Growing natural gas use has clearly helped reduce US carbon emissions, but it can’t be expected to bring greenhouse gases to desired lower levels, three experts told two National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ committees on Feb. 4.

A 12-year partnership between the US Department of Energy and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners is dispelling exaggerated preconceptions about LNG hazards as it identifies possible real problems state policymakers should address.

California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) issued 25 citations and proposed fining Chevron USA nearly $1 million for state safety standard violations stemming from an Aug. 6, 2012, fire at Chevron’s Richmond refinery. The fine would be the largest in Cal/OSHA’s history, the state agency said on Jan. 30.

The US Coast Guard has started removing fuel from a damaged barge in the lower Mississippi River near Vicksburg, Miss., where skimmers and 2,800-ft of boom were deployed to contain an oil spill.

A Dec. 11, 2012, natural gas pipeline explosion in Sissonville, W.Va., shows that work still needs to be done to inspect older lines, install automatic or remotely operated shutoff valves, and improve control room personnel’s responses, federal regulators told a US Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee field hearing in Charleston.

The US Coast Guard has yet to determine how much crude oil was spilled into the lower Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Miss., when two tank barges hit a railroad bridge on Jan. 27, USCG said.

The US Environmental Protection Agency, in compliance with settlement agreements, has revised standards to reduce air pollution from stationary engines.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has said Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s Kulluk conical drilling unit and the Noble Discoverer drillship, under contract to the Anglo-Dutch multinational firm, violated numerous conditions of air-quality permits while drilling off Alaska during 2012.

China's National Energy Administration has approved a revised development plan for second-phase development of Penglai 19-3 and Penglai 25-6 oil fields in northern Bohai Bay.

The Kulluk, a conical drilling unit, was safely towed to a harbor on Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska where it will undergo a thorough safety assessment before resuming its journey to its winter harbor in Seattle for repairs and maintenance, said Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) reports a recent audit found numerous nonconformities of the Seadrill Group’s West Hercules ultradeepwater semisubmersible drilling rig.