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A Canadian study published last week that raised public health concerns about oilsands solidified some opponents of TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would carry oilsands production from Alberta. Opponents blasted a separate report by Nebraska’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to reroute the pipeline through the state.

In the headline of a story published Jan. 2, “DOE Identifies 2.4B Metric Tons of CO2 Storage Capacity” (see Daily GPI, Jan. 2), the amount of possible carbon dioxide (CO2) storage capacity in U.S. saline formations, oil and gas reservoirs and unmineable coal seams was incorrectly stated. The Department of Energy report actually identified 2.4 trillion metric tons of CO2 storage capacity. NGI regrets the error.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Wednesday approved a “land-into-trust” application submitted by the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in western North Dakota to build the first U.S. refinery in decades — in the heart of the Bakken shale formation.

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) is proposing to amend its rules relating to water protection to allow for a wider variety of recycling activities. The existing rules contemplate two categories of commercial recycling facilities: mobile and stationary. Since adoption of the rules in 2006, RRC has received an increasing number of applications for permits for facilities that fit neither category. Therefore, RRC proposed to create a third category: a semi-mobile commercial recycling facility. It proposes to authorize on-lease, non-commercial recycling of produced water and/or hydraulic fracturing (fracking) flowback fluid, and to clarify requirements for off-lease or centralized noncommercial recycling of produced water and/or fracking flowback fluid. It also proposes to amend the definition of “fresh makeup water pit” to allow use of such a pit in conjunction with fracking of an oil or gas well for the storage of fresh water or treated fracking flowback fluid used to make up fracking fluid for use in a new well. The changes are intended to reduce the demand for fresh water for fracking. The proposal was recently published in the Texas Register.

In the story published Wednesday, “IHS: Technology to Push Domestic Reserves ‘Well Over’ 3,000 Tcf” (see Daily GPI, Aug. 15), IHS Inc.’s Pete Stark was misquoted. He said the United States today was “talking about launching U.S. exports,” not imports. NGI regrets the error.

A report published Monday by the group Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States asserts that there is a link between dozens of small earthquakes in Texas’ Barnett Shale and wastewater injection wells that support natural gas drilling.

In a story published in April, BP Expanding in GOM Deepwater, the initial gas processing capacity from the Mad Dog field was incorrectly stated (see NGI, April 16). The platform initially was designed to process up to 60 MMcf/d of gas and up to 100,000 b/d of oil. NGI regrets the error.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) on Monday published hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operating practices for shale and tight natural gas development to improve water management, as well as water and fluids reporting, across the country.

Global exploration and production (E&P) spending is forecast to grow by about 9% this year, with U.S. money targeting unconventional and deepwater plays, according to a survey by the energy team at Dahlman Rose & Co.