Construction and operation of the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline along its revised route, with the necessary mitigation measures, could have minimal environmental impacts on Nebraska, the state’s Department of Environmental Quality said on Jan. 4.

The US Bureau of Land Management announced expanded best management practices (BMP) for oil and gas producers operating on onshore federal lands.

A Transocean Ltd. subsidiary agreed to plead guilty to violating the US Clean Water Act and to pay a total of $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines and penalties for its conduct related to the blowout of the deepwater Macondo well and the explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible.

A team of salvage experts boarded the grounded offshore conical drilling unit Kulluk Jan. 2 to assess its structural integrity and to finalize salvage plans being developed by the Kulluk Tow Incident Unified Command, said Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which owns the Kulluk.

Countries embarking on shale gas development worldwide stand to benefit from lessons learned in US shale gas operations and water management, according to a recent report from Accenture.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC confirmed its conical drilling unit, the Kulluk, broke free while being towed in heavy seas and ran aground on the southeast shoreline of Sitkalidak Island, Alas., on Dec. 31, 2012, while on its way to Seattle.

US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced that she will step down shortly after US President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address in January.

US District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans gave final approval to BP PLC’s settlement in a class action lawsuit with a number of businesses and individuals regarding the April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from the deepwater Macondo well off Louisiana.

The US Environmental Protection Agency finalized an update to its national air-quality standards for particulate matter 2.5, setting the annual health standard at 12 µg/cu m.

Insufficient distance between wellbores caused a vertical oil well to leak fluids after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby horizontal well last January in Red Deer County, Alta., an investigation by the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board has determined.

The UK government lifted a temporary moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, opening the way for exploration and development of unconventional natural gas just days after UK Chancellor George Osborne announced a push for gas development in his Autumn Statement.

The US Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed new particulate matter limits, which the White House Office of Management and Budget is reviewing, should be rejected, an American Petroleum Institute official urged.

The Canadian oil and gas industry improved safety and environmental performance last year in most but not all categories covered by the annual Responsible Canadian Energy progress report of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.