Baker Hughes is blaming the downturn in the oil and gas industry for its move to stop production at one of its operations in Lufkin, Texas. Employees at the Buck Creek Rod Lift Systems site some 120 miles north of Houston were informed last month of the move. The shutdown means about 78 out of …
The Oklahoma Supreme Court is allowing a petition drive to have a vote of the people on raising the gross production tax to move forward and the Oklahoma Oil and Gas Association and the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association are not happy about it. “It’s easy to look at the oil and natural gas industry for …
Oklahoma City-based SandRidge Energy has rejected the offer by Tulsa’s Midstates Petroleum to merge. In an announcement this week, the oil and gas producer said “the relative asset values of the two companies do not support a combination effected at current stock prices.” Midstates had proposed a stock merger at a 60%/40% exchange ratio. But …
Count Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole among those supporting President Trump’s plan to increase tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminum. Writing in a recent column, the Republican Representative said having open markets is not an invitation for others in the world to take advantage of the U.S. “When bad actors exist, we have every …
Tough questions were aimed at officials of Great Plains energy and Westar Energy officials during Monday’s opening day of a merger hearing before the Kansas Corporation Commission. Mainly, they focused on how such a proposed merger will affect the rates of consumers. Westar CEO Mark Ruelle and Great Plains CEO Terry Bassham faced the line …
A review shows a sharp decline in Oklahoma corporate income tax collections in the past four years is due in part to income tax deductions by oil and gas companies that won’t pay corporate taxes for years to come due in part to state laws. It would appear wind farms aren’t the only ones using …
Oklahoma U.S. Senators Jim Inhofe and James Lankford were among 39 senators who signed a bipartisan letter last week opposing the Nord Stream II pipeline that will carry natural gas from Russia to Germany. In the letter sent to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan, the senators urged them …
The members who make up the group Oklahomans Against Bribery have formally gone to the U.S. Supreme Court in their fight to return billions of dollars in a nearly 30-year old bribed Corporation Commission case involving AT and T. The group challenged rulings from the Corporation Commission and the Oklahoma Supreme Court in which a …
Gasoline prices at the pump jumped about 2 cents a gallon in the past week reaching a price of $2.34 a gallon according to AAA Oklahoma. The average puts Oklahoma in the top ten for cheapest gasoline in the country. The State’s average is 8th lowest while Missouri’s $2.26 is lowest. Oklahoma’s average compares to …
Those firms making annoying robocalls on smartphones just got more leeway and power in doing what they do. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled against part of a Federal Communications Commission regulation aimed at cutting down on the automated phone solicitations. The rules targeted calls generated by auto-dialing devices …