April 2018 archive

Judge Rules Against Indian Tribes in Continuing Fight over North Dakota Pipeline

A loss for two Indian tribes still fighting the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, the one that saw thousands of protesters encamped last year around the line. Washington, D.C. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg ruled this week against the tribes’ request to be consulted more on an oil spill response plan at the pipeline. He …

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Ardmore Firm Wins Nearly $2.5 million in Energy Department Grants

An Oklahoma firm is among those receiving some of $99 million in grants announced recently by the U.S. Department of Energy. Amethyst Research Inc. of Ardmore received two separate grants out of the 82 awarded to 69 small businesses in 26 states. The largest totaled $1,499,998 under the description of “Resonant Cavity Light Emitting Diodes …

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Permian Basin Land Rush is Reported to Be Over

For oil and gas players like Devon Energy of Oklahoma City and WPX Energy of Tulsa, the so-called “great Permian Basin land rush”, as described by the Houston Chronicle, is over. Ended. The big boys have spoken. So proclaimed the newspaper in a story this week which indicated most of the land has been leased …

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Walmart Doubling EV Charging Stations Nationwide

Walmart is not only expanding its dependency on alternative energy sources, but customers can expect to see more of those EV charging stations at hundreds of stores nationally. The company said it is doubling the number of EV stations and will add several hundred charging stalls at its operations in 34 states. “This expansion will …

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Xcel Energy to Start Using Drones to Monitor Transmission Lines

Drones will be used extensively by Xcel Energy beginning this summer as the Minneapolis-based company uses them to survey transmission lines near Denver, Colorado. Xcell Energy, a firm in the process of building more than $1.6 billion in new transmission lines in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma announced it will be the first utility nationwide …

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Cash Distribution Announced by Phillips 66 Partners LP

  Phillips 66 Partners LP announces that the board of directors of its general partner declared a first-quarter 2018 cash distribution of $0.714 per common unit. This quarter’s distribution represents an increase of 5 percent over the previous quarterly distribution of $0.678 per unit and a 22 percent increase over first-quarter 2017. The distribution increase …

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Dallas Company Announces $450 million in Public Offering

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners announced it’s priced an underwritten public offering of 18 million of its 7.375% Series C preferred units. The price is $25 a unit resulting in total proceeds of $450 million.  Underwriters have a 30-day option to buy up to 2,700,000 more additional Series C Preferred Units. The offering of the Series …

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Bridenstine to Get his NASA Nomination Vote in the Senate

Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine will likely learn Thursday if he will become the next Administrator of NASA. The U.S. Senate on Wednesday, in a 50-48 party-line vote approved the start of 30 hours of debate to be followed by a vote on the nomination. The vote was on a cloture motion or procedural step …

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Water Board Hands Out $1.2 million in Water Improvement Grants

The Oklahoma Water Resources Board at its April meeting approved more than $1.2 million in funding for water and wastewater improvements to three government operations. The largest, $1,033,500 went to the Pittsburg County Rural Water District #14 for improvement of the district’s water infrastructure. Construction of upgrades and improvements to the system will be financed …

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Jones Energy Terminates President and CEO

A Texas energy company with a heavy drilling commitment in western Oklahoma has dumped its CEO. Jones Energy, Inc. based in Austin, Texas removed Jonny Jones as Chief Executive Officer and Mike S. McConnell as President. Word came in a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. While Jones was removed as CEO, he …

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