Regulatory

As policies incentivizing clean energy continue to mount, renewable natural gas (RNG) is poised for more growth, the scale of which could depend on the outcome of state and federal legislation.  The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) launched investments into alternative fuels, including RNG, in part because of the expansion of investment tax credits…

Editor’s Note: NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index, a leader tracking Mexico natural gas market reform, is offering the following column by Eduardo Prud’homme as part of a regular series on understanding this process. The Comisión Reguladora de Energía (CRE) has given Cenagas authorization for a new list of rates for Mexico’s national pipeline system known…

A multi-year effort to pause oil and natural gas development across a portion of Colorado’s Western Slope may soon be finalized, according to federal officials. A draft environmental assessment (DEA) issued in December by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) found there would be “no significant impact” if federal mineral leasing was withdrawn for 20 years…

A divided appeals court on Tuesday affirmed its ruling that the first natural gas ban enacted in the United States, in Berkeley, CA, is preempted by federal law, setting the stage for more legal fights across the country. In a 65-page amended opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit threw out Berkeley’s…

Shell plc is looking to intervene in a complaint against Venture Global LNG Inc. one of its fellow contract holders, BP plc, filed with FERC late last year. In December, BP filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requesting it compel Virginia-based Venture Global to release confidential information about the extended commissioning process…

Chevron Corp.’s upstream oil and natural gas assets are set to take a big one-time hit in the fourth quarter results, primarily because of “continuing regulatory challenges” in California, where the integrated major is headquartered.  The San Ramon-based producer on Tuesday detailed the upstream impairments in a Securities and Exchange Commission Form 8-K filing.  The…

Experts from Mexico’s energy industry told NGI’s Mexico GPI that they feel optimistic 2024 will bring positive developments to the natural gas sector following several difficult years of uncertainty and unforeseen policy changes. In conversations and exchanges with nine Mexico energy industry experts and leaders in December, the majority expressed cautious or moderate optimism for…

FortisBC Energy Inc. was sent back to the drawing board to supply a growing customer base after Canadian regulators rejected a proposal for a C$327 million ($285 million) natural gas pipeline.  The British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) in late December denied a certificate of public convenience and necessity for FortisBC’s proposed Okanagan Capacity Upgrade (OCU)…

California regulators pulled the remaining subsidies offered for constructing buildings that rely on natural gas or propane in a move to support decarbonization and incentivize electrification.  After eliminating natural gas line extension subsidies for all mixed-fuel buildings in 2022, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) earlier in December struck electric line extension subsidies for new…