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Colorado drillers may face more scrutiny about emissions from their oil and natural operations under regulations being pondered by the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).

Under pressure from San Bruno, CA, officials who have asked for an investigation, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) last week reshuffled two key legal positions in the three consolidated penalty cases against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) for the 2010 natural gas transmission pipeline tragedy.

Two-year-old Appalachia-based upstart Eclipse Resources I LP, under the management of several shale veterans, has more than doubled its holdings in the Utica Shale in a deal to acquire Oxford Oil Co. LLC, and with it 184,000 net acres and 13.8 Bcfe of proved developed producing reserves.

Under pressure from San Bruno city officials asking for a state probe of its actions and growing internal tensions, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Wednesday reshuffled two key legal positions in the three consolidated penalty cases against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) for the 2010 natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion in San Bruno.

A flood debris-driven sour gas leak on a wellhead pipeline in the Turner Valley south of Calgary was brought under control at midday Friday, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator and the natural gas production operator, Calgary-based Legacy Oil & Gas Inc.

Summer field work is under way for the effort by producers ExxonMobil Corp., BP plc and ConocoPhillips, and pipeliner TransCanada Corp. to build a liquefied natural gas liquefaction and export facility in southern Alaska.

NiSource Midstream Services LLC’s Big Pine Gathering System in the heart of the Marcellus Shale has begun serving XTO Energy Inc. under a long-term agreement. The 57-mile, 20- and 24-inch diameter system stretches into Pennsylvania’s Allegheny, Butler, Armstrong, Indiana and Westmoreland counties and interconnects to the Columbia Gas Transmission system, as well as Texas Eastern Transmission and Dominion Transmission. The system is anchored by XTO; a separate gathering agreement was recently signed with PennEnergy.

Inexpensive shale gas has lit a fire under Connecticut gas distribution utilities Yankee Gas, Connecticut Natural Gas (CNG) and Southern Connecticut Gas (SCG), which have just filed a joint gas expansion plan with the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).

Physical gas for weekend and Monday delivery overall eased a penny as traders saw little incentive to buy a three-day package under conditions of mild expected weather and the ability to easily make intraday purchases as needed.