HOUSTON (AP) — The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. decreased by two this week to 489. A year ago, 877 rigs were active. Depressed energy prices have sharply curtailed oil and gas exploration. Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday that 406 rigs sought oil and 81 explored for natural gas ...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Two environmental groups say in a lawsuit the federal government needs to consider the potential effects of climate change before allowing oil and gas drilling on public land. The federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Washington, D.C., challenges almost 400 oil and gas leases the U.S. Bureau of Land Management recently has issued in Wyoming, Utah and ...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Five months after protesters disrupted an oil and gas lease sale for tracts in the Gulf of Mexico, the government is livestreaming a lease sale but closing the site in New Orleans where bids are read. Wednesday’s sale, offering all 23.8 million acres available for drilling and exploration off of Texas coast, will be the first ...

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s intelligence agency says it has detained seven people suspected of plotting an attack on a gas pipeline that carries Russian gas to Armenia. The State Security Service said in a statement on Monday that it detained five people on Saturday who were planning to bomb a section of the pipeline south of the capital, Tbilisi. ...

HOUSTON (AP) — The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by 10 this week to 491. A year ago, 885 rigs were active. Depressed energy prices have sharply curtailed oil and gas exploration. Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday that 406 rigs sought oil and 83 explored for natural gas ...

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas oil and gas producers listened to dire warnings about their industry’s future from two House members during their convention in Wichita. U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins told the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association on Monday that it is still an assault on the industry by President Barack Obama’s administration from a regulatory environment to tax ...

DENVER (AP) — Most methane sources contributing to a puzzling concentration of the greenhouse gas over the Southwestern United States appear to be natural gas production facilities, scientists said Monday. Researchers identified more than 250 sources of a methane hot spot over the Four Corners region of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. They include gas wells, storage tanks, pipelines ...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Opponents of an expanded gas storage facility in the Finger Lakes say they’ll continue to fight the project despite the company’s proposal to downsize it in response to community concerns. Houston-based Crestwood Midstream Partners this week proposed changes to the Seneca Lake project that include elimination of rail and truck shipment facilities and resources to monitor ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Gov. John Kasich (KAY’-sik) has ordered creation of a single-call notification system for oil-and-gas emergencies and authorized two state departments to start setting it up. An order Kasich signed Tuesday follows his veto last year of budget language he found inadequate that sought to streamline reporting of spills of oil, brine and other hazardous substances, ...

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A Maine natural gas company that faced a $250,000 fine this year following a potentially “catastrophic” gas leak is asking the state to dissolve an affiliate. On Friday, Summit Natural Gas of Maine asked the state Public Utilities Commission to dissolve Natural Gas Conversion Company, which launched in 2014 to help Mainers convert home heating systems ...