A fire at HollyFrontier’s El Dorado, Kansas refinery killed a worker this week. The fire happened Monday at the 150,000 barrel-per-day refinery and the man was rushed to Via Christi Hospital St. Francis in Wichita where he died overnight. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of our friend and colleague. Our thoughts and prayers …
The State Transportation Department has awarded a $36 million contract to a Texas company to build a new four-lane bridge over the South Canadian river linking the cities of Purcell and Lexington. Work could start in a month but the new US 77-SG 39 bridge won’t be completed for nearly two years. The Transportation Commission …
A $43 million settlement between coal producer Peabody Energy Corp. and the federal government was approved this week by a bankruptcy judge in Missouri. The settlement covers environmental liabilities involving a Peabody subsidiary at 13 Superfund sites that were left contaminated by heavy metal mining and production. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Barry S. Schermer approved the …
A 78-year old Texas man has drawn a seven year federal prison sentence for the oil and gas Ponzi fraud scheme he ran. James VanBlaircum of Colleyville admitted to what he did over a nine-year period. He pleaded guilty in February and was ordered to pay more than $32.2 million in restitution. The scheme involved …
Tulsa-based Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. has announced plans to build a $150 million, 60-mile crude oil pipeline in the Delaware basin of West Texas. And get ready for all of the jokes about “don’t Wink or you’ll miss it” and others. New construction is just starting on the Delaware Basin pipeline. the 24-inch line will …
The largest U.S. refined product pipeline, the Colonial Pipeline has resumed pumping of diesel and jet fuel shipments on one of its lines out of Houston. And gasoline flows were expected to be underway by sometime on Tuesday. The company sent a notice to shippers on Monday, indicating, “Line 2 has resumed operation from Pasadena …
A ban on plastic and paper bags in retail stores in Laredo, Texas is headed to the Texas Supreme Court. The city appealed after a lower appellate court ruled the ban on store-provided plastic bags was unconstitutional. Arguments are set for Jan. 11, 2018 before the supreme court. The decision of the high court …
Oklahoma’s economy continued a slow recovery so far in 2017 according to a new report from the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. The Oklahoma Economic Indicators report for August 2017 indicated once again that the state’s oil and gas industry has played a major role in the recovery. It noted how the state’s rig count has …
Another 500 Oklahoma National Guard soldiers left Tuesday morning for Texas to join 1,500 others already there taking part in Hurricane Harvey relief. The latest were members of the 90th Troop Command forming Task Force 120. They left Broken Arrow and once after arriving in Austin, Texas will be deployed in various support operations including …
Hurricane Harvey continues to have an impact on gasoline prices nationally as well as in Oklahoma. The national average jumped to $2.64 a gallon on Monday according to AAA while in Oklahoma the average was at $2.18. Energy experts believe prices will stay high for days, maybe weeks as refineries in south Texas continued to …