing protests against the project by the Standing Rock Sioux Native American Tribe and some environmental groups near the South Dakota border. The man apparently was working alone and was found by co-workers.

Texas has joined North Dakota in its lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over three new final rules governing methane emissions from oil and gas industry sources.

The North American onshore industry has shifted its thinking towards recovery, and Halliburton Co.’s second quarter results likely represent the bottom as exploration and production (E&P) companies look ahead to growth, CEO David Lesar said.

A unit of Bismarck-based MDU Resources Group Inc. said Monday it plans to build a $50 million natural gas transmission pipeline to bring gas supplies to areas of eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota. An open season for the project will run through July 15.

Houston-based Hess Corp. earlier this month sent 175,000 bbl of Bakken Shale crude to Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, a senior Hess spokesman told news media.

Houston-based Hess Corp. earlier this month sent 175,000 bbl of Bakken Shale crude to Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, a senior Hess spokesman told news media.