West

ExxonMobil Corp. and Imperial Oil Ltd. are in the “very early stages” of planning a business to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from British Columbia’s west coast, Imperial CEO Bruce March said last week.

The wall thickness of a section of pipe on the 20-inch diameter Columbia Gas Transmission system that ruptured Tuesday in West Virginia was significantly deteriorated, said National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators Thursday. There also was a pressure drop on the line, but the magnitude of the decrease is unknown as was whether drop was the result of the rupture or its cause.

ExxonMobil Corp. and Imperial Oil Ltd. are in the “very early stages” of planning a business to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from British Columbia’s west coast, Imperial CEO Bruce March said Monday.

Atlas Pipeline Partners LP, which serves producers in West Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, surpassed a record for processed natural gas volumes in 3Q2012, which were up 36% from a year ago, executives said Wednesday.

Warmer-than-average temperatures are expected this winter in an enormous area stretching from Arkansas west through Arizona and north as far as the Canadian border, as well as the northern two-thirds of Alaska, according to forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Warmer-than-average temperatures are expected this winter in an enormous area stretching from Arkansas west through Arizona and north as far as the Canadian border, as well as the northern two-thirds of Alaska, according to forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Louisiana’s commissioner of conservation has ordered Texas Brine LLC to abate the safety and environmental threats from its failed brine cavern on the west side of the Napoleonville Salt Dome in Assumption Parish where a sinkhole has been threatening residents and infrastructure since August.

A year-long study has concluded that hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in an urban oilfield in the Los Angeles area will not harm the environment.

Illinois-based Gas Technology Institute (GTI) has signed two contracts with the California Energy Commission (CEC) totaling $3.5 million to support some energy projects in the West. With a satellite office in Davis, CA, GTI will help the CEC develop more economic natural gas-fired combined heat-power (CHP) systems and advanced waste heat recovery technology. GTI received a $1.8 million grant to develop flex-fuel CHP that can operate interchangeably on natural gas or biogas produced by anaerobic digesters at wastewater treatment plants and landfills. GTI also has a $1.73 million grant to demonstrate technology for converting high temperature (900 degrees F) exhaust gas waste heat into electricity on an average-sized industrial furnace.