Regulatory

CEOs of 10 of the biggest oil and gas companies in the world — although none based in the United States — each pledged Friday to invest an average of $100 million a year over the next decade in “climate investments” to create low-carbon technologies that would, among other things, reduce methane emissions from operations.

Four companies — Kinder Morgan Inc., National Grid, Southern Company Gas and Southwestern Energy Co. — have joined a voluntary Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, the agency said last week.

Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) on Tuesday formally asked California regulators for approval to reopen the Aliso Canyon underground natural gas storage field along the northern fringes of Los Angeles that has been closed since a leak occurred a year ago (see Daily GPI,Feb. 18).

The Ohio Supreme Court has decided that landowners that challenge natural gas producers about post-production costs deducted from royalty checks will have to keep heading to trial courts to resolve the issues on a case-by-case basis.

Some earthquakes in Southern California in the early 20th century, including a temblor that killed 120 people in Long Beach, could have been caused by oil drilling in the area, according to a report by two U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) geologists in Pasadena, CA, that was published Tuesday.

Two weeks before Constitution Pipeline LLC will argue in appellate court that New York State regulators are purposely holding up its proposed Marcellus Shale natural gas pipeline by denying a crucial water permit, the two sides in the case took swipes at each other through the filing of final legal briefs last month.

Alberta has gained a profit advantage in attracting drilling and will keep the edge when oil and natural gas prices rise, according to a review of royalty revisions that take effect in 2017.

BP Energy continued a long-running dispute with Dominion Cove Point LNG LP (DCP) Friday when it asked FERC to expedite action on a case recently remanded by the United States Court of Appeals and allow it to “turn back” import expansion storage and regasification capacity as the agency previously allowed another existing import customer.

Spokane, WA-based Avista Utilities natural gas utility rates in Idaho will decrease by 7.8% beginning Tuesday, following approval from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Wholesale gas commodity costs, which represent about half of the overall rates for retail customers, are adjusted annually as part of the PUC’s purchased gas adjustment. This year’s adjustment downward is primarily due to what the PUC called a “warmer-than-normal 2015-16 winter,” along with plentiful gas storage and continued high gas production. As a result, average Avista residential and small commercial customers will see a decrease of about $4.65/month.