Ordered

Shale Gas and America’s Future, a 30-minute, made-for-TV film about the country’s natural gas drilling boom, has been released by the American Clean Skies Foundation (ACSF), a pro-natural gas industry group.

In response to a motion by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. District Court in New Orleans ordered that a security zone be established around the wreckage of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The security zone, which would remain in place until at least Oct. 8, 2011, would extend 750 feet in all directions from the center of mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon. The wreckage, which is located in an area known as the Mississippi Canyon, also would extend from the sea floor of the GOM to the sea surface. The federal court ruled that it would be in the interest of the public to protect the search area and any evidence located in the area against intentional or unintentional loss. It directed the DOJ to inform the public and companies about the security zone. DOJ has informed companies, such as oil and natural gas producers, who have the means and equipment to operate in the wreckage site not to enter the security zone. The order will be enforced by the United States using vessels, aircraft or other appropriate means and equipment, the DOJ said. Eleven workers died in the blast aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig, which was owned and operated by Transocean Inc. and leased by BP plc (see NGI, April 26).

In response to a motion by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. District Court in New Orleans has ordered that a security zone be established around the wreckage of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has ordered Chesapeake Appalachia LLC to cease operations at its Marshall County gas well drilling site where an ignition occurred on the morning of Sept. 19. A notice of violation also was issued.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has ordered Chesapeake Appalachia LLC to cease operations at its Marshall County gas well drilling site where an ignition occurred on the morning of Sept. 19. A notice of violation also was issued.

California regulators on Thursday formally ordered investigations of the Sept. 9 San Bruno transmission pipeline explosion and fire, and they established an independent review panel to be paid for by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), on whose line an explosion killed seven and destroyed or damaged of up to 50 homes (see Daily GPI, Sept. 22).

EOG Resources, which had been ordered to suspend all of its natural gas well drilling activities in Pennsylvania in the wake of a June 3 blowout at a company well in Clearfield County, PA, has been given a green light to resume hydraulic fracturing activities in the state.

EOG Resources, which had been ordered to suspend all of its natural gas well drilling activities in Pennsylvania in the wake of a June 3 blowout at a company well in Clearfield County, PA, has been given a green light to resume hydraulic fracturing activities in the state.

In a lawsuit originally filed nearly six years ago by an adjacent landowner, a Mexican court last Thursday ordered a suspension of operations at Sempra Energy’s Energia Costa Azul liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal along the Pacific Coast of North Baja California, Mexico, pending a resolution of the dispute that Sempra officials originally characterized as common in Mexico (see Daily GPI, Jan. 28, 2005). However, since Sempra has not been officially notified by the court, it is continuing operations as usual, a Sempra LNG spokesperson told NGI Monday.