Latest Oil Gas Headlines

All the headlines from our Oil Gas Topic Page, ordered by recency.

New Mexico Court Revives Neighborhood Oil Contamination Case

Mar 7 2016 // More than 200 current and former residents who claim decades of oil and gas operations led to contamination that spurred a rash of illnesses in their southeastern New Mexico neighborhood will be able to pursue their case...

California’s Porter Ranch Blowout Highlights Evacuation Risk

Mar 7 2016 // Editor’s note: This is part two of a three-part series on the oil and gas industry. The first article covered the important changes that occurred in 2015 and the significance of the Porter Ranch, Calif., blowout that...

Suit Alleges Texas Lawyers Bankrolled BP Oil-Spill Scam

Mar 4 2016 // Two high-profile Texas attorneys were sued by a fishing boat captain who said they were involved in a scam to cheat BP Plc out of millions of dollars with false compensation claims for the Gulf of Mexico oil...

Louisiana Flood Board Appeals Dismissal of Suit Against Oil Companies

Mar 2 2016 // A lawyer for a flood protection agency tried on Feb. 29 to revive a closely-watched lawsuit alleging oil and natural gas companies are responsible for destroying Louisiana’s coast, telling an appeals court that a...

Iran Still Faces Curbs on Oil Exports from Ongoing Insurance Issues: Oil Official

Mar 2 2016 // Iran still faces constraints on oil exports as buyers are cautious about boosting trade immediately because of banking and ship insurance difficulties, a senior Iranian oil official said, despite seeing a...

Iran Oil Shipping Insurance Issues Will Take 2-3 Months to Resolve: Tanker Firm

Mar 1 2016 // Frontline, one of the world’s largest independent tanker firms, says securing insurance for cargoes carrying oil from Iran is likely to take another two to three months, potentially limiting Iran’s ability to...

U.S. Regulator Treads Lightly on Railroads Over Hazmat Violations: Report

Mar 1 2016 // Federal regulators are failing to refer serious safety violations involving freight rail shipments of crude oil and other hazardous cargo for criminal prosecution, and are going lightly on civil fines, according to a...

Thawing Arctic Ice Creates New Environmental Risks as Shipping Routes Open

Feb 25 2016 // The Arctic is thawing even faster than lawmakers can formulate new rules to prevent the environmental threat of heavy fuel oil pollution from ships plying an increasingly popular trade route.Average Arctic temperatures are...

Louisiana Court Rules Flood Board Can Hire Outside Lawyers for Oil Suit

Feb 22 2016 // A south Louisiana flood board has won a legal round in its fight against oil and gas companies over coastal wetland damage.A state appeal court ruled last week that the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East...

Oklahoma Agency Calls for Cuts in Wastewater Well Volumes to Stem Quakes

Feb 18 2016 // The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC), which regulates oil and gas production activity in the state, has come up with a volume reduction plan for oil and gas disposal wells in response to the surge in earthquakes in...

New North Dakota Oil and Gas Rules Would Require Pipeline Bonds

Feb 17 2016 // North Dakota regulators are proposing new rules aimed at the oil industry.A slate of proposed rules were unveiled on Feb. 16, including a requirement that would require bonding for all crude and saltwater pipelines....

Sierra Club Lawsuit Claims Fracking Contributing to Oklahoma Earthquakes

Feb 16 2016 // Sierra Club weighed into the controversy over fracking and increased earthquake risk with a lawsuit accusing a Chesapeake Energy Corp. unit, Devon Energy Production Co. and New Dominion LLC of triggering tremors in...

5.1M Quake Among Latest Swarm of Temblors in Oklahoma

Feb 16 2016 // A 5.1 magnitude earthquake shook northwest Oklahoma and was felt in seven other states on Feb. 13, the U.S. Geological Survey said, the third-strongest temblor ever recorded in the state where the power and frequency of...

New York-Based Insurer Says U.S. Has Lifted Sanctions for Iranian Oil Cargoes

Feb 12 2016 // A U.S.-based insurer to the global shipping industry said it got government authorization to cover non-American companies transporting oil from Iran, potentially helping the Persian Gulf country to revive exports of crude...

Energy Insurers Become Latest Casualty of Oil Slump as Projects Are Postponed

Feb 11 2016 // The insurance industry is becoming the latest casualty of the oil price slump, with postponements and cancellations of energy projects forcing down premium rates and income in a market that was already crowded.Insurers...

Insurance Agency Growth, Profits Slipped in 2015 on Oil Bust, Soft Market: Reagan

Feb 9 2016 // Insurance agency and brokerage organic revenue growth slowed to 4.6 percent for 2015, according to the latest Reagan Consulting Organic Growth and Profitability (OGP) survey. That was down from the organic growth of 6.2...

California Commissioner Explains Call for Insurer Divestment from Coal

Feb 4 2016 // One can say California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has a beef with coal.Jones made a bold move on Jan. 25 when he asked all insurance companies doing business in California to voluntarily divest from their...

Arkansas Utility Wants U.S. to Uphold Exxon Mobil Spill-Related Fines

Feb 4 2016 // A water utility company in Arkansas is urging a federal regulatory agency to uphold fines and new safety requirements for Exxon Mobil Corp. regarding an oil spill in Mayflower.In a letter to the Pipeline and Hazardous...

International Insurers Still Reluctant to Provide Cover for Iran Oil Cargoes

Feb 3 2016 // Oil companies looking to steal a jump on rivals in the race to benefit from Iran’s emergence from Western sanctions risk having tankers left in limbo by international insurers’ continued reluctance to provide...

Gasoline Imports Easier to Insure than Crude Exports in Post-Sanctions Iran

Jan 28 2016 // Major oil firms and trade houses are gradually resuming energy trading with Iran but efforts remain very cautious and often face huge legal obstacles, meaning a post-sanctions return to full-scale activity will take weeks...