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In the chambers of the Nebraska Supreme Court in Omaha, a hearing was held Friday about the decision by Lancaster County District Judge Stephanie F. Stacy claiming that the law under which the state’s governor had approved the route of the Keystone XL pipeline was unconstitutional. The judge, in a case brought by three landowners, decided that LB1161, the law passed by the state’s legislature at the end of its session in 2011 that shifted the approval of the pipeline route from the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) to the governor, was unconstitutional, and as such the judge instituted a...

A Tulsa, Okla.,-based plumbers and pipe welders union is clearly flush with cash, as a dozen of their top officials made more than $200,000 last year, federal records show. Plumbers AFL-CIO Local Union 798 paid business manager Daniel Hendrix $280,000 and financial secretary/treasurer Wade Pilgreen $272,000 in fiscal 2013, according to disclosures the union filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. ... Hendrix said his pipe fitters make about $50 an hour and work at least a 60-hour a week plus expenses, and the union staff is compensated at a similar rate for their roughly 80-hour work weeks. A person...

The growing glut of U.S. natural gas is helping to power a manufacturing boom in Mexico. Natural-gas exports across the southern border have risen 11% so far this year, to two billion cubic feet a day, according to Bentek Energy, an analytics company based in Denver. And that flow of gas could double in the next few years, analysts say. Companies have announced plans for at least seven new pipelines to take gas across the border from Texas and Arizona, including one expected to start transporting fuel at the end of the month. The increasing flow of gas is easing...

(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Monday oversaw the start of construction on a giant pipeline that is due to ship $400 billion (240.78 billion pounds) worth of Russian gas to China in the three decades after flows begin in 2019.The 4,000 km (2,500 mile) "Power of Siberia" pipeline, being built by state-controlled Gazprom (GAZP.MM), forms a key part of the Kremlin's energy strategy, symbolising Russia's attempts to wean itself off dependence on European markets that account for most of its exports."Just now, we along with our Chinese friends are starting the biggest construction project in the world," Putin told...

State regulators have cleared Vermont Gas Systems to install pipeline near power lines owned by the Vermont Electric Power Company (VELCO). The company was temporarily forbidden to do work near the power lines over concerns that the chemical treatment used on utility poles would be disturbed by the work. ... Vermont Gas submitted the plan the day the Public Service Board ordered it, and after receiving comments on the plan, the board approved it on August 26. Work on the controversial pipeline is ongoing. Vermont Gas has filed for permission to go ahead with the next phase of the project,...

A proposal to build a pipeline from the fracking fields of Pennsylvania to eastern Massachusetts by late 2018 is sparking concern among many property owners in the path of the pipe. But there’s a twist to this evolving story: a proposed surcharge added to electric bills that would force every ratepayer in New England to help pay for the interstate pipeline, which is expected to cost $2 billion to $6 billion. The route proposed for the pipeline’sMassachusetts segment runs through dense forests, wetlands and small towns in the northern tier of the state. Alternative routes, or modifications to the northern...

Full Title: Dominion, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and AGL Resources Form Joint Venture to Own Proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline - $4.5 billion-$5 billion pipeline would bring 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to North Carolina and Virginia - 'Transformational' project provides growing Mid-Atlantic markets a new route for access to competitive, domestic energy supplies - Investment would create thousands of jobs, promote economic development and cleaner air, increase state and local tax revenue - Pipeline expected to be in service by late 2018, pending regulatory approvals Four major U.S. energy companies – Dominion (NYSE: D), Duke...

Who could have ever imagined that North America would surpass Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas liquids? A decade ago, that would have seemed laughable.Yet that’s exactly what has happened; and it’s not just Saudi Arabia that has been left in North America’s dust -- Russia has, too. The surge in North American oil and gas production is arguably the most important development in energy over the last decade. That’s the good news. The not so good news is that North America doesn’t have nearly enough oil and gas pipelines to accommodate its 11-million-barrel-a-day...

Royal Dutch Shell said it had reached deals on some of the four Nigerian oil fields it has offered for sale as the oil major pushes ahead with divesting global assets to cut costs. Shell last year put up for sale its 30 percent shares in four oil blocks in the Niger Delta - Oil Mining Licences... - as well as a major pipeline, the Nembe Creek Trunk Line. "We have signed sales and purchase agreements for some of the oil mining leases, but not all that we are seeking to divest," a Shell spokesman said on Wednesday. In several...

FARGO, N.D. — The furious pace of energy exploration in North Dakota is creating a crisis for farmers whose grain shipments have been held up by a vast new movement of oil by rail, leading to millions of dollars in agricultural losses and slower production for breakfast cereal giants like General Mills. The backlog is only going to get worse, farmers said, as they prepared this week for what is expected to be a record crop of wheat and soybeans. “If we can’t get this stuff out soon, a lot of it is simply going to go on the ground...

Valero Energy Corp.’s Memphis, Tenn., refinery will begin receiving more low-cost domestic crude oil in two years as part of a plan by another company to build a pipeline to the plant. Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline LP said Thursday it plans to build a pipeline that would deliver as much as 200,000 barrels a day of crude oil to Valero’s Memphis plant when it’s completed in late 2016. The 440-mile, 20-inch pipeline will link Plains’ Cushing, Okla., terminal to Valero’s plant and cost an estimated $900 million. Locally based refiner Valero holds an option until January 2016 to buy...

Ukraine has warned it might cut Russian oil and gas flows to Europe and ban Russian airlines from crossing its airspace, as Moscow criticised the country for suspending a ceasefire at the crash site of MH17. The measures are part of a sanctions bill targeting Russia that will be submitted to parliament, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in Kiev. Yatsenyuk explained it could include complete or partial bans on transit of all manner of resources, including energy resources and overflights. Ukraine is the key country for the transport of Russian oil and gas to Europe. Previous energy disputes have resulted...

Business is booming in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale oilfields. With that boom comes a need for infrastructure. More than half of the oil out of the Bakken leaves by train or truck. But companies are working on pipelines. One proposed pipeline would cut clear through the state of Iowa. A Texas company wants to build an 1,100 mile crude oil pipeline, from the northwest corner of the state to the southeast. In two years, the pipeline could be carrying up to 320,000 barrels a day, from the Bakken Shale Oil Fields, to Patoka Illinois, and from there, the oil would...

kraine state gas grid Naftogaz said it would continue uninterrupted pumping of Russian gas exports to Europe through its territory even if Ukraine imposes its own sanctions on Russia. "Naftogaz affirms its readiness to continue smooth transit of natural gas to European consumers," Chief Executive Andriy Kobolev said in a statement on Monday. Ukraine Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said last week that parliament would debate sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, which could include bans on Russian gas and sanctions against Russian banks. Russia halted gas supplies to Ukraine in June due to disagreements over pricing, but Russian gas transit through...

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine said European companies would have to agree on a major revision of gas contracts with Russia if Kiev imposes sanctions on Moscow and Gazprom, a measure that may lead to disruption in gas transit to Europe. Ukraine Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said last week that parliament would debate sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, which could include bans on Russian gas and sanctions against Russian banks. Ukraine gas grid Naftogaz said on Monday that the sanctions could limit or even exclude some companies from piping gas through the country, which would allow other firms to take over...

Now that all eyes are on Ukraine and the potential of a bigger war looms, there’s never been a more important time to understand what is at stake. As WhoWhatWhy readers know, the real reasons surrounding a conflict are often buried under the headlines and rhetoric. So it shouldn’t come as any surprise that, behind the scenes, oil and natural gas are driving a big piece of the U.S. response to Russian involvement in Ukraine. If you want to understand where the rubber meets the geopolitical road in the Ukraine war, you need to learn about the 1,480-mile South Stream...

Houston billionaire Richard Kinder is fusing all the pieces of his fragmented pipeline empire into one company, Kinder Morgan Inc., in a $44 billion transaction that ranks among the largest in U.S. history. In a move that would end nearly two decades of delegating its main operations to subordinate firms, Houston-based Kinder Morgan said Sunday it is planning to buy out three companies it controls indirectly for $44 billion in cash and stock, bringing its network of North American pipelines and energy storage terminals under one corporate roof. It also will assume $27 billion in debt. Taken together, the three...

With crude gushing from the Permian Basin, companies are ramping up efforts to build pipelines and better capitalize on the production surge. Drillers have been producing oil in the Permian for some eight decades. But in recent years, the Texas formation’s central region, which consists of the Delaware and Midland basins, became a hotbed for shale oil. The Permian is now the top oil-producing area in the U.S., accounting for 18% of the nation’s total output in 2013. Based on data from the Energy Information Administration, the Permian recorded production of 1.35 million barrels per day last year. The region...

Says he doesn’t want to upset powers in D.C. Gov. John Hickenlooper today told a room full of Western gas and oil executives that he hasn’t taken a position on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline because he hasn’t wanted to “piss off” the powers that be in Washington, D.C. “I’ve avoided taking a position (on the Keystone pipeline) because it’s just going to piss off a lot of people in Washington that I don’t need to piss off, and my opinion is not going to change anybody’s opinion there,” Hickenlooper said ... Hickenlooper’s opponent, former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez, criticized...

New England states are united in proposing that a tariff be imposed on electricity rates throughout the region to fund more natural gas pipelines and increased transmission infrastructure — to reverse electricity costs that are among the highest in the nation. The proposal is a necessary step because the region has limited gas pipeline capacity despite a demand that has grown from 6 percent in 2000 to 46 percent in 2013, energy experts said at a forum sponsored by The New England Council at St. Anselm's College in Manchester Monday. At the same time, more and more coal-fired, oil and...