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A lawsuit filed last week against pipeline companies in Louisiana by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East (SLFPA-E) is an example of a state agency and its lawyers looking for a big payout, the head of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association (LOGA) told NGI Wednesday. A lawyer for the plaintiff, however, said his client only wants the pipelines to do their share of the work in restoring protections for the state’s coast.

Members of a panel testifying at a hearing of a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs subcommittee last week warned that allowing global conglomerates to own multiple pieces of the production and marketing chain for any commodity, including oil and natural gas, while simultaneously also speculating on the price of those commodities, opens the door to potential manipulation of prices.

After gaining access earlier this year to a big bundle of onshore and offshore opportunities in the United States, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. now is reworking its strategy to relieve the cost burden and increase production, top executives said last week.

George Phydias Mitchell, 94, who is credited with pioneering unconventional drilling techniques that have opened up North America’s natural gas and oil potential, died Friday at his home in Galveston, TX.

Robert Douglas Lawler, 46, one of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s top exploration and production (E&P) executives, last week was tapped to be CEO and president of Chesapeake Energy Corp.

California regulators are facing increased scrutiny on their response to stepping up natural gas pipeline safety oversight following a 2010 explosion in San Bruno on a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) line.

Federal regulators, working with Walter Oil & Gas Corp., said Friday they were continuing to oversee and coordinate response efforts to secure the producer’s South Timbalier Block 220 natural gas well in the shallow Gulf of Mexico (GOM), which blew out last Tuesday and ignited a fire later that night.

Hours ahead of EQT Corp.’s second quarter conference call on Thursday, the company tied into sales its first Utica Shale well, the CEO said.

Last year, natural gas-fueled plants accounted for 57% of the generating capacity in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and more than 44% of energy use. As the reliance on gas-fired power grows, ERCOT is working with other organizations to protect against and prepare for a large-scale system-wide blackout.