Regulatory

A trio of powerful Democratic senators criticized the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) recent decision to repropose regulations implementing limits on speculative futures and swaps positions as called for in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Darren W. Woods, 51, currently president of ExxonMobil Corp., will succeed Rex W. Tillerson as chairman and CEO effective Jan. 1, the board announced Wednesday, one day after Tillerson was nominated by President-elect Trump to become secretary of state.

President-elect Donald Trump reportedly plans to nominate Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) as secretary of the Department of Interior (DOI), marking the fourth time a supporter of the oil and gas industry has been picked to fill a position with the incoming administration.

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) has accepted $97,000 in settlement offers from Panda Power Funds LP for violations at three of its natural gas-fired power plants in Pennsylvania. The SRBC, which oversees conservation and monitors industrial development in the area, said the company consumed water in excess of regulatory thresholds at its Panda, Patriot and Hummel power plants; Panda and Patriot were recently commissioned. Hummel, which is one of the country’s largest coal-to-gas switching projects, is expected to be in operation by 2018. Panda said permits for the facilities were issued to another developer and did not meet the facilities requirements.

Visions of breakthroughs into Quebec inspired natural gas and oil entrepreneurs Monday after the province’s National Assembly passed legislation creating a hydrocarbon development regulatory regime over the weekend.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who once quipped that he would dismantle the Department of Energy (DOE) if elected president, has reportedly been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the department.

A Texas federal judge on Monday canceled a deposition scheduled for Tuesday (Dec. 13) by ExxonMobil Corp. of Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) Maura Healey regarding a probe into the supermajor’s fossil fuels research.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) plans to incorporate and go beyond the latest federal requirements to reduce oil and gas industry methane emissions in a new general permit for unconventional wells sites and revisions for the general permit for natural gas compressor facilities.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who once quipped that he would dismantle the Department of Energy (DOE) if elected president, has reportedly been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the department.