Rewrite

Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) has proposed a “complete rewrite” of its regulations on production rates, burning oil and venting and flaring natural gas on the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

In the final hours of their second special session Alaska lawmakers Thursday night passed the biggest rewrite of the state’s oil and gas taxes in decades, giving Gov. Frank Murkowski the tax on net profits that he wanted but with a higher rate. Revision of the state’s oil and gas tax regime is a crucial step to moving forward with plans for a $20 billion gas pipeline to bring Alaska gas to the Lower 48. However, the gasline still is far from certain.

Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling last week accused the government of trying to “rewrite history” and pin the blame for the company’s collapse on “innocent people.” Skilling, who spent four days on the witness stand defending himself, said he is “absolutely innocent” of the 28 criminal charges against him and will fight to prove his innocence “until the day I die.”

Sensing that updating its 1988 Pipeline Crossing Regulations was past due, Canada’s National Energy Board moved another step toward the development of new regulations called the Damage Prevention Regulations (DPR) that will govern pipeline safety throughout the country.

Sensing that it was time to update its 1988 Pipeline CrossingRegulations, Canada’s National Energy Board moved another steptoward the development of new regulations called the DamagePrevention Regulations (DPR) that will govern pipeline safetythroughout the country.