OSHA enforcement memo and interim policy on the Process Safety Management retail exemption

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

July 23 2015 

 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued yesterday an enforcement memo (Memo) and an interim policy (Policy) on the PSM retail exemption.

Tho Memo revised OSHA’s interpretation of the exemption of retail facilities from coverage of the Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals (PSM) standard (29 CFR 1910.119). The revision, according to OSHA, is in accordance with the President’s August 1, 2013, Executive Order 13650, Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security (EO). We had previously blogged about the EO.

While OSHA in its PSM rule had not defined the term “retail facility,” the preamble to the final standard explained that chemicals in retail facilities (“e.g., gasoline stations”), are sold in “small volume packages, containers, and allotments, making a release unlikely.” (57 Fed. Reg. 6356, 6369 (February 24, 1992)). Following the adoption of the PSM standard OSHA issued a series of interpretation letters and a PSM compliance directive (CPL 02-02-045) that, according to the Memo “interpreted the exemption more broadly.” Under the interpretations an establishment was exempt from PSM coverage if it “derived more than 50 percent of its income from direct sales of highly hazardous chemicals to the end user” (the “50 percent test”).

In a turn-around now, though, OSHA claims that the 50 percent test has “no relationship to OSHA’s original intent for application of the exemption, nor is it consistent with either the commonly understood meaning of retail establishment or the definition recognized by the U.S. Department of Commerce in the NAICS Manual.” For instance, OSHA believes that the 50 percent test allows employers who sell or distribute large, bulk quantities of highly hazardous chemicals directly to end users to claim the exemption, even if the end users are themselves commercial establishments.

OSHA through this Memo has now withdrawn and rescinded all prior policy documents, letters of interpretation, and memoranda related to the retail exemption and the 50 percent test. According to the Memo OSHA will now interpret the retail facilities exemption as follows:

Only facilities, or the portions of facilities, engaged in retail trade as defined by the current and any future updates to sectors 44 and 45 of the NAICS Manual may be afforded the retail exemption at 29 CFR 1910.119(a)(2)(i).

In OSHA’s related Interim Enforcement Policy, it indicated that for the first six months following the issuance of the Memo (July 22, 2015), OSHA will “focus its resources on providing compliance assistance to affected employers, engage key industry stakeholders, and will inform its State On-Site Consultation Projects that during this period, requests from newly covered employers should be their highest priority for receiving an on-site visit.”

For employers, and especially retail establishments, what this means now is that an OSHA inspector may recommend issuance of a citation for violations of the PSM Standard after determining that the employer’s primary NAICS related to the sale of “highly hazardous chemicals” is something other than a retail trade, as defined in NAICS sectors 44 or 45, and PSM coverage is otherwise established.

Use this six month interim enforcement period to examine and bring all of your facilities into compliance with the “revised” standard.

New Prime violated the Surface Transportation Assistance Act by “blacklisting” a former driver who refused to drive his truck while taking pain medication.

Judge sides with OSHA in case of New Prime 'blacklisting driver'
By Clarissa Hawes, Land Line contributing writer


Administrative Law Judge Lystra A. Harris recently agreed with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s ruling that New Prime violated the Surface Transportation Assistance Act by “blacklisting” a former driver who refused to drive his truck while taking pain medication.

Harris lowered the amount awarded by OSHA from $100,000 to approximately $20,000. In her ruling, she agreed with OSHA that New Prime had put damaging and misleading information on the New Jersey driver’s DAC, now known as HireRight, report after he notified the company that he had sustained an on-the-job injury and was seeking medical advice in October 2008. He had also reported to his supervisor that he had been prescribed pain medication that made operating a motor vehicle unsafe.

“Complainant has successfully shown a preponderance of evidence that his refusal to drive his commercial motor vehicle while taking prescription pain medication was a protected activity under the STAA and was a contributing factor in a negative notation of abandonment placed in his DAC report by respondent,” Harris wrote in her order.

New Prime appealed OSHA’s decision in January 2014 to the Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges for review.

Judge Harris also ordered that the former New Prime driver should receive $10,000 in compensatory damages and $9,600 in back pay, and that New Prime must pay the driver’s pre- and post-judgment interest on his back pay award.

The judge ruled against punitive damages and a front pay award for the driver, stating that the driver has had several jobs since 2009 and “did not provide sufficient information about the compensation he received for all of the jobs he testified in his hearing testimony.”

After undergoing disc surgery, the driver was released by his doctor to return to duty in July 2009. According to court documents, he opted not to return to work at New Prime and applied for jobs with other trucking companies. After applying for 11 trucking jobs, he only heard back from one company. In her ruling, Harris stated that’s when the driver learned that negative information had been put on his DAC report by his former company, including “quit under load/abandonment” and a “no” answer to the question of whether the driver was “eligible for rehire.”

“It is undisputed that negative information remained on complainant’s DAC report from November 2008 to September 2009,” Harris stated in her ruling.

Judge Harris also ordered that New Prime expunge any negative comments on the driver’s DAC report and that his report should show a satisfactory work and safety record.

In her ruling, she stated that New Prime must post “a copy of the decision and order in this case for 90 consecutive days in all places where employee notices are customarily posted and to provide a copy of any decision favorable to the complainant.”

Worker burned by acetylene gas at Norco plant in South Boise, Idaho

By Audrey Dutton

adutton@idahostatesman.com 

July 23, 2015

An employee was flown to Salt Lake City with second- and possible third-degree burns Tuesday, after an incident at a Norco Inc. plant in South Boise.

There was a “small fire” Tuesday afternoon at the Boise company’s fuel-gas plant on Gowen Road, according to Norco President Ned Pontious.

The male employee was taking two small, empty cylinders out to a dock, but they contained residual acetylene gas that Pontious thinks must have been leaking. The gas ignited, and “when the flame shot up, it melted the fusible link on the cylinder,” he said.

The employee turned away, and the flame burned the back of his arm and shoulder. The plant manager put out the fire “within 30 seconds, probably,” Pontious said.

Ada County emergency dispatchers received a call about the incident shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday. The dispatch report said a welding tank caught fire, and one employee with head and arm burns was taken to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center.

Pontious said Norco called the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration within an hour to report the incident, and an OSHA investigator came the next morning to interview staffers and take video.

Pontious said Norco is working on an internal investigation. The fire was “a very unusual accident” for Norco and at that plant, he said.

Boise does not have a burn specialty unit in any of its hospitals, so patients frequently are flown to Utah for burn care.

The employee’s care and his lost days at work will be paid for by worker’s compensation insurance, Pontious said.

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/07/23/3907843_worker-burned-at-norco-in-south.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

Mohammed Sadiq, 67, of Oakland County, Michigan, Owner of Detroit Home Health Care Companies Sentenced to 80 Months in Prison for Role in $12.6 Million Fraud Scheme

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, July 24, 2015

Owner of Detroit Home Health Care Companies Sentenced to 80 Months in Prison for Role in $12.6 Million Fraud Scheme

A Michigan resident was sentenced to 80 months in prison late yesterday for his leading role in a $12.6 million Medicare fraud and tax fraud scheme.  Eleven other individuals have been convicted in this case.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan, Special Agent in Charge Paul M. Abbate of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Chicago Regional Office and Special Agent in Charge Jarod Koopman of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Detroit Field Office made the announcement.

Mohammed Sadiq, 67, of Oakland County, Michigan, pleaded guilty on March 13, 2015, to one count of health care fraud and one count of filing a false tax return.  In addition to imposing the prison term, U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood of the Eastern District of Michigan ordered Sadiq to pay $14.1 million in restitution and entered a forfeiture judgment for the same amount, which represents the proceeds traceable to his criminal conduct.

Sadiq owned and directed operations at two home health care companies in Detroit.  In connection with his guilty plea, Sadiq admitted that, working with co-conspirators, he billed Medicare for home health services that were not provided.  Sadiq also admitted to paying kickbacks to patient recruiters in order to obtain the information of Medicare beneficiaries, which he then used to bill Medicare for services that were not medically necessary or were not provided at all.  Sadiq further admitted that he created fake patient files to fool a Medicare auditor by making it appear as if home health services were provided and medically necessary.  Medicare paid $12.6 million for these services.

In connection with his guilty plea, Sadiq also admitted that he received proceeds of the fraud through bank accounts that he controlled, that he withdrew substantial sums for his personal use and that he failed to report these amounts on his individual federal income tax return in 2008.  In total, Sadiq admitted that he owes approximately $1.5 million in taxes, interest and penalties for tax years 2008 through 2010.

This case was investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG and IRS-CI, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Michigan.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys William Kanellis, Christopher Cestaro, Brooke Harper and Elizabeth Young of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Hurford of the Eastern District of Michigan.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,300 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $7 billion.  In addition, HHS’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

Barrier Reef oil spill: oil washes up on three beaches

Oil has washed up on three beaches following an oil spill off the Great Barrier Reef. Photo: Phil Walter

July 24, 2015

Tony Moore

brisbanetimes.com.au senior reporter

 

Palm-sized clumps of oil have been washed up Hinchinbrook Island, Great Palm Island and a third beach near Ingham after an oil spill near Townsville last week.

Maritime Safety Queensland and Townsville Water Police on Friday afternoon confirmed clumps of "weathered oil" had been found in three locations.

Oil has washed up on Forrest Beach near Ingham, on beaches on Palm Island and on Mulligan Beach on Hinchinbrook Island.

Hinchinbrook Island is a national park with no permanent residents.

North Queensland Conservation Council co-ordinator Wendy Tubman said she was concerned that oil had now washed ashore on three pristine beaches.

A 800-metre diameter oil spill was first reported by a Townsville fisherman last Thursday and broke up to an oily film spreading over 30 kilometres south of Townsville.

Ms Tubman said she was concerned issues had been downplayed by authorities and the clean-up was slow.

"It seems a bit slow, it's now a week later," she said.
"It seems like it was downplayed for a long time."
"Now they are saying they have actually found bits of it on land that you can see.

"But what about all the rest of it, that you can't see .
"How far has that dispersed and what has been the impact? 
Hinchinbrook Resort manager Alan Hamilton said he had not been to the island on Friday and said he knew nothing about oil film being washed up on the island.

"Nothing, not a thing," he said.
Mr Hamilton said no-one had contacted him about the clean-up on Mulligan Beach beginning on Saturday.

"Local and state government agencies are co-ordinating the shoreline clean-up at Forrest Beach with further action planned for Great Palm Island and Mulligan Beach on Hinchinbrook Island," the MSQ statement reads.

"The majority of oil patties are described as palm-sized and limited to a narrow tide-line over one or two kilometre stretches."

Last Friday Fairfax Media broke the story that oil had spilled from a boat near Cape Upstart south of Townsville.

The oil formed a film that stretched for 30 kilometres in metre-square clumps that was five kilometres wide in places, MSQ chairman Patrick Quirk reported last Saturday.

Townsville Water Police confirmed late yesterday a report of weathered oil clumps, or patties, drifting west of the Palm Island group.

"This is understood to relate to a report of oil in the water off Cape Upstart late last week with patches of oil sheen sighted during aerial surveillance on Saturday," a Maritime Safety Queensland spokesman said.
The clumps of oil are restricted to "one or two kilometre long stretches" at each beach.

Clean-up plans are being put in place now.
"Maritime Safety Queensland has trained shore-line clean-up personnel in Townsville who will assist local councils on shoreline operations.
"It's expected first clean-up crews will start Saturday morning.

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and National Parks and Wildlife Services officers are also involved in the clean-up.

Oil samples have now been taken from 10 ships that were in the area near Cape Upstart last Thursday and Friday, an MSQ spokesman said.
Samples will be used to track down the vessel which released the oil.

Anyone finding unfamiliar material on the shore can report it to either GBRMPA on 0427 969 384 or to the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection on 1300 130 372.

Source: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au

//--------------///

Barrier Reef oil spill: 14 suspect ships to be tested in leak hunt

July 19, 2015

Tony Moore

brisbanetimes.com.au senior reporter

Authorities are investigating 14 possible sources of an oil spill near the Great Barrier Reef. Photo: Jessica Shapiro

 

Fourteen ships have been identified as possible sources of a film of oil stretching, in broken sections, 30 kilometres long and five kilometres wide south of Townsville, Patrick Quirk, general manager of Maritime Services Queensland said on Saturday.

An oil slick was confirmed 18 nautical miles (33 kilometres) NNE of Cape Upstart on Friday evening, but was broken up into metre-sized blotches of oily film by the weather.
"We know the ships that went past the area," Mr Quirk said.
"There are 14 ships that we consider are possible sources of oil and we plan to take oil samples from all of those ships," he said.

"We already have samples from five ships in Australian ports and when the others port in Australia or overseas we will get samples."
Townsville water Police took samples from the oily film confirmed on Friday night, after an 800-metre diameter slick it was reported by a fisherman to Townsville's Coast Guard on Friday morning.

"So we will try a chemical match," Mr Quirk said.
A Maritime Safety Queensland inspector will fly to Weipa tomorrow to test oil from one ship, he said.
"So we are pulling out all stops to find the culprit."
In 2010 the Chinese ship, Shen Neng 1, which leaked a 3km ribbon of oil from a ruptured fuel tank near Great Keppel Island, was fined $1 million by the Queensland Government.

Mr Quirk said the 2015 oil slick south of Townsville had spread with the currents and broken down into an oily film.
"In an area about 30 kilometres wide and around five kilometres wide, within that rectangle there are areas of sheen and small patties of oil," he said.
"The whole area is not covered by oil or sheen. It is very patchy."
The oily film could not be detected on Saturday morning by planes using ultra violet light sensors – which detects water temperature variations caused by oil – because it was below the threshold specifications for the equipment finding oil, Mr Quirk explained.

"But we are about to do another visual inspection of the area, because want to make sure that we are managing the situation correctly," Mr Quirk said.
He said the oil spill was "not a huge slick of oil from a massive spill from a tanker."
"We are talking about areas of sheen – and within that - there are thicker patties of oil," he said.

Mr Quirk said the oil was weathering in south-easterly winds in slight to moderate seas and was most likely to break-down before reaching beaches.
He said while the oil was not visible to plane equipment, it was still in the water.
"It is quite possible that in a week's time – maybe in three days time – on some of the beaches around Townsville – there will be small globules of a spongy material found on the beach, because it doesn't all deteriorate."
Mr Quirk said it would not be like the 2009 spill from the storm-wracked MV Pacific Adventurer spilled 100,000 litres of oil along 60 kilometres of Moreton Bay coastline.

"It would be little tiny oily patches on the beaches. That is most likely what will happen."
Maritime Safety Queensland is concerned at the possible impacts on reefs to coastal side of the oil slick.  

"There are some reefs four to five nautical miles from where we saw the slicks of oil yesterday and we are going there with our aircraft straightaway," he said.
A helicopter which was to inspect the site has been diverted to a road accident.
Mr Quirk said he was confident steps were in place to prevent oil damaging the environment.

 "We believe we are doing everything we can – in a practical sense – to monitor the environment – to determine the risk and we are ready to respond, if required."

Source: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au

2 seriously injured in Bell County, Kentucky after they drove their ATV in front of a car

 Updated: Fri 10:50 PM, Jul 24, 2015

BELL COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - 

Police tell us U.S. 25 E was shut down on Friday evening near Pineville due to a crash involving an ATV and car. The road has re-opened as of 10:45 p.m.
We are told two helicopters were called to the crash site. 

Police tell us the crash happened on U.S. 119 in front of First State Financial Bank. 

They say the ATV pulled out in front of the car and into the path of another car.
The two people on the ATV were thrown from it. Both were flown to another hospital. 

The driver of the car is ok.

They closed U.S. 25 E to make a helicopter landing zone.

We do not know the names of anyone involved in the accident at this time.

1 man dies in ATV crash after he had been previously convicted of driving under the influence and driving an unregistered vehicle

BY Frank Andruscavage and Peter E. Bortner

Published: July 25, 2015

West Mahanoy Township, Schuylkill County, PA
 

A West Mahanoy Township man who was to be sentenced in August for driving an all-terrain vehicle while intoxicated died Wednesday as the result of an ATV accident last week in Raven Run.

Steven R. Mahmod, 48, of Lower William Penn, died at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville.

West Mahanoy Township police Patrolman Raymond J. Tonkinson III said Mahmod was driving about 4:50 p.m. July 15 on Raven Run Road when he lost control of the ATV. Mahmod fell off the ATV, struck the road and suffered injuries, Tonkinson said.

Shenandoah ALS and Lost Creek EMS assisted at the scene, Tonkinson said.

Mahmod was originally scheduled to be sentenced at 9:30 a.m. Friday for driving under the influence and driving an unregistered vehicle, charges that resulted from an ATV incident in October 2013.

A Schuylkill County jury had found Mahmod guilty on June 1 of DUI. Judge John E. Domalakes, who presided over Mahmod’s one-day trial, found him guilty of driving an unregistered vehicle but dismissed a charge of operating a vehicle without required financial responsibility.

West Mahanoy Township police had alleged Mahmod was driving under the influence on Oct. 4, 2013, on Route 54 near William Penn in the township. Mahmod had a blood alcohol level of 0.254 percent, police said; the legal limit in Pennsylvania for driving is .08 percent.

Tonkinson, who was the prosecuting officer, testified at Mahmod’s trial that he saw the defendant approaching him on the ATV.

Claude A.L. Shields, Pottsville, Mahmod’s lawyer, declined Friday to comment on the case.

District Attorney Christine A. Holman said Friday that under Pennsylvania law, Mahmod’s death does not nullify his conviction, but his estate could petition for an expungement of his criminal record after he has been dead for three years.

Most Recent Oil Train Accidents and Spills Involved ‘Safer’ CPC-1232 Tank Cars

By Justin Mikulk

Thursday, July 23, 2015 

Roosevelt County chief deputy sheriff Corey Reum was one of the first responders to the recent Bakken oil train derailment in Montana, a few miles from the North Dakota border.

“We're lucky it didn't ignite,” Reum told ABC News.

That is just one of the things first responders have learned since the deadly accident two years ago in Lac-Megantic. As a Globe and Mail article marking that two year anniversary recently noted, when the train was on fire and rail cars were exploding in Lac-Megantic, no one could figure out why.

The Globe detailed the questions the investigators were trying to answer in the aftermath.

And, perhaps most puzzling of all: How did the crude oil on the train – normally thought of as difficult to light on fire – cause the kind of violent explosions it did?

Now we know that the Bakken oil is different from most other crude, and based on the eight accidents since July 2013 involving derailed trains that involved Bakken oil and resulted in fires, first responders now know the risk the Bakken oil presents.

In Roosevelt County they evacuated a half-mile perimeter around the crash site as a precaution even though there was no fire.

However, despite the lack of fire in this latest accident, 35,000 gallons of oil did spill as four tank cars ruptured. And these were the newer CPC-1232 tank cars that the oil industry is currently suing to keep on the rails even longer than the new regulations allow — which for some 1232 tank cars is not until 2025.



There have now been six accidents involving oil trains in 2015 where tank cars derailed and were punctured and oil was spilled. In the first five, there were also fires and explosions.

All six oil train derailments involved the new 1232 model cars that the American Petroleum Institute is suing to keep on the tracks longer than existing long timelines in the new oil-by-rail regulations.

Even Cynthia Quarterman, the former administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the agency responsible for the regulations, was surprised by the timelines in the final regulations.

“That was the biggest surprise, by far,” Quarterman told Argus Media. “The push-back for five years for most things, I thought it was a substantial push-back in terms of dates.”

So while we have learned quite a bit in the two years since Lac-Megantic, not much has changed in how Bakken oil is moved by rail.

• The oil industry has not addressed the volatile nature of the Bakken oil so it still presents serious fire and explosion risks.
• The oil and rail industries are fighting the new regulation requirements for modern braking systems on the trains starting in 2021.
• The oil will still be transported in the obviously inadequate CPC-1232 cars for up to ten years or longer if the oil industry wins its lawsuit.

So, as Sheriff Reum pointed out in his observation, the best strategy for communities along the oil train tracks across North America is to spend the next ten years or so hoping you get lucky.



Image credit: NTSB Safety Recommendation report.

2 OILFIELD WORKERS SERIOUSLY INJURED IN ACCIDENT IN WOODS COUNTY, OKLAHOMA AFTER THEY WERE STRUCK BY A 40-FOOT LONG PIPE

Posted: Wednesday, July 15, 2015

by Jessica Miller City Reporter 

WOODS COUNTY, OK

 

Two men have been injured in an oilfield accident in Woods County.

Charles Dobbs, a Midstates Petroleum consultant, and Wayne Loebig, of Felderhoff Drilling Company, were injured when they were struck by a pipe, according to an incident report from the Woods County Sheriff’s Office.

At approximately 9:32 a.m. Tuesday, a deputy was dispatched to an oilfield location — Felderhoff Rig 24 — on County Road 470, about half a mile south of Garvin Road, between Alva and Dacoma, according to the report.

Undersheriff Keith Dale said the pipe struck both men on their heads and one was medi-flighted from the scene, while the other was medi-flighted from a hospital in Alva.

Two witnesses of the accident stated a forklift was being used to lift the 40-foot long pipe. The pipe was strapped to the forklift.

The witnesses said Dobbs and Loebig instructed the forklift operator to lower the pipe to the ground and move it forward, but the strap slipped off and the pipe fell, striking the two men.

Both Dobbs and Loebig remain in serious condition at OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City.

Oil worker killed, another injured at Midstates Petroleum drill site near Dacoma, Oklahoma

 

JULY 24, 2015

ENID, Okla. — A fatality accident occurred at an oil rig this week in Woods County following an oilfield incident the previous week.
The fatality occurred Thursday in Woods County involving a petroleum work rig, confirmed Diana Patterson, a spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The Alva Police Department said the closest intersection to the incident is County Road 470 and Craig Road. The call for the accident was received at 11:17 a.m., but the department did not released the identity of the individual nor the company involved.  We later found out that it was a Midstates Petroleum drill site.
Patterson would not release details of the incident, including who was involved or the location, simply stating the incident is under investigation. The Woods County Sheriff's Office also said the incident is under investigation but would not provide more details.

Luke Johnson

 24 July 2015

A worker was killed and another was injured this week at a Midstates Petroleum drilling site in north-western Oklahoma, the operator has confirmed. 

The incident occurred around 11:15 on Thursday morning near the town of Dacoma in Woods County. 

"Two individuals suffered injuries in the incident. One individual involved sustained fatal injuries and one is currently receiving medical care," the Tulsa-headquartered company said in a statement.

A spokesman added that the injured were "outside contractors doing work on one of our locations".

He declined to provide any more details about what was happening at the site at the time of the injuries or the nature of the injuries. He did not comment when asked if there was a drilling rig running on site.

"Following the incident, the area was secured and a complete investigation of the incident is underway," the statement said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the individuals involved and their families."

The Woods County Sheriff's Office declined to comment because an investigation is ongoing. The medical examiner that serves Woods County was not immediately available for comment. 

The US Occupational Safety & Health Administration is also investigating, but provided no details on what happened.

Thursday's incident comes just over a week after another pair of workers were injured at a separate Midstates site in Woods County.

In that incident, a Midstates consultant and an employee of Felderhoff Drilling Company were injured when they were struck on the head by a pipe, according to reports.

The pipe was on a forklift and slipped from its strap as it was being lowered, striking the men on the head. 

Dobbs remained in critical condition Friday, a hospital spokesman said. Loebig has been discharged.

The safety incidents come at an awkward time for Midstates, a company focused on production from the Mississippi Lime in Oklahoma and the Anadarko basin in the Texas Panhandle. 

The New York Stock Exchange has issued the company a second de-listing notice in three months, as its stock has wallowed in the sub-$1 range for a period approaching 30 consecutive days. It was also warned in April.

The company is planning a 1-for-10 reverse stock split starting on 3 August.
Its shares were at 52 cents on Friday afternoon, which was a 12.36% increase from Thursday's close.

The Right Call Senators: Lifting Oil Export Ban Left Out of Senate Energy Bill

Lifting Oil Export Ban Left Out of Senate Energy Bill

Published in Oil Industry News on Friday, 24 July 2015

The leaders of the Senate energy panel released a bill Wednesday that includes measures to promote energy efficiency and protect the electric grid from cyber threats, but avoids the controversial issue of lifting a ban on exporting U.S. oil.

The bill was drafted by both Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the Republican chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Maria Cantwell, the panel’s top Democrat. A similar bill is advancing in the Republican-led House.

“This represents the universe of where there is bipartisan agreement,” Robert Dillon, a Republican spokesman for the Senate committee, said.

Congress hasn’t passed major energy legislation since 2007, as the parties have clashed over renewable energy commitments and projects like the Keystone XL pipeline to link Canadian heavy crude with U.S. refineries.

The bill, which the committee will begin debating on July 28 and may vote on later that week, is the common ground Murkowski and Cantwell found over 114 energy bills the committee considered in four hearings. It contains provisions to promote energy conservation, speed action on applications to export natural gas and asserts that the nation’s stockpile of petroleum should be kept for emergencies.

Since the 1970s, Congress has largely prohibited sales of crude exports to countries other than Canada. Murkowski has said the ban should be lifted, given the rise in domestic oil production, but Cantwell says the issue needs to be studied further.

Cybersecurity Tools

Dillon said Murkowski remains committed to advancing legislation to lift the restrictions but doesn’t plan to do so as part of the bill released Wednesday.
The legislation would direct the Energy Department to issue new federal building efficiency standards, and research, develop and demonstrate new cybersecurity protection tools.

It tweaks an Energy Department loan guarantee program to require companies to potentially pay more up front as a hedge against default, and requires new studies on grid reliability.

It would also require the secretary of the Energy Department to issue a final decision on applications to export liquefied natural gas within 45 days after projects have won approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The FERC looks at safety issues, while the Energy Department is responsible for studying the market impacts of new exports.

The bill reasserts that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a stockpile of nearly 700 million barrels of oil, should be used only in emergencies.

A separate Senate proposal would sell off 101 million barrels of oil to raise $9 billion to help pay for a six-year highway bill. Murkowski in a statement called the idea shortsighted.
Source: www.bloomberg.com

Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer: China calls for talks with Japan over joint development of gas and oil resources in contested waters in the East China Sea.

China Answers Japan Rig Concern

Published in Oil Industry News on Friday, 24 July 2015

China repeated a call Friday for talks with Japan over joint development of gas and oil resources in contested waters in the East China Sea.

The offer comes days after Japan disclosed a map and photographs of what it said were 16 Chinese marine platforms close to Japan’s side of a geographical median line that it contends should mark the border between their exclusive economic zones. Japan has yet to respond to China’s latest call.

China said it was justified to conduct oil and gas exploration in its exclusive economic zone, the Foreign Ministry said on its website, claiming it has been developing the same areas since the 1970s and Japan has only raised objections in recent years. Japan has long expressed concern that the rigs could siphon gas out of undersea structures that extend to its own side.

Relations between Asia’s two largest economies are thawing, even as they are locked in a dispute over ownership of a group of uninhabited islands. Japan’s lower house of parliament last week passed security bills to extend the role of Japan’s military to allow it to defend other countries—a move China said risked unsettling regional security.

The squabble over the images could be a setback for warming ties, said Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at the Academy of Social Sciences in Heilongjiang province.

“Both sides need to give ground on this territorial issue,” Da said. “But apparently neither of the two governments wants to be seen conceding anything to their domestic supporters.”

Talks Collapse

The two countries should start joint development of resources with the precondition that activities won’t violate laws of the two countries, the foreign ministry said. While the two nations agreed in 2008 to jointly develop gas fields near the contested waters and held their first official talks in 2010, discussions soon broke down amid a dispute over the sovereignty of the East China Sea islands.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday that “it’s extremely regrettable that China should conduct unilateral development of resources.”

The East China Sea has about 200 MMbbl of oil and as much as 2 Tcf of gas in proved and probable reserves, according to estimates on the U.S. Energy Information Administration website.

“The unresolved territorial and maritime claims and limited evidence of hydrocarbon reserves make it unlikely that the region will become a major new source of hydrocarbon production,” the EIA wrote in a statement last year.
Source: www.worldoil.com