Reporters

The Boulder County, CO, commission on Tuesday formally extended a moratorium on new oil and natural gas drilling permits to June 10. However, the commission left the door open to lifting the ban earlier if the county’s new drilling rules are in place.

Speaking to reporters at a technical forum on next-generation blowout preventers (BOP) Tuesday, Interior Department officials said they expected to issue by September a proposal on enhanced standards for BOPs, a device that is believed to have malfunctioned in April 2010 and lead to the blowout of the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico (see Daily GPI, April 22, 2010). “This is a rule that I believe is much needed, and we will work deliberately toward getting a draft rule published,” said James Watson, director of Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, earlier this month.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) issued separate permits to Patriot Water Treatment LLC and the City of Warren on Monday, barring the latter from accepting pre-treated wastewater from oil and natural gas drilling starting April 1.

It was only a few months ago that booming times in the Texas oil and gas patch moved the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers to gather a handful of energy reporters at Houston’s Petroleum Club to tout the industry’s success, the market’s wisdom and to speak out against higher taxes. Things have changed a bit since that meeting in July.

It was only a few months ago that booming times in the Texas oil and gas patch moved the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers to gather a handful of energy reporters at Houston’s Petroleum Club to tout the industry’s success, the market’s wisdom and to speak out against higher taxes. Things have changed a bit since that meeting in July.

Natural gas storage may “routinely fill up in the U.S. much earlier than in the past,” FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher told reporters at a Washington, DC press briefing last Wednesday.

Natural gas storage may “routinely fill up in the U.S. much earlier than in the past,” FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher told reporters at a Washington, DC press briefing on Wednesday.

FERC Chairman Patrick Wood, who announced Wednesday that he will be departing the agency at the end of June, told reporters this week that he’s not sure that current language in pending comprehensive energy legislation dealing with the siting of liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities is “helpful.”

FERC Chairman Pat Wood on Wednesday told reporters that the federal agency is on schedule to issue its latest survey of natural gas and power companies before the end of this month to determine if there has been progress made on the reporting of prices to the trade press.