Regulatory

FERC has granted Tennessee Gas Pipeline LLC (TGP) permission to make modifications to two existing compressor stations in Kentucky as part of its proposed Broad Run Expansion Project, but it said the company may not yet begin construction elsewhere.

Oklahoma Attorney General (AG) Scott Pruitt, considered an ally to the fossil fuel industry — and a longtime critic of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its alleged regulatory overreach — has been selected by President-elect Trump to lead the agency.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is scheduled to discuss a new draft general permit for unconventional well sites and draft revisions for the general permit for natural gas compressor facilities at an advisory committee meeting on Thursday.

The outlook brightened Monday for Alberta natural gas producers when the provincial government gave C$500 million (US$375 million) in royalty cuts to sponsors of two petrochemical projects for distribution to raw material suppliers.

Commissioner Christi Craddick was unanimously elected chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) Tuesday. “My priorities for the agency continue to include our focus on maximizing efficiency throughout our processes and rules so that we are able to do our job better and at less expense to taxpayers and industry,” Craddick said. “As part of that efficiency effort, our modernization of the Commission’s IT [information technology] programs and processes will bring more data online for public use, improve productivity and increase transparency across all divisions.” Craddick said after the first of the year she will meet with Texas operators to formulate a five-year plan for technology best practices at the agency. She also said she will meet with RRC district office staff throughout the state to ensure consistency in RRC enforcement actions. She also plans to meet with local leaders in the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin regions to gauge the effect of the commodity price downturn on local economies. “Earlier this year, I wasappointed to the National Petroleum Council, and I look forward to working with the new administration’s secretary of energy on ways to protect states’ regulatory authority of energy production for the benefit of local industry growth and state economies,” Craddick said.

A multi-state effort kicked off last year by the governors of Montana and Wyoming makes a case for a stepped up joint federal and state push for more carbon capture and carbon dioxide (CO2)-driven enhanced oil recovery (EOR) throughout the nation’s fossil fuel producing regions.

Oklahoma toppled Texas from the No. 1 spot as the most attractive jurisdiction in the world for oil and natural gas investment, a global survey of energy executives by the Fraser Institute found. Meanwhile, Alberta, long the heart of Canada’s energy industry, has lost its allure.

Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale warned Tuesday that something must be done to change the “vague” spending guidelines, poor reporting requirements and lack of state oversight in the law that established an impact fee collected from shale drillers.

Australia’s BHP Billiton on Monday was named the first deepwater partner ever for Mexico’s state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), winning the right to jointly explore two blocks in the prolific Perdido Fold Belt. Mexico also awarded the rights to explore other Perdido and Salina del Istmo Basin blocks, which all together may hold total reserves of 10.6 billion boe.