-Eight workers were injured at Pemex’s Minatitlan refinery today after a gasoline spill and gas leak, Reuters reports. Pemex said the spill and the leak are under control and that the incident caused no deaths. The Mexican state-owned oil company has suffered a recent string of fatal accidents. Seven workers were killed in a platform fire in April and two died last month in a jack-up rig collapse.
-Power industry players are divided on the potential impact of the Supreme Court’s decision that the EPA did not sufficiently consider costs in its 2012 MATS rule. Via Platts, one consultant believes utilities may employ a “game of chicken” strategy when the EPA issues final rules for carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. That same consultant said coal-fired power plant retirements could occur at a slower pace. Others say the ruling’s impact will be minimal because many utilities have cut coal-fired power investments from their capital expenditures in favor of natural gas or are already in compliance with the MATS rule.
-Meanwhile, the Obama Administration today dealt a major setback to Shell’s Arctic drilling program. Via FuelFix, the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service ruled Shell is not allowed to simultaneously bore two wells into the Chukchi Sea due to existing rules against disturbing walruses in the area. The company had hoped to complete two exploratory wells there this summer. Shell won approval to drill off Alaska’s Arctic coast last month.
-Husky Energy on Monday said it had begun producing oil from its South White Rose project off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. The first well of two wells was brought online and the second is expected later this summer. Production is expected to ramp up to 15,000 barrels per day following the startup of the second well.
-TransCanada today said stricter new emissions standards in Canada and Alberta should assuage fears in the U.S. that the Keystone XL pipeline would contribute to greater carbon dioxide pollution. Canada has set a target of reducing carbon emissions to 70% of 2005 levels by 2030 and the Alberta government is set to double taxes on excess carbon emissions. President Obama has said he will only sign off on the pipeline if it has no potential impact on climate change.
