A recent article on Fuel Fix outlined the wave of new regulations headed towards the Oil & Gas industry. Couple that with the global glut of oil and falling prices and it's not looking like a very good holiday season.
Some excerpts and areas of focus from the article and the government agencies involved.
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Venting and flaring; Royalties for oil and gas from public land
The Bureau of Land Management is focused on ensuring the government collects royalties from gas that is burned or simply vented into the atmosphere from wells on federal land. the man wants his money! The target date is April 2015, with final action a year later.
Foreign payment disclosure:
The Securities and Exchange Commission, an independent agency, has been working to develop mandates forcing petroleum and mining companies to reveal how much they’re paying the governments of nations where they extract resources.
Arctic standards:
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement could issue a notice of proposed rule making about possible standards for oil and gas drilling in Arctic waters later this year. Environmentalists insist strong rules are needed to lower the risk of oil spills in the remote region and boost the industry’s ability to clean them up.
Blowout preventers:
2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster spotlighted shortcomings in the blowout preventers meant to safeguard offshore wells, Interior Department regulators began drafting new rules meant to boost the reliability of those emergency devices.
Hydraulic fracturing:
The Bureau of Land Management is close to imposing a suite of new standards governing hydraulic fracturing on public lands. The BLM rule is aimed at boosting the integrity of wells to ensure oil, gas and other fluids are contained within them'
Methane regulation:
The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce its plans for capping methane emissions from the oil and gas sector revisiting a previous proposal requirement for the use of “green completions” equipment to pare emissions from natural gas wells.