The California Air Resources Board (ARB) invites the public to participate in a workshop Tuesday, December 9, on a proposed ARB regulation to reduce methane emissions from oil and natural gas production, processing, compressor stations and storage operations.
ARB staff will present regulatory approaches, cost impacts and emission estimates. They will also discuss plans for an environmental analysis of the proposed regulation, and will seek input on economic impacts and possible alternatives.
A proposal for a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in Los Angeles, approved by the City Council in February, hit a roadblock when the City’s Planning Department advised that implementing the ban was not in the City’s best interest. The Department also said it lacked staff with the required expertise to draft the required regulations regarding oil and gas operations.
Even if it hired staff with the necessary skills, the agency said in a 67-page report to the Council, any restrictions imposed by the City would probably be preempted by federal, state and county regulations.
Local jurisdictions do have the power to regulate the location of oil and gas activity through zoning and land use regulations, the report noted. But, it adds, it is the position of the energy industry that “local jurisdictions have no authority to regulate how oil and gas extraction occurs.”
Javier Estrada has been added as a featured speaker at the Mexico Energy Summit.
Javier Estrada
The Mexico Energy Summit, to be held January 27 in Los Angeles. will bring together internationally recognized industry leaders, investors, and executives from the energy, infrastructure, transportation and finance industries.
Mr. Estrada is Managing Partner of Analítica Energética, a Mexico City consulting firm serving clients working in the petroleum and electrical power sectors.
Previously he was Director General for Energy Planning and Information with Mexico’s Ministry of Energy, and was a Commissioner of Mexico’s Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) and the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH).
Mexico’s federal government has published regulations to implement energy reforms that will open its energy sector to foreign firms. President Enrique Peña Nieto said the regulations provide the legal and institutional framework to “begin a new era of energy development.”
The regulations are a major step in the process that began last year with changes to Mexico’s constitution allowing private investment in the energy sector, and that continued in August with the enactment of the “secondary laws.”
Santa Barbara County voters rejected Proposition P, a proposed ban on hydraulic fracturing and other “high intensity” oil and gas operations. Because of its likely impact on almost all well maintenance activity, the ban would have effectively shut down most oil and gas operations in the county.
The measure was rejected by an overwhelming 60% of voters Tuesday, Nov. 4.
The initiative was backed by a group called the Santa Barbara County Water Guardians.
Energy industry experts said Proposition P would have halted at least 90% of oil and gas operations in the county within five years.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) announced on Thursday, Oct. 23, a new oil discovery at the Guadalupe prospect in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
The Keathley Canyon Block 10 Well No. 1 encountered significant oil pay in the Lower Tertiary Wilcox Sands. The well, located approximately 180 miles off the Louisiana coast in 3,992 feet of water, was drilled to a depth of 30,173 feet.
