Officials

Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) on Tuesday told local elected officials and nearby residents that it will take up to four more months to plug a gas storage well leak that began Oct. 23 (see Daily GPI,Nov. 12).

Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Monday that the agency plans to roll out a series of key peer-reviewed papers related to its long-awaited draft report on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on drinking water resources, setting the stage for its release early next year.

Mexico reforms signed into law in August by President Enrique Pena Nieto are critical steps for the energy sector to welcome an influx of foreign investment, offering a “golden opportunity” for California with its location and historic ties, state energy officials said on Tuesday.

A five-inch crack in a crude oil pipeline in southern Ohio, owned and operated by Sunoco Logistics Partners LP, was the source of a 10,000 gallon (240 bbl) leak discovered on Monday in a stream that contaminated part of a nature preserve in Colerain Township, just north of Cincinnati, local officials said.

Officials in two Pennsylvania counties with significant oil and gas drilling that targets the Marcellus Shale say they support plans by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct baseline testing at private water wells in their counties next year.

Denver-based Whiting Petroleum Corp. officials said Friday they expected to greatly ramp up production in both the Bakken and Niobrara shale plays later this year as they reported production for the second quarter that was up substantially from the same period in 2012.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court quashed an appeal by the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Thursday, leaving in place a judge’s order that the commission cannot use a review process to enforce some provisions of Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

While acknowledging that rail shipments are a vital part of the burgeoning Bakken Shale play, North Dakota energy officials on Monday refused to speculate on the eventual impact of the oil rail car derailment and fire in Quebec, Canada, on their state’s soaring production (see Shale Daily, July 16).

Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) Chairman Michele Sierkerka said the organization is working to advance natural gas regulations in the basin, with “thousands of hours” logged so far by its staff and those of its member states on the process since November 2011.