Ranking

With an overall workplace death rate in his state more than 3.5 times the 2010 national average and a ranking as the worst state for such deaths in five of the past 10 years, Wyoming’s governor is taking to heart a report indicating that almost all of those deaths in the oil and gas sector occurred because safety rules were ignored.

With an overall workplace death rate more than 3.5 times the 2010 national average and a ranking as the worst state for these deaths in five of the past 10 years, Wyoming’s governor has joined oil and gas industry representatives in taking to heart a state report that indicates that almost all of the deaths that have occurred in the oil and gas sector were because safety rules were ignored.

Two high-ranking state oil/gas drilling officials were fired by California’s Gov. Jerry Brown for putting too many roadblocks in the state’s permitting process, it was reported Monday. The move brought immediate praise from the exploration/production (E&P) industry, which has increasingly been critical of what its leaders viewed as an overly arduous process for obtaining permits to drill new wells.

Two high-ranking state oil/gas drilling officials were fired by California’s Gov. Jerry Brown for putting too many roadblocks in the state’s permitting process, it was reported Monday. The move brought immediate praise from the exploration/production (E&P) industry, which has increasingly been critical of what its leaders viewed as an overly arduous process for obtaining permits to drill new wells.

ExxonMobil Corp., the nation’s largest onshore natural gas producer, has acquired another 317,000 net acres in the Marcellus Shale, which nearly doubles its leasehold in the play.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has not provided assurances that fees won’t be assessed on nonproducing leases being held up by the federal government, said the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who waged a successful campaign last fall to serve another term in the Senate, has been confirmed as the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Resources Committee by the panel’s Republican members. The selection was ratified by the full Senate Republican Caucus at a luncheon Tuesday.

Marketers were working overtime in the second quarter, according to NGI’s 2Q2010 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking, which found that the 22 reporting marketers that also participated in the 2Q2009 survey transacted 126.55 Bcf/d in 2Q2010, an increase of 6.2% compared with the 119.17 Bcf/d they reported in the year-ago period.

Marketers were working overtime in the second quarter, according to NGI’s 2Q2010 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking, which found that the 22 reporting marketers that also participated in the 2Q2009 survey transacted 126.55 Bcf/d in 2Q2010, an increase of 6.2% compared with the 119.17 Bcf/d they reported in the year-ago period.