VIENNA - The OPEC oil cartel and other producers, notably Russia, are this week expected to extend last year's production cut in a concerted attempt to prevent oil prices from falling. With prices likely to fall because of an oversupply in the market if they don't, both Russia, and OPEC oil giant Saudi Arabia have spoken out in favour of an extension ahead of Thursday's meeting. Last November, in a groundbreaking move to push prices higher, the 13-country Organization of the [Read more]

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration said Wednesday it is moving forward on seismic surveys in the Atlantic Ocean, the first step toward offshore drilling in a region where it has been blocked for decades. The Interior Department said it is reviewing six applications by energy companies that were rejected by the Obama administration. Environmental groups and many East Coast lawmakers oppose the surveys, saying loud sounds from seismic air guns could hurt marine life. The [Read more]

BISMARCK, N.D. - The Dakota Access pipeline leaked 84 gallons of oil in South Dakota early last month, which an American Indian tribe says bolsters its argument that the pipeline jeopardizes its water supply and deserves further environmental review. The April 4 spill was relatively small and was quickly cleaned up, and it didn't threaten any waterways. The state's Department of Environment and Natural Resources posted a report in its website's searchable database, but it didn't take any [Read more]

BATON ROUGE, La. - A company that has failed to stop an oil leak that began nearly 13 years ago in the Gulf of Mexico is negotiating a possible court settlement that could allow it to recover millions of dollars it set aside for work to end the leak. A federal judge agreed Wednesday to give Taylor Energy Co. more time for settlement talks with Justice Department attorneys. Taylor Energy sued the federal government in January 2016, accusing regulators of violating a 2008 agreement [Read more]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Less than a week after President Donald Trump took steps to put U.S. Arctic and Atlantic waters back in play for offshore drilling, 10 environmental and Alaska Native groups sued Wednesday to maintain the ban on oil and gas exploration. The ban was a key part of former President Barack Obama's environmental legacy, aimed at protecting polar bears, walrus, ice seals and Native villages that depend on them from industrialization and oil spills. Waters of the Atlantic [Read more]

TORRANCE, Calif. - A 2015 explosion at a California oil refinery that injured four workers and threatened to release a toxic cloud was preventable, a federal safety panel reported Wednesday. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board released a 73-page report that identified technical issues that led to the blast in a Los Angeles suburb and indicated safety issues remain. ExxonMobil — which owned the refinery at the time — said it regrets the incident and will work [Read more]

MADRID - Spain's Energy Ministry says it will not reopen a large offshore gas storage plant that was shut down in 2013 following minor earthquakes in the area. A ministry statement issued Wednesday said a study carried out by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University concluded that a fault line close to Spain's eastern coast had been put under stress because of gas being pumped into the facility. The U.S. researchers said the quakes could return, if plant [Read more]

FIRESTONE, Colo. - The Latest on a fatal house explosion in northern Colorado (all times local): 2:50 p.m. Fire officials say a fatal house explosion in northern Colorado was caused by unrefined natural gas that was leaking from a small abandoned pipeline from a nearby well. Ted Poszywak, chief of the Frederick-Firestone fire department, said Tuesday the April 17 explosion in Firestone that killed two people and left another badly burned happened when the odourless gas in [Read more]