** Houston pipeline operator Enterprise Products Partners will have to renegotiate with a Brazoria County landowner after a Texas appeals court ruled it couldn’t use eminent domain to cheaply acquire land for a planned pipeline. ** Enbridge has partially reopened the Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac after shutting it down due to “significant damage” to an anchor support. …
The new WOTUS takes effect
Millions of acres of wetlands and hundreds of thousands of stream miles that have been regulated by the federal government for more than four decades are as of Monday officially outside the scope of federal reach as the Trump administration’s new definition of Waters of the U.S. takes effect in 49 states. In an …
Fight underway over alleged illegal water dumping in New Mexico
A Lovington trucking company planned to appeal fines it was issued by New Mexico’s Oil Conservation Division (OCD) after allegations that the company dumped produced water from a truck onto State Trust land in a remote area of Lea County. The civil penalty marked the first issued by the State after the OCD was granted …
Write-downs expected to swell in energy industry
We’ve already seen oil and gas companies writing down millions of dollars on their assets as they continue to be hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and now a new analysis suggests those write-downs will grow into hundreds of billions of dollars. It’s what a new Deloitte analysis suggests as the shale sector enters what …
Pipeline cases await more court decisions
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear another pipeline legal fight this week, days after it came out with a ruling in support of a 600-mile natural gas line under the Appalachian Trail in Virginia. On Thursday, the justices will consider whether to grant or deny review or seek input of the Justice …
Pirates Threaten Oil Operations In Gulf Of Mexico
The idea of oil tanker pirates might be closer to the U.S. after the State department recently warned of pirates in the Gulf of Mexico. Yes, the Gulf of Mexico. Recall if you will these recent headlines and dates. Jul 2, 2019 – Remember those Somali pirates? Earlier this decade, they brazenly hijacked giant oil tankers. Aug …
EOG reports successful efforts to stem flaring in New Mexico
Houston’s EOG Resources and the state of New Mexico announced successful results of a joint pilot project aimed at reduction of methane gas flaring from the state’s oilfields. EOG, a firm with extensive drilling operations in Oklahoma worked with New Mexico’s Oil Conservation Division, according to a report by the Carlsbad Current-Argus. Flaring, or …
Court rules against family of dead trucker in Texas
The Supreme Court in Texas has come down with a ruling against the family of an overworked trucker killed in the crash of his rig 8 years ago. The Journal of Petroleum Technology reported the court ruled the way it did because the family could not prove the company knew the accident would happen. …
Chat pile collapse kills worker in eastern Kansas
Chat piles around the Tar Creek Superfund site in northeast Oklahoma can be deadly. A chat pile accident on Friday in eastern Kansas killed a man. Happened near Melvern, Kansas at the Harshman Construction rock quarry in Osage County. Sheriff Laurie Dunn said a man was taking samples at the base of a …
Calyx Energy III reports two gas wells in McIntosh County
Among completion reports filed on Friday with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission were those on two natural gas wells drilled on a single pad in McIntosh County. Calyx Energy III LLC filed completion reports on the Edison wells drilled at 7 8N 13E which is east of the city of Wetumka and west of the …