After months of work, updates to Norman’s oil and gas regulations may not have the bite environmental reformers say they want. The proposed code changes will come before the Norman City Council on Tuesday, the sole item up for detailed discussion and adoption at the 6:30 p.m. meeting. “I think the ordinance we’re going to adopt on Tuesday goes a ...
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Oil output from U.S. shale plays seen down for fourth month – EIA
Oil production from U.S. shale in August is expected to fall by the most since at least 2007, according to the U.S. agency tasked with tracking oil output, the latest sign a price rout will shrink the nation’s crude output. Oil production from the largest U.S. shale plays will plunge in August for a fourth consecutive month, forecasts from the ...
Read More »Arctic drilling support vessel heading to Oregon for repair
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Royal Dutch Shell PLC will send a damaged ship carrying equipment required for Arctic offshore oil drilling from Alaska back to the West Coast for repairs. But spokesman Curtis Smith said Monday the company can begin top-hole work without the 380-foot icebreaker Fennica and the repairs should not interrupt Shell’s schedule for drilling two exploratory wells this ...
Read More »Despite no decision on eminent domain bills, sponsor calls 2015 ‘successful’ session
DES MOINES — It may not appear that he has much to show for it, but the Iowa Legislature’s most vocal champion of property rights, says the 2015 session was not a total bust. Legislation to limit the use of eminent domain and make it more difficult for private companies to get state permission to build overhead electric transmission lines ...
Read More »Hearing set for August on Osage oil regulations
New oilfield regulations which were scheduled to take effect in Osage County last weekend have been put on hold pending an August hearing before a federal judge in Tulsa. The revised rules for operating oil and gas leases on land of the former Osage Indian Reservation are being legally challenged on behalf of the county’s oil producers and by the ...
Read More »Natural gas surpasses coal as biggest US electricity source
Natural gas overtook coal as the top source of U.S. electric power generation for the first time ever earlier this year, a milestone that has been in the making for years as the price of gas slides and new regulations make coal more risky for power generators. The research company SNL Energy in a new report using data from the ...
Read More »North Dakota’s oil output stabilizes but does not fall: Kemp
(John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own) LONDON – Crude oil production data published by the state of North Dakota on Friday contained something for both bulls and bears. Bears can point to the unexpected resilience of shale production in the face of lower oil prices while bulls can point to the fact that ...
Read More »With a solemn remembrance and music, protesters decry oil-train accidents
Two years after a fatal oil-train derailment in Quebec drew national attention to the transport of crude oil, more than 100 people gathered Saturday in Center City to remember the victims and demand better train safety controls in Philadelphia. “These trains go through our neighborhoods and right past our most important icons, and right by a major water supply,” said ...
Read More »Risks still linger for oil patch, but some hope that worst is over
At the beginning of the year, Karr Ingham was braced for the worst. An economist for the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, he worried that the price of oil would go as low as $30 a barrel by May or June. Chaos would follow. The oil patch would blow up. Things were tough the first six months of the year ...
Read More »Appeals court upholds Illinois fracking rules
ST. LOUIS — An Illinois appeals court has upheld the state’s rules for the high-volume oil and gas drilling technique known as fracking. The appellate court sided with a Madison County judge who rejected an environmental group’s legal challenge. The 5th District Appellate Court on Friday issued an opinion agreeing with a November ruling in favor of the Illinois Department ...
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