Latest Oil Gas Headlines

All the headlines from our Oil Gas Topic Page, ordered by recency.

1 Worker Dead, Others Injured in Texas Oil Well Blowout

Jan 31 2020 // One person was killed and three others were injured on Jan. 29 in the blowout of a Central Texas oil well. All four were contractors working at a Chesapeake Energy well site on a county road near Deanville, Texas, 28 miles...

Oil Giant Total Sued by 14 French Cities, NGOs over Failure to Cut Carbon Emissions

Jan 28 2020 // Oil giant Total SA is being sued by 14 local governments and a handful of non-governmental organizations in France for not doing enough to reduce its carbon emissions and fight global warming. The legal challenge is the...

Oklahoma Oil Rig Explosion Wrongful Death Trial Underway

Jan 27 2020 // The wrongful death trial against an oilfield equipment contractor in connection with an explosion and fire last year that killed five men in southeastern Oklahoma began in mid-January. Attorneys for the families of Parker...

Making Big Oil Pay for Climate Change May Be Impossible

Jan 24 2020 // Exxon Mobil dodged a bullet last month when a judge rejected a novel climate-change lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general. The case began with a promise from state officials that there would be a historic...

Court Dashes Teens’ Hopes, Says Suit Can’t Force Climate Action by Government

Jan 20 2020 // Climate change should be addressed by Congress and the electorate, not the courts, a federal appeals panel ruled in ending a lawsuit brought on behalf of young people who sought to force the government to draw up a plan to...

Oklahoma Oil Rig Explosion Wrongful Death Trial Begins in Oklahoma

Jan 17 2020 // The wrongful death trial against a oilfield equipment contractor in connection with a January 2018 explosion and fire that killed five men in southeastern Oklahoma is underway. The McAlester News-Capital reports that...

New York Governor Lays out Aggressive Climate Change Plan

Jan 9 2020 // New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing an aggressive climate change-fighting campaign for his state that includes a $3-billion bond act that would be put on the ballot this November. Cuomo, who says that money would go to...

Trump Wants to Speed Infrastructure Projects by Dropping Climate Impact Assessment

Jan 9 2020 // The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled a plan to speed permitting for major infrastructure projects like oil pipelines, including by dropping consideration of their potential impact on climate change. The plan,...

3 Hurt in Explosion at South Dakota Petroleum Distributor

Jan 2 2020 // Three people were hurt in an explosion at a South Dakota petroleum distributor on Dec. 30, the company’s co-owner said. The explosion happened around 2 p.m. in the truck maintenance shop of Harms Oil just west of...

The Hartford Joins Insurers Limiting Fossil Fuel Investments, Underwriting

Dec 23 2019 // The Hartford became the latest insurance carrier to cut back on business it does with the fossil fuel industry out of concern over climate change. The company announced it will no longer insure or invest in companies that...

Pirates Attack Oil Tanker in West Africa, Kidnapping Another Crew

Dec 17 2019 // An oil tanker was attacked on Sunday in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea and most of its crew were kidnapped, the latest in a string of incidents highlighting the security risks to shipping in the region. The vessel...

Shipping Industry and Insurers Face Uncertain New Fuel Risks and Rules

Dec 12 2019 // Faced with imminent new global marine pollution rules, shipping companies and insurers are puzzling over the risks. To reduce emissions of toxic sulfur that cause premature deaths, shipowners who have long relied on the...

A Decade After Gulf Oil Spill, a New Wave of BP Lawsuits Hits Courts

Dec 11 2019 // A new wave of lawsuits against BP is hitting the federal courts nearly a decade after the Gulf oil spill. The new litigation is the result of a court ruling that blocks thousands of people from a medical settlement...

Group Warns Climate Regulations Could Disrupt Investment Strategies

Dec 10 2019 // Tighter government climate regulations by 2025 could wipe up to $2.3 trillion off the value of companies in industries ranging from fossil fuel producers to agriculture and car makers, an investor group warned in a...

UK Judge Blocks Nigerian Court’s Oil Spill Damages Order Against Shell

Dec 8 2019 // Royal Dutch Shell Plc units won a UK ruling preventing London courts from enforcing a $516 million Nigerian judgment for damages caused by an oil spill half a century ago. Judge Jason Coppel on Thursday overturned an...

After Oil Field Attacks, Saudi Aramco Seeks Terrorism Insurance from London Market

Dec 4 2019 // Saudi Aramco is looking to buy insurance against war and terror attacks after a damaging drone and missile attack on some of its oil facilities in September, two sources told Reuters. Aramco, the world’s largest oil...

Ratings of Iowa’s Petroleum Marketers Management Insurance Upgraded

Dec 4 2019 // AM Best has upgraded the Financial Strength Rating to A (Excellent) from A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating to “a” from “a-” of Petroleum Marketers Management Insurance Co....

Trump Regulatory Rollback Targets Safety Rules Prompted by Industrial Disasters

Nov 25 2019 // The Trump administration’s move to relax an Obama-era chemical safety regulation put in place after an explosion at a fertilizer plant is the latest example of the White House easing rules established in the wake of...

One Critically Injured in Fire at Texas Oilfield Site

Nov 22 2019 // One person was seriously injured in a Midland, Texas, explosion and fire on Thursday involving several storage tanks and a truck used in oilfield operations, city and hospital officials said. The fire was contained at the...

Report Urges Insurers to Eye Impact of Climate Change on Underwriting, Investments

Nov 21 2019 // Insurers can no longer put off addressing the impact of climate change on their underwriting, pricing, and investment decisions, as well as their bottom lines, a recent analysis from Deloitte asserts. “The escalating...