Person

Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s directors have tapped COO Steven C. Dixon as acting CEO and established a three-person Office of the Chairman as they continue to search for a permanent chief.

A fire in February that killed one person and destroyed a city block in Kansas City, MO, was caused by the “accidental ignition of natural gas vapors that accumulated” inside a restaurant, according to a report by the Kansas City Fire Department. Pilot lights had been left on at JJ’s restaurant despite warnings from crews investigating a nearby gas line rupture, and the fire began in the kitchen with “heat from an open flame or smoking materials” listed as the heat source (see Daily GPI, Feb. 22). However, the report did not assign blame as to what caused the Missouri Gas Energy pipeline to explode. The report was compiled by the city, the city fire department, the police department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The Missouri Public Service Commission and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration are conducting separate investigations.

The Missouri Public Service Commission continues to investigate a natural gas explosion in Kansas City, MO, on Feb. 19, which killed at least one person and injured more than a dozen others (see Daily GPI, Feb. 22). According to Kansas City Manager Troy Schulte, Heartland Midwest LLC did not have a permit to drill and excavate near the site. A Heartland crew contracted by Time Warner Cable Inc. was installing a fiber optic cable when it apparently punctured a two-inch diameter natural gas pipeline operated by Missouri Gas Energy.

Stiff new fines are in store for sloppy digging or other misbehavior — by any company or person — that causes leaks and spills from Canadian long-distance pipelines under federal regulation,

Stiff new fines are in store for sloppy digging or other misbehavior — by any company or person — that causes leaks and spills from Canadian long-distance pipelines under federal regulation,

An investigation has been launched after an accident at an Encana Corp. natural gas drilling site in Colorado killed one person and injured three others. According to law enforcement officials, a high-pressure gas release occurred when four contractors with BGH Gas Test Operating Inc. of Castle Rock, CO, were ramping up production at the well, which is in the Niobrara formation. No explosion or fire occurred at the drilling site, which is near the town of Platteville, about 30 miles north of Denver. Encana has launched an internal investigation; state officials also are conducting an investigation.

One person was killed after an explosion at an oil and natural gas well near Bolivar, OH, in Tuscarawas County, on Monday morning.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) experienced a rupture and explosion at about 8:45 a.m. EST Wednesday in a rural part of southeastern Ohio. One person was treated for respiratory symptoms and two structures were damaged.

EnCana Corp. last Thursday said it doubled its reward to $1 million for information that “significantly” contributes to the investigation and prosecution of the person or persons responsible for the bombings of the company’s natural gas pipeline and production facilities in the Dawson Creek area in northeastern British Columbia.