Safety

House lawmakers said they are frustrated by how long it is taking the Obama administration to create rules governing pipeline and rail car safety, and they questioned why it is taking so long to formally nominate people to top regulatory posts.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) lacks a sufficient safety culture and a new investigation of the utility’s natural gas system safety and maintenance programs will be launched in the coming weeks, according to Michael Picker, president of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Updated safety standards for newly constructed facilities that work on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), the result of a lengthy investigation into the aftermath of the Macondo well blowout five years ago, were unveiled Monday by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).

There is no slippage in the push to build more railroad tank cars for transporting crude oil and other energy products, the CEO of a leading railcar manufacturer told financial analysts.

Based on a recently completed year-long study for Congress, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) plans a rulemaking on the safety of transporting shale oil and natural gas.

Williams and its pipeline unit reported that earnings in the second quarter fell 28% from a year ago amid declining natural gas liquids (NGL) and olefin margins, and the impact from yet another big delay in restarting its major plant in Geismar, LA.

As the 2010 BP plc Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico fades from memory, Canadian authorities say they are willing to consider dropping a decades-old safety requirement for the next northern offshore drilling campaign.

An independent government investigation into the Macondo well blowout in April 2010 is warning that offshore drilling remains a dangerous proposition, in part because many operators may be using blowout preventers (BOP) that still have flawed designs.

Following three major incidents in less than a year at three of its big onshore natural gas facilities, Williams is commissioning a third-party independent company to conduct a companywide safety audit, a spokesman told NGI on Thursday.