CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A pipeline company plans to replace sections of a Wyoming natural gas pipeline that has had two leaks since August. The 16-inch-wide pipeline sprung a major leak 14 miles north of Douglas on Sept. 6. Authorities closed Wyoming Highway 59 for more than two hours while workers shut off the flow. The leaking gas didn’t ignite. ...

LONDON (AP) — The British government has approved fracking at a site in northern England despite opposition from the local county council. The landmark decision by Communities Secretary Sajid Javid Thursday means the shale company Cuadrilla will be able to proceed with plans to develop a site in Fylde, 230 miles (370 kilometers) northwest of London. The government stopped short ...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A defiant Don Blankenship declared himself an “American political prisoner” on his blog, blaming others for the 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 men and led the former West Virginia coal operator to be imprisoned. The ex-Massey Energy CEO said this week that he plans to distribute 250,000 copies of the 67-page diatribe in booklet form. ...

As an industrial writer, I run across case studies and case histories for companies I work with all the time. Most of the time I take those with a grain of salt, figuring a company isn’t going to tout a case study when their product didn’t work. So I was intrigued when I was asked to write a story about ...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina regulators are allowing Duke Energy to expand from being the country’s largest electricity company to selling natural gas. Duke Energy Corp. said in a statement Thursday that the North Carolina Utilities Commission has allowed its acquisition of Piedmont Natural Gas Co. The regulatory approval is the last needed for the deal. The transaction is ...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — OPEC nations have agreed in theory that they need to reduce their production to help boost global oil prices during a meeting in Algeria, but a major disagreement between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran still may derail any cut. What happened to oil prices and why can’t OPEC agree to anything more binding? ...

Surveys and reports from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas are now available for the third quarter. The business activity index – the survey’s broadest measure of conditions facing Eleventh District energy firms – was up from 13.8 in the second quarter to 26.7. While the survey still shows weakness in both industry employment and production, it does show some ...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A series of fires at Iranian petrochemical plants and facilities have raised suspicions about hacking potentially playing a role, with authorities saying that “viruses had contaminated” equipment at several of the affected complexes. Iran officially insists the six known blazes over the span of three months weren’t the result of a cyberattack. However, the ...

BERLIN (AP) — Energy company Vattenfall AB says it has received approval from the European Commission to sell its loss-making coal assets in Germany. The Swedish state-owned company said Thursday that it expects the transfer to Czech energy company EPH and private equity group PPF Investments to be completed in the coming weeks. The assets include four active mines and ...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A state regulatory board plans to consider whether Wyoming’s first major new coal mine in decades should proceed despite the objections of two landowners. A subsidiary of Lexington, Kentucky-based Ramaco seeks to develop the Brook Mine north of Sheridan. The Wyoming Environmental Quality Council on Wednesday will discuss a possible order allowing Brook Mining Company to ...