-The Supreme Court on Monday heard challenges to the Obama Administration’s effort to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new facilities. The court will consider whether or not the administration overstepped its authority in attempting to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
-BP today announced it began producing oil at its Na Kika Phase 3 project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico Feb. 19. A second well tied to the project will start up in the second quarter, the company said. Na Kika Phase 3 is the third major upstream project BP has started up this year.
-A Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that the comparably high vapor pressure of Bakken crude makes it highly combustible. Bakken oil registers a Reid Vapor Pressure measurement of 8.56 psi, which is nearly three times that of Louisiana Light Sweet crude from the Gulf of Mexico. A recent spate of accidents involving trains carrying crude has investigators looking into the volatility of Bakken oil and the safety standards of DOT-111 rail cars. About 70% of oil from the Bakken shale is transported by rail.
-QEP Resources appointed industry veteran William L. Thacker as an independent director to assist with the spin off of its midstream business. Thacker will resign once the separation of QEP Field Services is complete. Thacker was a non-executive chairman of Copano Energy leading up to its $5.1 billion sale to Kinder Morgan in 2013 and was also CEO of TEPPCO Partners.
-Canadian oilfield holdings firm Longview Oil Corp. announced Monday its CEO and President Kelly Drader died in a skiing accident over the weekend. Longview Chairman Steven Sharpe will serve as interim CEO until a permanent replacement is found.
Photo: Kjkolb/Wikipedia
