Mexico’s state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has jettisoned plans to drill an appraisal well delineating the Zama shallow water oil deposit, which straddles one block operated by Pemex and another operated by Talos Energy Inc. The decision was revealed Tuesday during a session of upstream regulator Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH). CNH approved a…
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PHMSA Tells Pipeline Operators Deadline Looms for New Emissions Requirements
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on Monday submitted an advisory bulletin to the Federal Register, emphasizing to pipeline and pipeline facility operators requirements to reduce methane emissions. “Minimizing methane emissions from pipelines will help improve safety and combat climate change, while creating jobs for pipeline workers,” said PHMSA…
Lawmakers Pushing for Cybersecurity Mandates Following Colonial Ransomware Attack
Following the six-day shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline Co. after a ransomware attack, a bi-partisan group of U.S. House lawmakers has revived legislation aimed at formalizing federal agencies’ responsibilities for securing pipelines against threats. In addition to codifying the responsibility of both the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency for…
Texas Freeze Demonstrates Need for Further Mexico-U.S. Energy Integration, Expert Says
Freezing weather in Texas in February and the subsequent energy supply problems on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border underline a need for greater energy integration between the two countries, Lorena Patterson, senior energy specialist and strategist, told NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index. “I would advocate for greater integration between the markets, and more diversification…
Mexico’s AMLO Touts Amended Ethane Contract, New Electricity Law as Sector Unease Mounts
Mexico’s president and the CEO of its state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) said Wednesday that the terms of an ethane supply contract between Pemex and petrochemicals firm Braskem Idesa (BI) have been amended. The changes would benefit Pemex, said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Pemex CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza, although BI had yet…
Environmental Groups’ Legal Victory Protects Sage Grouse, Marks Another Blow to Drilling on Federal Lands
Environmental groups that sued to throw out a federal plan allowing new exploration and mining on public lands heralded a recent win in court that they said was vital to protect greater sage grouse. A federal judge on Thursday overturned a Trump administration decision to jettison sage grouse protections from 10 million acres in the…
Current Mexico Energy Policy Harmful to Private Investment, Former CRE Commissioner Says
“We are effectively seeing this administration block the participation of private industry in the energy sector across all segments,” Montserrat Ramiro, former Commissioner at Mexico’s Comisión Reguladora de Energia (CRE), told NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index. “Apparently they think the optimal outcome is total control of the market by state-owned companies. Moreover, they think markets…
Natural Gas ‘Bridge Fuel’ Narrative to Face Tougher Scrutiny Under Biden
With natural gas projected to play a major role in the global energy mix for decades to come, the incoming Biden Administration would need to mitigate the fuel’s environmental impacts as much as possible in order to fulfill his climate agenda, the most ambitious of any U.S. president in history. As a result, the industry…
Court Rejects Obama-Era Methane Rule on Oil, Natural Gas Leases
A federal judge on Thursday overturned an Obama-era rule from 2016 designed to curb methane emissions from associated natural gas on federal and tribal lands, indicating the Department of Interior (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) overstepped its bounds by attempting to regulate air pollution. The rule in question is the Waste Prevention, Production Subject…
Federal Judge Says BLM Chief Serving Unlawfully, Lacks Senate Confirmation
A federal judge in Montana ruled that William Perry Pendley, the acting director of the U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), had served illegally for more than a year and blocked him from continuing in the position. “Pendley has served and continues to serve unlawfully…His ascent to acting BLM director did not follow…