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Former FBI Director Louis Freeh was appointed Tuesday as a special master to investigate apparent misconduct by one of the lawyers who helped manage BP plc’s $7.8 billion settlement fund with Gulf Coast plaintiffs over the deepwater Macondo well blowout in April 2010.

Portland, OR-based NW Natural has asked Oregon regulators for approval to provide compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling service to business customers. The cost of the service would be paid by the individual customers using it.

Linde North America has broken ground for an air separation unit (ASU) plant in La Porte, TX, part of a $200 million investment that is to include a gasification train and supporting facilities. The German-based The Linde Group unit, set to begin operations in 1Q2015, would be the largest single site investment in plant and equipment to date in the United States. Oxygen and nitrogen produced by the ASU would supply gasification assets at the Texas site, converting natural gas into syngas and constituent products such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen and carbon dioxide, which are used to produce methanol, downstream chemicals and cleaner transportation fuels (see related story). The syngas products would be served by pipeline to a “key” customer, the company said. “Coupled with our unique portfolio of industrial gas and hydrocarbons technology, engineering and operations capabilities, the new plants will allow Linde to better serve the petrochemicals industry that is being driven to new heights by the shale gas revolution,” said Linde North America President Pat Murphy.

Physical natural gas prices tumbled 8 cents overall in Wednesday’s trading as traders prepared for the Independence Day holiday, and many sections of the country expected to see mild weather. Nearly all points were in the red, and Northeast points bucked the downtrend, but a couple of points in the Marcellus suffered losses of over a dollar or more.

Physical natural gas prices on average gained a penny Tuesday with traders seeing no immediate need to make purchases during a holiday-muted trading week. Upper Midwest points added a couple of cents, and West Coast citygate prices were lower as forecasts of power demand were tempered. At the close, August futures were up 7.7 cents to $3.654 and September had added 7.8 cents to $3.651. August crude oil rose $1.61 to $99.60/bbl.

As part of President Obama’s climate action plan, the Department of Energy Tuesday announced a draft $8 billion loan guarantee solicitation for the development of advanced technologies aimed at avoiding and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil fuels.

Some time ago, the North American shale gas surprise gathered enough momentum to turn liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers bound for the United States around, sparking a frenzy to construct liquefaction and export capacity on U.S. and Canadian shores. A “big flood” of LNG is on its way in the next several years, an industry veteran told NGI.

Shares of Linn Energy LLC and LinnCo LLC took a tumble Tuesday after the companies disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was looking into details of LinnCo’s planned merger with Berry Petroleum Co.

Her resignation from the Commission does not come as a surprise as she informed President Obama in January that she planned to leave the CFTC before her term ended (see Daily GPI, Jan. 28). Asked where she intended to go after the CFTC, Sommers told NGI, “I don’t know. I have not started looking for my next opportunity yet.”