Working-rig count drops for 6th straight week

The number of rigs working onshore in the Lower 48 U.S. states last week fell for the sixth consecutive week, according to data compliled by oilfield services firm Baker Hughes, a GE company. For the week ended May 17, 954 rigs were working in the Lower 48, down a lone rig from the previous week,

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Rice Team revises EQT board slate to 7 from 9

Toby Z. Rice and Derek A. Rice, EQT shareholders trying to wrest control from the executives and board of the U.S.’s largest natural gas producer, said last week they’re reducing the size of their slate of nominees for the EQT board to seven from nine, Kallanish Energy reports. The change was motivated by EQT’s announcement

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Crude prices slip Friday, post weekly gains

Crude oil prices slipped Friday, but West Texas Intermediate and Brent both posted a weekly gain on rising concerns over more Middle East supply disruptions due to U.S.-Iran political tension, Kallanish Energy reports. A deputy head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Friday Iran could “easily” hit U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf, the latest rhetoric

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South Dakota sues Texas O&G company for $15.5M

The state of South Dakota is suing a privately-held Texas-based exploration and production company for $15.5 million for abandoning 40 natural gas wells in Harding County, Kallanish Energy reports. The South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources (Denr) is requesting the court require Spyglass Cedar Creek and its general partners, Kevin Sellers and March Kimmel, to bring the wells

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US, Brent crudes rise on Middle East tensions

Crude oil prices jumped as much as 2% Thursday as tensions in the Middle East grew, with a Saudi-led coalition launching air strikes in retaliation for recent attacks on its oil infrastructure. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled 85 cents higher, at $62.87 per barrel, gaining 1.4% and closing at the highest level in two

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PG&E power lines caused California’s ‘deadliest wildfire’: officials

California authorities said Wednesday power lines owned and operated by Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. (PG&E) caused the state’s most destructive wildfire ever – which killed 85 and nearly destroyed an entire city, Kallanish Energy learns. Lines owned by the San Francisco-based utility sparked the Camp Fire on Nov. 8, in Butte County, California, the state Department of Forestry and Fire

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Oil rises as market shrugs off jump in US crude inventories

Crude oil futures rose slightly Wednesday as worries that rising tensions in the Middle East could impact global supplies overshadowed an unexpected rise in U.S. crude inventories, Kallanish Energy reports. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled 24 cents higher, at $62.02 per barrel. Brent crude futures rose 53 cents, to $71.77/Bbl. U.S. crude stocks rose unexpectedly last

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Pipeline explosion forces producer into bankruptcy

A natural gas explosion last September in a pipeline not yet in service has led to an independent producer backed by Goldman Sachs’s private equity arm and the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Kallanish Energy reports. EdgeMarc Energy Holdings plans to sell all of its assets, the company said Wednesday, blaming an

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Columbia reaches settlement concerning gas explosions

The three municipalities affected by last September’s gas explosions have reached an $80 million settlement with local gas distribution company Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, Kallanish Energy reports. Of that amount, 50% will go to Lawrence, 30% to Andover and 20% to North Andover. The utility has already paid $67.1 million of the total settlement amount to

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Working-rig count falls for 5th straight week

The number of rigs working onshore in the Lower 48 U.S. states last week fell by two, and brought to five the number of consecutive weeks the count has slipped, data from Baker Hughes, a GE company, reveals. At May 10, 955 rigs were working in the Lower 48, down two rigs from the previous week, and off 59

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Three Mile Island Unit 1 to shut by Sept. 30

The owner of the plant where North America’s worst nuclear power-related accident took place four decades ago, confirmed the facility’s lone remaining operating unit will shut down this September, Kallanish Energy reports. Exelon Generation said Three Mile Island (Tmi) Generating Station Unit 1, located near Middletown, Pennsylvania, on an island south of the state capital city

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EQT uses stick & carrot against Rice-led dissidents

EQT Corp. is not a Mom-and-Pop natural gas producer – and can’t be run like one – the board’s independent members said, in effect, to dissident shareholders looking to insert their board nominees into the operations of the U.S.’s largest gas producer. “The Board should not be a friends-and-family club, and it is not in

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West Virginia governor’s mines sued by feds

The U.S. government sued nearly two dozen of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s coal companies Tuesday to get them to pay roughly $4.8 million in unpaid mine safety fines. The civil lawsuit was filed by federal prosecutors in Virginia on behalf of the U.S. Department of Labor and the Mine Safety and Health Administration, The Associated

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Iraq planning $53B megaproject with Xom, PetroChina

Iraq is planning a $53 billion megaproject with global energy giants ExxonMobil and PetroChina to use seawater from the Persian Gulf to boost oil production, Iraqi prime minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi announced Tuesday, Kallanish Energy finds. The project would boost output from Iraq’s southern oilfields, and includes plans to capture natural gas, which is currently being

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Oil plummets 1+%, as U.S.-China trade war intensifies

Crude oil prices dropped Tuesday as renewed doubts of a U.S.-China trade pact stoked concerns over global growth, while U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela tightened supply and helped to curtail losses, Kallanish Energy reports. President Trump Sunday said he would raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10-25% by Friday. The comments

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