TransCanada threatens to use eminent domain for Keystone XL

BP meeting draws protests inside and out

Posted on April 15, 2011 at 12:30 am by Brett Clanton in Corporate governance, Gulf oil spill, Social

BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg tried to reassure restless shareholders Thursday that the British oil giant has a strong future despite continued fallout from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Svanberg also defended CEO Bob Dudley amid criticism of his handling of a proposed partnership with Russia’s Rosneft. More »

Nations going global on drilling standards

Posted on April 15, 2011 at 12:30 am by chron.com Energy in Offshore, Oil field services

Drilling regulators from a dozen countries on Thursday agreed to form a working group that could eventually develop international offshore drilling standards. “The working group can help us figure what the best organization is” and “can help us develop global protocols for oil and gas development,” U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said. More »

TVA will reduce its coal operations to settle lawsuit

Posted on April 15, 2011 at 12:30 am by chron.com Energy in Coal, Electricity, Legal issues

The Tennessee Valley Authority over the next five years will shutter operations that account for about 16 percent if its coal-fired capacity and pay $10 million to settle lawsuits from several states, the Environmental Protection Agency and environmental groups over air quality. More »

BP investor votes show displeasure

Posted on April 14, 2011 at 5:56 pm by Loren Steffy in Corporate governance, Gulf oil spill

Fifteen percent of BP’s shareholders abstained or voted against the annual report, the same number that abstained or voted against Carl-Henric Svanberg’s re-election as chairman, Loren Steffy writes. Forty-three percent voted against the re-election of the chairman of the board’s safety, ethics and environmental assurance committee. The votes won’t change anything, but they do send a message. More »

30,000 oppose nat gas drilling near Delaware River

Posted on April 14, 2011 at 4:04 pm by Associated Press in Hydraulic fracturing, Natural gas

Fracking opponents from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware want federal regulators to block drilling in the Marcellus Shale near the Delaware River watershed, which they say could harm water quality for more than 15 million people. More »

Tesoro Logistics unveils details of its IPO

Posted on April 14, 2011 at 3:34 pm by Vicki Vaughan in Finance/Earnings, Pipelines, Refining

San Antonio-based Tesoro Corp. said it expects units of the new company it is forming to be priced between $19 and $21 a share. Its initial assets will include a crude oil gathering system, eight refined products terminals, a crude oil and refined products storage facility and five related short-haul pipelines. More »

‘Spillionaires:’ Profiteering and mismanagement in the wake of the BP oil spill

Posted on April 14, 2011 at 2:49 pm by Pro Publica in Gulf oil spill, Social

The oil spill that was once expected to bring economic ruin to the Gulf Coast appears to have delivered something else: A gusher of money to some who took advantage of cleanup money and claims funds. Meanwhile, others hurt by the spill ended up getting comparatively little. More »

BP’s Gulf Coast cleanup is 95 percent complete, exec says

Posted on April 14, 2011 at 2:24 pm by Brett Clanton in Environment, Gulf oil spill, Social

An independent group of scientists has not yet verified the claim, but has signed off on about 80 percent of the coastal cleanup work so far, a top BP official overseeing the project said. More »

Oil settles above $108, natural gas up 2 percent

Posted on April 14, 2011 at 2:19 pm by Associated Press in Crude oil, Natural gas

The government said U.S. supplies grew by 28 billion cubic feet last week, less than the 31billion to 35 billion cubic feet that analysts expected. Natural gas rose 7.1 cents to settle at $4.212 per 1,000 cubic feet. More »

Report: Texas nat gas regulators fall down on job

Posted on April 14, 2011 at 11:17 am by Tom Fowler in Environment, Hydraulic fracturing, Natural gas, Oil field services, Politics/Policy

A report from the Texas Oil & Gas Accountability Project says the growing number of complaints from North Texas communities about gas drilling and production are not being adequately handled by Texas regulators. More »

BP chairman: ‘We are a different company’ from a year ago

Posted on April 14, 2011 at 10:40 am by Brett Clanton in Gulf oil spill, Offshore, Social

Speaking at the company’s annual meeting in London, Carl-Henric Svanberg tried to reassure shareholders that BP has a strong future despite continued fallout from the Deepwater Horizon disaster nearly a year ago. More »