The state of Michigan and Canadian company Enbridge Inc. signed an agreement under which the company would replace the Line 5 petroleum pipeline segment that crosses the Straits of Mackinac with a multi-utility tunnel beneath the Straits, according to an Oct. 3 press release from the Michigan Governor’s office. Enbridge agreed to bear the costs…
The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement on Sept. 28 updated the 2016 well control rule, one of the spate of safety regulations implemented in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill that spewed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over nearly three months. The agency said…
The California Air Resources Board extended its low-carbon fuel standard, mandating a 20 percent cut in the carbon intensity of transportation fuels by 2030, compared with the current requirement of 10 percent by 2020, according to the agency’s Sept. 27 press release. The requirement, “the most stringent in the nation,” aligns with the state’s 2030…
The Bureau of Land Management on Sept. 26 authorized right-of-way grants for the Enefit American Oil Utility Corridor Project which would provide access, natural gas, electricity, and water to Enefit American Oil’s South Project while allowing transport of processed oil. The South Project comprises commercial oil shale mining operations on 7,000- acre to 9,000-acres of…
The U.S. Interior Department proposed to offer all available unleased areas in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas leasing in the auction to be held in March 2019, according to a Sept. 25 press release. The auction marks the fourth offshore sale under the 2017-2022 leasing program. The last auction held in August…
The U.S. exported 7.3 million barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum products in the first half of 2018, the largest recorded for the first six months of a year, according to a Sept. 24 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Crude oil exports, which exceeded hydrocarbon liquids exports, were about 80 percent…
The Bureau of Land Management on Sept. 18 issued final revisions to an Obama-era rule aimed at reducing the waste of methane, a potent global warming pollutant, from venting, flaring, and leaks during oil and natural gas drilling operations. The final rule largely re-establishes the requirements that were in place before the 2016 rule, which,…