Releases

Colorado officials on Tuesday reported three new flood-related oil spills since an assessment the day before (seeDaily GPI,Sept. 24), bringing to 11 the number of what are designated as “notable releases” by the Colorado Oil/Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC).

Weekend reports from state and industry sources in Colorado indicated that while the bulk of the oil and natural gas impact from recent devastating floods is concentrated in four counties in the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin, completing assessments and correcting problems will be a long process (seeDaily GPI,Sept. 20;Sept. 19).

When the Energy Information Administration (EIA) releases its storage report on Thursday for the week ending June 14, analysts at Stephen Smith Energy Associates predict it will show natural gas storage at 2,435 Bcf, an increase of 88 Bcf from EIA’s previous report.

If/when the United States begins exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG), it could take decades for the number of outbound cargoes to equal the number of press releases, studies and policy briefs generated by either side of the export debate. Besides powering a manufacturing/petrochemical renaissance, North American shale gas is fueling a bonfire of inanities, at least some would say.

Pennsylvania state lawmakers have apparently reached a deal for the impact fee they hope to impose on natural gas drilling by splitting the difference between two competing proposals.

A federal court of appeals in Washington, DC, has upheld a FERC ruling that permanently lifted the price ceilings on short-term capacity releases of one year or less by shippers but maintained rate ceilings on capacity sales by pipelines (see NGI, June 23, 2008).

FERC last Thursday approved a request by the U.S. affiliates of Norway’s Statoil ASA and Russia’s Gazprom for a waiver of the agency’s prohibition on tying capacity releases to “extraneous conditions” — which could help to expand the companies’ liquefied natural gas (LNG) footprint in the United States.

A “stripout” notice is scheduled to go to all of Texas’ natural gas, oil and pipeline operators in March to inform them to be “diligent” in controlling potential air emission releases, particularly volatile organic compounds like benzene, the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) said last week.

A “stripout” notice will go to all of Texas’ natural gas, oil and pipeline operators in March to inform them to be “diligent” in controlling potential air emission releases, particularly volatile organic compounds like benzene, the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) said late Tuesday.