Permitting

The Mexican business environment for energy sector players could be hampered by plans to fold autonomous regulators and the competition watchdog into existing ministries. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said last week he was considering the move in a bid to save money to prioritize social spending as the economy reels from the impact…

The owners of the Double E natural gas pipeline have asked federal regulators for permission to begin construction on the 135-mile Permian Basin conduit. In a Monday filing, Double E Pipeline LLC asked FERC to approve the start of construction by Friday. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized the pipeline in October. Project backer Summit…

New regulation over the permitting process involved in the importing and exporting of fuels in Mexico published in the country’s Official Gazette on Dec. 26 could prove harmful to competition in the Mexican energy sector. Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Competencia Económica (Cofece), the federal economic competition commission, published a statement last week warning the rules…

U.S. explorers during October increased their oil and gas permit requests for the third month in a row, with an uptick in developing leaseholds on federal lands, according to Evercore ISI. The analyst firm each month provides data using state and federal sources regarding permits for oil and gas wells, plugging and abandoned (P&A) wells…

A federal district court has denied ongoing legal challenges to the Trump administration’s 2019 approval of TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline.  In separate orders handed down late last week, Chief District Judge Brian Morris of the U.S. District Court for Montana denied requests filed by tribal and environmental groups seeking a preliminary injunction…

U.S. oil and gas permitting on federal lands jumped 8% in September from August, with Texas operators posting the largest increase since March, according to a monthly tally by Evercore ISI. The firm every month compiles permit data from federal and state sources, which provides a bird’s eye view of where drilling by exploration and…

In keeping with an extensive history of persistent legal opposition to Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC (MVP), environmental groups have asked a federal appeals court to stay recently updated waterbody-crossing permits for the 303-mile, 2 million Dth/d natural gas conduit. In petitions filed Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, a coalition…

An underground natural gas liquids (NGL) storage project in Ohio — seen as key to the Appalachian Basin’s petrochemical buildout — has hit another snag as its backers have withdrawn their permits in the face of a lawsuit from environmental groups.  The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) last week cancelled three permits to drill…

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has approved Sunoco Pipeline LP’s requests to modify permits at three horizontal directional drill (HDD) sites for its Mariner East natural gas pipeline system. The DEP announced the approval earlier this week, which alters the pipeline developer’s erosion and sediment control, as well as the “water obstructions and…