Attempt to reroute oil suit bill fails

From the Advocate – The Louisiana House rejected an attempt Monday to change the path of legislation written to derail a controversial lawsuit against oil and gas companies.

State Rep. Walt Leger III, D-New Orleans, argued Senate Bill 469 belongs before the House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure. SB469 is on track for the House Natural Resources Committee.

“If we had a bill about a car running over a cow, we wouldn’t send that to the Agriculture Committee … This bill is intended to address obligations, cause of actions subject to permitting. It deals with altering the rights of a government entity,” Leger said.

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St. James Parish Council OKs oil tank farm, river terminal

From the Advocate – CONVENT — A proposed crude oil tank farm and Mississippi River terminal nearly six years in the making has received a critical waiver from complying with a new land use plan in St. James Parish that governs how property can be used.

St. James Parish Council cleared the way for construction of the Petroplex International LLC complex on more than 1,700 acres of agricultural fields and woods near Vacherie. The property had been earmarked in early April for houses and agriculture under the new land use plan.

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Blogger: Helis Oil to drill in St. Tammany

From the Advocate – Helis Oil & Gas, a New Orleans-based independent energy company, is expected to drill in the St. Tammany Parish portion of the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale.

“This definitely is a TMS wildcat,” Tuscaloosa Trend blog author Kirk Barrell said in his most recent post.

The proposed location lies dozens of miles southeast of the most active area of the oil-rich shale. The Tuscaloosa stretches across the middle of Louisiana and into Mississippi. The formation holds an estimated 9 billion barrels of oil.

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BOEM: Gulf of Mexico March lease sale covers 40 mln acres

The U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau announced that Interior will offer more than 40 million acres for oil and gas exploration and development in the Gulf of Mexico in March lease sales.

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U.S. rig count up to 8; Louisiana gains 3

Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S.rose by eight this week to 1785. The Houston firm said in its weekly report Friday that 1422 rigs were exploring for oil and 358 for gas. Five were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago there were 1764 active rigs.

Of the major oil- and gas- producing states, Louisiana and Texas each gained three rigs, Ohio was up two and Alaska and New Mexico rose by one apiece. Oklahoma was down by two and Kansas by one. Arkansas, California, Colorado, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Utah, West Virginia were all unchanged.
Source;The Advocate/Associate Press 2.1.14