A federal judge ordered the US Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a full environmental review of the Dakota Access pipeline, nearly 3 years after it began carrying oil despite protests by people who gathered in North Dakota for more than a year. Additional environmental review of the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline is likely to take the rest of the year to complete, US officials said in court documents in which they also advocate for keeping the line operating during the study. A federal judge ruled on 14 June that the environmental review for the Dakota Access pipeline was, in part, inadequate and must be reconsidered, handing tribal opponents of the 1,170-mile pipeline project a key legal victory.

A recent study found that female mice exposed during prenatal development to chemicals used in unconventional oil and gas operations had abnormal mammary glands in adulthood. A professor, whom the EPA charged with reviewing its 2016 study on hydraulic fracturing’s possible effects on drinking water, shared her observations on the process that led to the agency’s final conclusion. On September 13, the Delaware River Basin Commission voted to begin the process to ban hydraulic fracturing near the river to protect the drinking water of 15 million people. A 7-year moratorium on natural gas development near the Delaware River would be replaced by a permanent ban under a proposal that’s being developed by the agency that oversees the water supply of more than 15 million people. The oil industry will be able to draw water from the Little Missouri State Scenic River for hydraulic fracturing after North Dakota officials lifted an 8-week-old moratorium on industrial water permits, raising concerns from some conservationists about the effect on the Badlands.

Jeff Spath has been named the head of the petroleum engineering department at Texas A&M University. Tests showing increased recoveries in the Bakken formation using CO2 could have significant implications for the upstream oil and gas industry.

The Mexican government continues to update its environmental regulations as authorities prepare for the first exploration and production (E&P) auction to feature blocks with unconventional oil and natural gas resources. The oil industry will be able to draw water from the Little Missouri State Scenic River for hydraulic fracturing after North Dakota officials lifted an 8-week-old moratorium on industrial water permits, raising concerns from some conservationists about the effect on the Badlands.

A federal judge ordered the US Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a full environmental review of the Dakota Access pipeline, nearly 3 years after it began carrying oil despite protests by people who gathered in North Dakota for more than a year. Fearing sanctions by the state, some North Dakota oil drillers have begun cutting output to control the amount of natural gas that’s being burned off at well sites and wasted as a byproduct of crude production, industry and state officials say.

A federal judge ordered the US Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a full environmental review of the Dakota Access pipeline, nearly 3 years after it began carrying oil despite protests by people who gathered in North Dakota for more than a year. Ugandan farmer James Mubona, 73, looked pensive as he sat in a blue plastic chair under a mango tree next to three of his four wives, one breastfeeding a 5-month-old baby, contemplating the imminent loss of his 22-acre farm to an oil pipeline. The construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline sparked a broad, clamorous online debate on social media platforms. But was there a communications gap between the opponents and proponents of the pipeline on Twitter? A US appeals court overturned a district court’s preliminary injunction that prevented construction on part of Energy Transfer Partners' Bayou Bridge crude oil pipeline in the Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the invention of the hard hat, one of the most recognizable pieces of safety equipment in the world. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the State of North Dakota, and the Bakken Basin Safety Consortium have signed an alliance to protect employees and promote safety and health in the oil and gas industry. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is collaborating with partners in industry, government, academia, and labor and with other stakeholders to achieve successful and sustainable outcomes to improve worker safety and health across the oil and gas extraction industry. The tool, called the Field Analysis of Silica Tool, works with commercially available Fourier-transform infrared analyzers to determine a worker’s exposure to respirable crystalline silica  dust, providing detailed results immediately following a worker’s shift. Millions of workers are exposed to noise in the workplace every day and, when uncontrolled, noise exposure may cause permanent hearing loss.

Obstetrics are disappearing from rural counties across America, but not in the oil patch. In McKenzie County, North Dakota, Whiting Oil and Gas has donated to build a new wing of the McKenzie County Health Care Center devoted to labor and delivery. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the State of North Dakota, and the Bakken Basin Safety Consortium have signed an alliance to protect employees and promote safety and health in the oil and gas industry.

Obstetrics are disappearing from rural counties across America, but not in the oil patch. In McKenzie County, North Dakota, Whiting Oil and Gas has donated to build a new wing of the McKenzie County Health Care Center devoted to labor and delivery. North Dakota oil drillers are falling far short of the state’s goals to limit the burning of excess natural gas at wellheads, 5 years after the state adopted the rules to reduce the wasteful and environmentally harmful practice. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the State of North Dakota, and the Bakken Basin Safety Consortium have signed an alliance to protect employees and promote safety and health in the oil and gas industry. The North Dakota Petroleum Council is introducing One Basin—One Way, a program that hopes to reduce orientation redundancies and streamline training.

This paper presents the performance results from one of the waterflood pilots in the Viewfield Bakken. An 18-well numerical-simulation model was built to represent an operator’s Lower Shaunavon waterflood-pilot area. Numerical simulation was used, and a history match on the pilot area was performed.