Reporting

The nine-member Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC) on Tuesday unanimously approved new rules for reporting oil/natural gas spills, characterizing the new regulations as “significantly tightening” the volume threshold for reportable releases of oil or exploration/production (E&P) waste.

Physical gas prices overall averaged four cents higher Monday with most points reporting nominal temperature-driven gains. Eastern points averaged gains of about a nickel, and Midwest locations gained close to a nickel as well, as chilly and stormy conditions were expected to prevail nearterm.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said natural gas production in Pennsylvania increased 69% in 2012, despite a reduction in drilling activity.

Baker Hughes Inc. is reporting positive results from a program to convert a fleet of its North American hydraulic fracturing (fracking) units to bifuel pumps that use a mix of natural gas and diesel, the oilfield services operator said Monday.

In reporting a sharp uptick in quarter-over-quarter earnings Monday, PG&E Corp. CEO Anthony Earley predicted that its San Francisco-based utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., will resolve pending regulatory and enforcement issues related to the fatal San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion two years ago.

Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission voted to partially adopt federal clean air rules that target hydraulic fracturing (fracking) emissions and hold public meetings next year to consider full implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules.

Canada’s natural gas producers on Thursday threw their support behind an indepth study by the British Columbia (BC) Oil and Gas Commission (OGC) on “observed induced seismic activity” in the Horn River Basin, which concluded that operators should conduct more monitoring and data collection to ensure continued community safety.

Three days after reporting an upbeat financial and operating performance in the second quarter, Chesapeake Energy Corp. said in a regulatory filing on Thursday it was subpoenaed in late June by the Department of Justice’s Midwest Field Office antitrust division.

Chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) have attracted the most attention from people wary of the well stimulation practice, but water consumption is another worry of fracking skeptics, as evidenced by to two recent reports.