-A New Jersey judge today approved a $225 million settlement between ExxonMobil and Gov. Chris Christie’s administration over refinery pollution. Via the Associated Press, Judge Michael Hogan said the deal represented a “reasonable compromise” even though the settlement is much lower than the $8.9 billion the state originally sought. New Jersey sued ExxonMobil in 2004 for failure to clean up pollution at oil refinery sites in Bayonne and Linden, among other places.
-HollyFrontier said operations at its Tulsa, Oklahoma, refinery were not affected by a fire that broke out Sunday morning. Via Reuters, the blaze caused no injuries and was extinguished by the refinery’s emergency response team. HollyFrontier did not say in which unit the fire started, but no major units appeared to be affected.
-Targa Resources said today a pipeline failure caused 100 barrels of crude oil to spill in Watford County, North Dakota, last week. Targa said the line was valved off and allowed to depressurize as soon as the leak was discovered.
-Analysts at Morgan Stanley and Standard Chartered Plc say the physical crude oil market is strong despite the recent price plunge. Via Bloomberg, the recent stabilization of Brent time spreads suggests financial flows are largely to blame for a 30% drop in oil prices since May.
-Encana Corp. agreed to sell its natural gas assets in Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale to GeoSouthern Haynesville and GSO Capital Partners for $850 million. Via the Baton Rouge Advocate, the deal includes leases on approximately 112,000 acres and 300 operated wells located in DeSoto and Red River Parishes. The assets being sold contained the equivalent of 720 billion cubic feet of gas as of Dec. 31. Encana has undergone a shift from natural gas to oil production as of late.
