Residents of Merrimack Valley, Massachusetts will learn first-hand about the natural gas explosion that rocked their area last year from the federal agency that investigated the incident. In a community outreach event scheduled for this Friday, Oct. 25, at 3 p.m., the Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will discuss the agency’s completed investigation of the Sept. 13, 2018 natural gas fueled explosions and fires.

An update released yesterday by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) into its investigation of an explosion and fire at a Philadelphia refinery earlier this year says the incident began with a pipe elbow that had corroded to about half the thickness of a credit card.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released details about a deadly gas pipeline rupture that occurred in August in Lincoln County, Kentucky. The rupture in the 30-inch-diameter natural gas transmission pipeline, which was owned and operated by Enbridge Inc., released about 66 million cubic feet of natural gas - which ignited.

Federal safety regulators, state oil and gas authorities, and the energy industry need to close regulatory gaps that contributed to the worst oil drilling accident in nearly a decade, a federal agency said in an unprecedented report. The 2018 explosion and fire outside Quinton, Okla., killed five people, making it the deadliest accident in the drilling industry since 2010, when a BP oil rig exploded and killed 11 workers in the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil and natural regulations change frequently so the Public Service Commission of West Virginia and the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association want to make sure operators have the latest information. The two organizations have jointly hosted a couple of seminars in West Virginia to focus on recent changes and developments of federal and state requirements in the past year.

The new-look Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is beginning to rewrite state rules to emphasize public safety and the environment instead of energy production. The previous law said encouraging production was regulators' top priority. In addition to the new focus on protecting the public and the environment, the law gives local governments some authority over the location of wells and changes the commission makeup to dilute industry influence.

One of Alaska's biggest oil producers—BP—has announced it is selling all of its Alaska operations to Hilcorp, a privately-owned company with a troubled safety and environmental track-record. The $5.6 billion sale includes BP's stakes in the Trans Alaska Pipeline and the Prudhoe Bay oil field, one of the nation's largest and once its most productive oil field, which BP currently operates.

Initial research focuses on enabling real-time monitoring of field technicians to ensure their safety and to provide audiovisual assistance to perform asset maintenance, with the hope of adopting lightweight yet robust wearable devices, GlobalData noted. These features of wearable technology encourage oil and gas companies to adopt helmets, smart glasses, wristbands and other devices that incorporate technologies such as wireless connectivity, artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR).

California oil regulators levied more than $2.7 million in fines against Chevron Wednesday for alleged violations related to a series of west Kern oilfield leaks that shone a harsh light on the industry even as the state said they caused minimal environmental damage.

Atlas Oil was named the Excellence in Health and Safety award winner at the 2019 Texas Oil and Gas Awards, marking the company's second consecutive win in this prestigious category – last year in the Rocky Mountain region.