Energy Legal Blog

Second [Annual] Oil & Gas Regulatory Symposium

Bracewell & Giuliani — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:10:06 +0000

Bracewell & Giuliani will hold its Second [Annual] Oil & Gas Regulatory Symposium in Houston on October 9, 2013. Like the 2012 symposium, this year’s event will feature speakers from industry and from within the Firm. Bracewell speakers will include Rudy Giuliani and former Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Details about the symposium will be made [...]

DOE Approves LNG Export Authorization for Freeport LNG – A Win for LNG Exports?

Bracewell & Giuliani — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:25:20 +0000

The Department of Energy recently authorized Freeport LNG Expansion, L.P. (“FLEX”) to export LNG to non-Free Trade Agreement countries. Importantly, this is the first order on LNG exports issued by the DOE since it collected comments on its two-part LNG Export Study and likely represents the analysis DOE will use in reviewing the queue of [...]

Changes in ISO-NE’s Day-Ahead Energy Market Schedule To Take Effect Next Week

Bracewell & Giuliani — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:08:07 +0000

ISO New England Inc. (ISO-NE) last week notified the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that its new day-ahead energy market schedule will become effective on May 23, 2013. In late April, FERC issued an order accepting modifications to ISO-NE’s market rules to provide for earlier clearing of the day-ahead energy market and earlier completion of [...]

Shippers Rolling the Dice to Gain Oil Pipeline Capacity

Bracewell & Giuliani — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:19:09 +0000

With the growing capacity constraints on oil pipelines, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“Commission”) has recently extended the bounds of what it considers acceptable methods of apportioning limited capacity. In Seaway Crude Pipeline Company LLC, 143 FERC ¶ 61,036 (2013), the Commission approved a new lottery system that will select, at random, new shippers who [...]

D.C. Circuit Affirms FERC ROE Policy But Reverses For Failure to Apply APA Official Notice Rule

Bracewell & Giuliani — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:30:14 +0000

The D.C. Circuit’s remand today of a FERC transmission incentive rate of return order relating to Southern California Edison Company (“SoCal Edison”) is less interesting for its affirmance of the Commission’s rate of return methodology, than it is for its remand based on FERC’s misuse of the official notice provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act [...]

Hydraulic Fracturing Bans: New York Appellate Court Affirms Zoning Bans at the Local Level

Bracewell & Giuliani — Fri, 03 May 2013 19:29:18 +0000

In New York, municipalities can more effectively seek to “zone out” oil and gas operations by passing zoning ordinances. An appellate panel of the New York Supreme Court affirmed the decision of a lower court, holding local municipalities have the power to enact zoning ordinances that ban “all activities related to the exploration for, and the production [...]

Shoneman to Speak on Upcoming LSI Telebriefing

Bracewell & Giuliani — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:26:11 +0000

On April 23, 2013, Partner Chuck Shoneman will speak on a panel at Law Seminars International telebriefing on the topic of “New Ruling on FERC’s Anti-Manipulation Authority,” discussing the impact of the D.C. Circuit’s recent decision in FERC v. Brian Hunter. Call in from anywhere! 10-11 am Pacific/1-2 pm Eastern. For more information please click [...]

Pipelines for Energy

Bracewell & Giuliani — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 21:15:16 +0000

Mark Lewis, Managing Partner of Bracewell & Giuliani’s Washington, D.C. office, and associate George Fatula recently discussed the demand for new pipeline development and changes to existing infrastructure in an article for Energy & Infrastructure. In addition to shifts in production areas, Mark and George also provide insight on the challenges facing pipeline developers with [...]

FERC Punts on Closely Watched Request to Order a Shale Oil Pipeline Interconnection

Nick Kosar — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 19:11:11 +0000

In an order issued on March 22, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) once again declined to require an interstate oil pipeline to grant an interconnection requested by another pipeline. The order, issued in response to a complaint by High Prairie Pipeline, LLC (“High Prairie”) against Enbridge Energy, Limited Partnership (“Enbridge”), culminated a closely-watched case [...]

Fee Relief: FERC Agrees to No Longer Assess Annual Charges to Projects Subject to Power Site Reservations

Bracewell & Giuliani — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:56:57 +0000

On March 21, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) granted the petition of a group of hydroelectric licensees, calling themselves the Power Site Reservation Fee Group, declaring that FERC will not assess annual land use charges pursuant to Section 10(e)(1) of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”), 16 U.S.C. § 803(e)(1), for lands owned by [...]