Author's posts
Rural Landowners Rush to Register Private Air Strips in Advance of Wind Farms
The growth of wind farms across Oklahoma and a year-old state law has private pilots moving to register their private air strips, many in western Oklahoma, according to a report by The Oklahoman. As Paul Monies for the newspaper found out, there is a rush on to register the air trips with the Federal Aviation …
Senate Energy and Water Bill Includes Funding for Several Oklahoma Projects
Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe says the just passed Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act included priorities for Oklahoma he inserted into H.R. 2028. The measure passed on a 90-8 vote. “As passed by the Senate, the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act will improve water supply and quality in Western Oklahoma …
Nation’s Rig Count Drops while Oklahoma’s Grows
While the national rig count slipped by 2 in the past week to reach a total of 404, the count in Oklahoma increased by one to reach a total of 57 working oil and gas rigs, according to the latest data from Baker Hughes Company of Houston, Texas. The national count shows 318 working oil …
Federal Probe Finds Plains All-American at Fault in 2015 California Oil Spill
Federal investigators blame “external corrosion” for the massive Plains All-American pipeline oil spill that occurred May 19, 2015 in Santa Barbara County, California and say the company could have prevented it. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in a 510-page report, blamed the company’s failure to “protect the pipeline from …
Unhappy Customer Sues BizJet
“BizJet’s work turned out to be disastrous.” Claim in lawsuit. Tulsa-based BizJet finds itself on the wrong end of a lawsuit filed by a Florida company accusing it of providing “grossly negligent servicing” of the firm’s Gulstream jet. The firm named Moon, Sun and Stars Inc. and its parent company Monsoon Inc. filed suit …
Defense Bill Includes Rep. Bridenstine’s Energy Amendments
When the U.S. House passed the National Defense Authorization Act recently, it included some energy related amendments offered by Oklahoma Rep. Jim Bridenstine. HR 4909 included one amendment to expand U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas Exports. It codifies the 30-day limit for the Department of Energy to issue final decisions on the LNG export applications. Another …
Two Legislators Argued It’s time to Stop Propping up Oil and Gas in Oklahoma
The passage of the bill creating a $12.5 million cap on tax credits for at-risk oil and gas wells in Oklahoma by the State House didn’t come without some opposition. Although the 93-2 passage didn’t appear to offer much opposition, two Representatives, Cory Williams, a Democrat from Stillwater and Mike Brown, a Democrat from Tahlequah …
Albuquerque Considers Pledge of 25% Electricity from Solar Power
The City of Albuquerque, New Mexico is considering a move to joint other communities in setting goals to acquire more electricity from renewable resources including solar production. The City council voted recently to delay a decision for two weeks on a resolution to get at least 25 percent of the electricity from solar …
SandRidge Uses Bankruptcy to Fight Conspiracy Lawsuit in Duncan
An attorney who filed a class-action lawsuit in southern Oklahoma accusing SandRidge Energy of the same kind of conspiracy allegations leveled in federal lawsuits does not believe the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy will affect his suit. Attorney Jim Sill responded after SandRidge attorneys filed a stay for the suit in Stephens county, according to a …
Houston Firm with Western Oklahoma Holdings Experiences $29 million Quarterly Loss
Another Texas-based exploration and production company with deep interests in Oklahoma reports it experienced a net loss of $29 million in the first quarter of the year. EV Energy Partners, L.P. based in Houston says the loss figured to $0.58 per basic and diluted weighted average limited partner unit. The adjusted earnings before taxes …