Wednesday

As a formal set of proposed rules on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) moves through preliminary public review in California, Gov. Jerry Brown last Wednesday expressed confidence that his state’s oil and gas regulators would apply “science and common sense” to frack regulations.

Even though it was suspended from obtaining new federal contracts, BP plc will be allowed to bid in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Central Lease Sale 227 on Wednesday (March 20), the Department of Interior said.

Noting that it wants to give the public an adequate opportunity to review and comment, the Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said Wednesday that it is extending the public comment period on two proposed rules: to list as endangered the gunnison sage grouse, which is found south of the Colorado River in Colorado and Utah, and to designate 1.7 million acres of critical habitat for the bird under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

FERC Wednesday approved Questar Pipeline Co.’s application to build the ML 41 Project on its transmission system in order to provide high-pressure deliveries of natural gas for an expansion of a PacificCorp-owned and operated power generation plant in Utah.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and ranking member Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) sent a letter last Wednesday to FERC asking that it provide more detailed information about the Section 5 complaint investigations that were initiated in past years into allegations that certain interstate gas pipelines were charging unjust and unreasonable rates.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and ranking member Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) sent a letter Wednesday to FERC asking that it provide more detailed information about Section 5 complaint investigations that it initiated in past years into allegations that certain pipelines are charging unjust and unreasonable rates.

The chief of General Motors (GM) on Wednesday urged President Obama to appoint a blue ribbon committee whose only goal would be to develop a 30-year energy policy plan for the United States.

The global energy business is for the optimistic, those unafraid of facing challenges and taking risks, and it will forever be so, BP plc Group CEO Bob Dudley said Wednesday before a crowd at IHS CERAWeek 2013 in Houston.

Comprehensive energy legislation proposed by Senate Republicans last Wednesday seeks to open all federal waters to oil and natural gas leasing, expand revenue sharing between the federal government and coastal states, open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to production and bar the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.