Courthouse Road construction behind schedule

GULFPORT, MS (WLOX) - When construction work started on Courthouse Road , businesses were promised a more inviting street.

Fifteen months later, those businesses are wondering when will the work end. Bella Grace Gifts owner Penny Sullivan is anxiously waiting to see the improvements on Courthouse Rd.

“I think it’s going to look great, I think it’s going to look really nice and I think it’s going to be more inviting for people to come,” said Sullivan. Outside of her shop, she can see a torn up road and traffic cones.

“It’s just a mess, it doesn’t look good, it’s not comfortable to drive and it’s just a mess right now,” Sullivan said.

Ground was broken for work to begin on Courthouse Rd. in June of last year and construction started later that month. The original agreement between the city and Jay Bearden Construction called for the work to be completed in 211 working days.

According to Jay Bearden the project is now 40 days behind schedule and his company is having to pay a penalty of $830 for each day the work isn't completed.

Owner of Fleur De Lis Gourmet Bakery Jason Brewer said just getting to his store has been a headache for many of his customers. “I have had some customers who have said, ‘I hate coming over to Courthouse because it is such a mess,’” said Brewer.

Brewer is approaching what would normally be his busiest season, and he’s hopeful the construction won’t cost him customers.

“My concern is the effects it’s going to have on our holiday business and Cruisin' the Coast coming up, whether people are going to want to make the trip on Courthouse to get our goods,” said Brewer.

Contractor Jay Bearden said completion of the project was pushed backed after problems were discovered including how to configure the updates with storm drains. Bearden now says the target timeline for completion is in 60-90 days. The finish for the construction can’t come soon enough for store owners like Penny Sullivan.

“I can’t wait for it to be over and I think it’s going to be awesome when it’s over,” said Sullivan.

City officials said at this time they don’t want to comment on the construction progress of Courthouse Rd.

https://www.wlox.com/2018/09/26/courthouse-road-construction-behind-schedule/

Transportation event focuses on businesses and children

LEXINGTON — The Orthman Community YMCA held its second Transportation Celebration at Jim Kelly Field/Lexington Airport on Saturday, Sept. 22. The event showcased over 30 vehicles from 30 businesses from around the Dawson County area. The main focus of the event was to show children who attended vehicles up close that they see on the road every day.

“This is our second year holding this event,” Executive Director for the Orthman Community YMCA Riley Gruntorad, “We have more vehicles this year and are providing a lunch, the meat was donated by Tyson.”

Vehicles of all kinds were spread out on the tarmac. Everything from cranes, combines, tractors, semi-trucks, trailers, ambulances, law enforcement vehicles, motorcycles, sprayers, drills, tow trucks, mixers, a road grader, etc.

Pastor Rex Adams, a member of the Lexington Volunteer Fire Department was present with Engine 31 and Truck 22. Adams said the LVFD had been at this event last year and that the kids enjoyed seeing the lights and hearing the sirens and horn sound.

Law enforcement was represented by the Dawson County Sheriff’s Department, Nebraska State Patrol and the Lexington Police Department who each brought their typical patrol vehicles.

Lucas Burch represented Country Partners Cooperative with a Case Titan 4530 sprayer. Titan Machinery also was present with red equipment. Mario Garcia and Vern Thompson showed a Case 8240 combine. Garcia said Titan was present at last year’s event but that the hassle of harvest time prevented them from bringing more equipment.

“The event went very well, 601 people attended and if you count everyone involved and our vendors, we had 656 people involved with the event overall,” Gruntorad said on Monday, “This event was not about the Y, but about the kids so that they could see up close the vehicles they see every day on the roads. It was also for our businesses, many of which are sponsors of the YMCA, to give them a chance to showcase themselves and their services.”

https://lexch.com/news/transportation-event-focuses-on-businesses-and-children/article_ecf8979c-c103-11e8-a41e-ab3cece70406.html

State Department releases draft SEIS for latest Keystone XL route

The proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline’s Mainline Alternative Route (MAR) in Nebraska “would have no significant direct, indirect, or cumulative effects on the quality of the natural or human environments,” the US Department of State said in a draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS). Impacts would occur if there was a crude oil leak but likely would not be substantial because the system would halt pumping immediately and a response plan would be implemented promptly, it said.

The draft SEIS said Keystone’s XL’s sponsor, TransCanada Corp., would implement prevention and mitigation measures in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the pipeline and facilities to comply with local, state, and federal regulations. These would include:

• Incorporating project-specific special conditions that the US Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration recommended that were detailed in Appendix Z of the 2014 Keystone XL Final SEIS.

• Using a supervisory control and data acquisition center (SCADA) system to monitor the pipeline facility continuously for leaks.

• Monitoring and controlling the cathodic protection system 24 hr/day, 365 days/year, from a central control facility in Edmonton, Alta.

• Maintaining required manuals, and filing required integrity management plans, as PHMSA requires.

• Implementing management plans, including a Project-Specific Horizontal Directional Drilling Contingency Plan; a Construction Mitigation and Reclamation Plan; a Reasonable and Prudent Practices for Stabilization guidance document; an Emergency Response Plan for crude oil pipelines; and Keystone’s Environmental, Health, and Safety Policy.

The proposed action covers 162 miles of construction, connection, operation, and maintenance along the MAR of the proposed 36-in. pipeline, and related ancillary facilities within Nebraska that were not analyzed within the 2014 Keystone XL Final SEIS, the latest draft SEIS said.

An American Petroleum Institute official said on Sept. 24 that this Keystone XL review reinforces past assessments that the project would have no major environmental impacts.

“This pipeline has been reviewed and debated for over a decade, and it’s time to build it,” API Midstream and Industry Operations Group Director Robin Rorick said. “Building this project is an important step to grow the benefits that come from US energy infrastructure.”

https://www.ogj.com/articles/2018/09/state-department-releases-draft-seis-for-latest-keystone-xl-route.html

Impact of electric vehicles in oil and gas industry

As charging technology for electric vehicles (EVs) gradually takes reins from the internal combustion engine as the king of the road in the rapidly evolving energy landscape, oil and gas companies are acknowledging the rise of EVs, observes leading data and analytics company GlobalData

Digitisation and electrification are spreading across all industries and the auto industry is no exception.

The company’s latest report, “Electric vehicles in oil & gas,” reveals that due to a combination of factors such as growing environmental awareness and improvements in battery technology, oil and gas companies are gearing up for the EV onslaught by contributing to the development of battery technology and deployment of EV charging points.

Ravindra Puranik, oil and gas analyst at GlobalData, said, “As fossil fuels are chief sources of greenhouse gas emissions, environmentalists worldwide have lobbied time and again for their usage to be reduced through mandates on fuel efficiencies and an imposition of stringent vehicular emission norms. With improvements in battery technology the costs of batteries, and in turn, EVs are coming down and becoming more viable options for ICE-based vehicles. This has encouraged select countries around the world to begin the process of phasing-out of gasoline-powered vehicles.”

As a result, in their bid to function on a different playing field and compete with tech-savvy counterparts, oil and gas companies are diversifying into power generation and battery manufacturing, two areas where demand is set to increase with the growing adoption of EVs.

For example, Norwegian oil company Statoil dropped ‘oil’ in its name and rebranded itself as ‘Equinor’ in an effort to diversify beyond oil and gas business mainly into renewable energy projects, to reduce its carbon footprint and appear more relevant in these evolving energy dynamics.

GlobalData’s thematic research identifies Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Total and Repsol as some of the key companies at the forefront of the deployment of EV technology over the next two to five years.

Puranik concluded, “EVs consume more power than a typical household, hence the addition of each EV would drive the power demand significantly. This has prompted oil and gas companies to partner with or acquire utility companies to expand their electricity generation capabilities beyond captive power.”

http://www.oilreviewafrica.com/downstream/downstream/impact-of-electric-vehicles-in-oil-and-gas-industry

New Zealand Oil & Gas starts drilling south of New Plymouth

New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZOG) and its partners have started drilling the Kohatukai-1 exploration well south-east of New Plymouth.

Drilling started yesterday with the objective of testing the Matapo and Mangahewa sands that deliver gas in the Pohokura, Turangi and Mangahewa fields north-east of the city. The well will be drilled to a depth of more than 3,600 metres and is expected to take two months.

NZOG has a 25 per cent stake in the permit, as does its parent company Ofer Global Group. Operator AWE owns 12.5 per cent, with the balance held by its parent company, Mitsui E&P Australia.

This news comes after a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) report released yesterday saying the government's proposed ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration may cost the country $7.9 billion in revenue forgone between now and 2050.


The estimate accompanies the long-awaited release of Crown Minerals Act amendments required to put the ban in place. Energy Minister Megan Woods, who released the Crown Minerals (Petroleum) Amendment Bill this evening after share market trading closed, is disputing the figure. She says it is practically impossible to make a credible estimate about oil and gas discoveries that have not been and can never be made.

She is also questioning MBIE's decision to assume that there would either be no oil and gas finds or no commercial development of finds made in the 100,000 square kilometres of offshore territory still covered by permits already granted, but still awaiting exploration efforts.

The MBIE modelling, which was quality-checked by the Treasury, gives a huge range of possible outcomes, saying foregone revenue could be as little as $1.2 billion or as much as $23.5 billion. Lost oil company profits are separately estimated to fall within a range of $199 million and $7.3 billion, with a calculated mid-point of $2.1 billion.

Oil industry critics of the April 12 decision to end offshore oil and gas exploration have been predicting for months that official advice would fail to back the government's controversial decision, which was a major win for the Green Party and the clearest possible signal that the government wants the New Zealand economy to accelerate its transition to a low-carbon emissions economy.

However, the MBIE regulatory impact statement says only that the policy "may" contribute to the government's climate change action goals.

Also embarrassing is the fact that the amendments are now so late that the 2018 Block Offer for onshore exploration permits cannot begin until January 2019. The process normally concludes before Christmas each year.

Woods is trying to make a virtue of that by ensuring a four-week period for public submissions on the Crown Minerals (Petroleum) Amendment Bill, which it had been widely assumed would be rammed through Parliament under urgency and without the normal select committee hearings process.

Oil and gas industry leaders last week called on MPs to hold hearings on the amendments in Taranaki, the country's main oil and gas-producing province, to hear first-hand the economic and job impacts of the decision.

Those impacts have not been modelled, MBIE said in the RIS.

It warns that security of natural gas and electricity supplies could be reduced by the decision and could raise the price of both for consumers, although future governments can use their discretion to "consider these factors". Onshore exploration in Taranaki is allowed but that was to be reviewed after 2020.

MBIE warns also the decision could raise global greenhouse gas emissions if production of oil and gas goes to "countries that have higher emissions footprints" and investments that might have occurred in New Zealand may not proceed.

However, there had been insufficient time to consult either the oil and gas industry or the public prior to the April decision, so "it is not possible to be confident that all potential impacts have been identified," the MBIE analysis says.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12131240

Union County Sheriff's Office investigating fatal accident at construction site

UNION COUNTY, OH - A Westerville man is dead after a construction accident on Hyland Croy Road between Plain City and Dublin.

On Thursday, September 20 at approximately 9:03am, the Union County Sheriff's Office responded to an emergency call reporting an injury at a construction site in the 7000 block of Hyland Croy Road.

Union County Deputies and Jerome Township Fire Department medics were dispatched to the scene.


Investigators say that Rodney Hickman, 53, of Westerville was struck by lumber that had fallen off a skid steer.

Police say that a public safety officer assigned to Jerome Township was on the scene within two minutes and began to care for Hickman. Hickman was transported to Riverside Methodist Hospital but later died as a result of his injuries.

Representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were called to the scene. Investigators say that several straps on a lumber bundle containing approximately 105 boards failed while being lifted by a skid steer. An unknown number of 1x8x16 treated poplar boards struck the victim in the head and chest.

The incident remains under investigation by Union County Sheriffs Office and OSHA.

https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/union-county-sheriff-s-office-investigating-fatal-accident-at-construction-site/1473370921

Anglo African Oil & Gas provides update on drilling program in the Congo

LONDON -- Anglo African Oil & Gas plc, an independent oil and gas developer, has announced that the construction of the extended pad at Tilapia field, in the Republic of the Congo has been completed ahead of schedule. The well to be drilled on the new pad will be designated TLP-103C and hammering of the conductor followed by moving the rig onto location will take place over the next week.

Following the need to abandon TLP-103, a review of events was carried out by an external engineering consultancy which sent staff to Tilapia on behalf of the Company to assess the issues, which were encountered along with the Company’s in-house engineering team. Following this review, recommendations have been made and implemented to mitigate further issues in this shallow section in well TLP-103C should they be encountered. Both internal and external reviews confirmed that the geological issues which were encountered could not have been identified in advance.

The Company expects to commence drilling operations on the TLP-103C well in the week commencing Oct. 8, 2018.

https://www.worldoil.com/news/2018/9/24/anglo-african-oil-gas-provides-update-on-drilling-program-in-the-congo

OGCI sets first collective methane target

The Oil & Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) set a target to reduce by 2025 the collective average methane intensity of its aggregated upstream gas and oil operations by one-fifth to below 0.25%, with the ambition to achieve 0.2%, corresponding to a reduction by one-third.

The methane intensity refers to the methane that gets lost in the atmosphere when producing oil and gas, as a percentage of the gas sold.

Achieving the intensity target of 0.25% by the end of 2025 would reduce collective emissions by 350,000 tonnes/year of methane, compared with the baseline of 0.32% in 2017.

“Our aim is to work towards near zero methane emissions from the full gas value chain in support of achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. We have worked to make our ambition concrete, actionable and measurable, helping to ensure that natural gas can realize its full potential in a low-emissions future,” the heads of the OGCI member companies said.

Member companies will target key emissions sources and are engaging with other companies in the industry to help ensure that methane emissions are addressed across the full gas value chain (OGJ Online, Oct. 27, 2017).

Through its $1-billion-plus investment fund, OGCI Climate Investments, OGCI aims to increase the ambition, speed, and scale of initiatives to reduce greenhouse gases. For 2018, OGCI Climate Investments is focused on recycling and storing carbon dioxide and on reducing methane emissions.

Expanding its global impact, OGCI Climate Investments has partnered with Chinese National Petroleum Corp. to create OGCI Climate Investments China, an investment fund focused on China.

https://www.ogj.com/articles/2018/09/ogci-sets-first-collective-methane-target.html

Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc.’s $215 Million Acquisition of Devon Energy Corporation’s Delaware Basin Properties

Baker Botts advised Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. on the deal

August 14, 2018 – Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. (Nasdaq:CRZO) (“Carrizo”) announced that it has agreed to acquire Delaware Basin properties from Devon Energy Corporation (“Devon”) for $215 million in cash, subject to customary closing adjustments.

The acquisition is currently expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2018 and increases Carrizo’s acreage position in the Delaware Basin to approximately 46,000 net acres on a pro forma basis.

Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. explores for and produces natural gas and crude oil. The Company, led by Sylvester P Johnson IV, David L Pitts and J Bradley Fisher, develops and exploits onshore properties. In 2017, Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. recorded $753 Million Revenues.

Baker Botts L.L.P. represented Carrizo in the acquisition with a team includin Gene Oshman (Picture, Partner, Houston); Luke Burns (Associate, Houston); Justin Clune (Associate, Houston); Jon Lobb (Partner, Houston); Matthew Larsen (Partner, Houston); Jordan Hahn (Associate, Houston)

Vinson & Elkins advised Devon Energy Corp. with a team including John B. Connally, Joclynn Townsend, Erin Mitchell, Todd Way, Julia Pashin, Larry Nettles, Ramey Layne and Crosby Scofield.

http://www.globallegalchronicle.com/carrizo-oil-gas-inc-s-215-million-acquisition-of-devon-energy-corporations-delaware-basin-properties/

Neighbors frustrated by night construction at Quincy Center

QUINCY — The sounds of jackhammers and skill saws blaring late into the night are keeping residents up at night ever since overnight construction began at the Quincy Center T station earlier this month.

Contractors have been busy demolishing the 47-year-old concrete garage over the station that closed in 2012 after falling into disrepair to make way for a massive mixed use development that will include hundreds of apartments and thousands of feet of retail space above the station. Demolition is expected to go on until next spring and MBTA officials said they've received a handful of complaints from neighbors about the overnight construction noise.

"It's impacting us not only during night but during day seven days a week. It's impacting us at night with windows closed, doors closed and sleeping on the far side of the house," President's Hill resident Robert Quinn said at a community meeting with MBTA officials on Wednesday. "We're not able to sleep at night."

MBTA Senior Project Manager John McCormack said he's instructed contractors LM Heavy Civil Construction and Cooperativa Muratori & Cementisti to cease overnight work for the upcoming weekend so they can evaluate how to reduce some of the noise.

"We will have noise mitigation set up for following weekends," he said. Overnight work is expected to continue at least through November and is likely to go on after that.

Overnight demolition work wasn't part of the plan when MBTA officials met first met with residents about the project in April 2017 and several residents chastised MBTA officials for a lack of communication on the changes.

The $67.9 million expecnse to tear down the garage also inclsudes the overhaul the Wollaston T station. Contractors tore down the Wollaston station in the first three months of this year and McCormack said the new station is on track to open in the summer of 2019.

Exactly what the development that will replace the garage at Quincy Center will look like and when it will be built is still anyone's guess. A six-month due diligence period with the developer, North Quincy Partners, a development company created as a joint venture between Bozzuto Group of Washington, D.C., and Atlantic Development of Hingham, ended in June, but no new information has been released.

MBTA officials aso offered few updates on plans to construct a second massive mixed-use developments on T land at the North Quincy T station.

North Quincy Partners has been selected as the developer for that project.

Work to construct a parking garage, 610 apartments and 50,000 square feet of retail space that was supposed to begin this summer at North Quincy station has stalled after the state ruled the garage needed to go out to public bid.

Callahan was awarded the contact to build the 1,500-space garage last month, but McCormack said there's still no timeline for the work, but said information would be forthcoming after the MBTA inks a deal with developers. The garage is expected to take a year to build.

The MBTA plans to sign a 99-year lease the North Quincy Partners that would generate about $230 million in rent for the MBTA over the course of the agreement. After the garage is finished, crews will go to work on the residential and commercial building, which will be five stories tall and span the length of three city blocks.

http://www.patriotledger.com/news/20180920/neighbors-frustrated-by-night-construction-at-quincy-center

Connecticut Medicaid patients left stranded

“If a [customer] says, ‘I need a hot air balloon,’ we’re going to deny that!”

So said David Coppock, regional director of the San Diego–based transit company Veyo, as he stared down a state panel on medical assistance at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford last Wednesday, in an event recorded by the Connecticut Network. Veyo is responsible for all of Connecticut’s Medicaid nonemergency medical transportation. By hot air balloon, Coppock was referring to requests for alternative transportation, such as vans that can accommodate disabled patients or children with immunodeficiency.

The right to medical transportation is federally guaranteed as part of the Medicaid package. Veyo was awarded a three-year contract with the state, amounting to almost $160 million, effective this January. The company works with multiple transportation companies and individual drivers to deliver 800,000 Connecticut residents to appointments for dialysis, chemotherapy and mental health treatment.

But the company has been plagued by complaints from customers on one key issue: tardiness.

“Patient experience was terrible and continues to be terrible,” said Bonnie Roswig, staff attorney for the Center of Children’s Advocacy, which is representing Medicaid recipients who have had difficulties dealing with Veyo.

Roswig said that people have sat on the curb for hours waiting for their cars and have missed or arrived late to critical appointments. Others have been stranded at health facilities after being discharged, waiting for a return ride that never came. The repeated complaints about no-shows and lateness have led the Department of Social Services to fine Veyo $13,500.

The human impact of such a problem is vast. Patients enrolled in long-term programs such as opioid treatment or mental health group counseling have missed their sessions or not received the full amount of attention they require due to time constraints. According to Kathy Flaherty, executive director of the Connecticut Legal Rights Project, patients who fail to show up or arrive late for opioid treatment appointments can be deemed in “non-compliance with treatment,” which can lead to the discontinuation of services.

When confronted about these issues at the meeting, Coppock assured the panel that the problems were resolved after multiple training sessions to educate call center staff and cab company personnel. He presented data that showed improvement across areas such as average cab tardiness, which has dropped to 2.8 minutes. He also said calls are now answered after an average of 42.6 seconds. A phone call from the News to the customer hotline late last week took 13 minutes to be answered.

Veyo did not respond to requests for comment on Friday morning and Wednesday afternoon.

In addition, wheelchair service was not guaranteed to Medicaid patients until July, seven months into the contract, when the Department of Social Services issued a final warning to the company. Veyo has since begun to offer wheelchair-accessible transportation consistently.

Still, conflict over which patient requests the company should honor has persisted. The number of denials has skyrocketed. In January, the company denied 1,241 trips because it could not provide patients’ requested modes of transportation, according to Veyo. In July, that number quadrupled to 4,379.

One of the 4,379 is a client of Roswig’s who requires wheelchair-accessible vehicles to take her to her appointments because of muscular dystrophy. Veyo has denied her access to wheelchair-accessible vehicles because she lives within three-quarters of a mile of a bus station, Roswig said.

According to data provided by Veyo, less than half of 774 people denied access to particular modes of transportation were notified of the denial.

Sheldon Toubman, an attorney with the New Haven Legal Assistance Association, said this practice violates the right to due process, guaranteed under the 14th Amendment.

“They’re not sending the notices because they know it’s illegal,” Toubman said. “You can’t deny service for these reasons.”

Instead Veyo has been pointing fingers at the Department of Social Services and the cab companies and drivers to which Veyo contracts. This has been a trend in the seven other states in which Veyo operates. In Idaho, the company terminated its $70 million contract early amid customer complaints that resemble those in Connecticut. In Colorado, tensions have flared between Veyo and its cab providers.

Jason Brabson, a Colorado paratransit driver and former Veyo employee, said the company does a poor job training drivers to work with patients who have specific medical needs. He described a culture that pitted drivers against each other for fares, with little emphasis on the patients.

“Veyo blames its predecessor, hospitals, cab companies, basically everybody but themselves,” Brabson said. “You’re in charge of the companies that you hire, so if you hire substandard companies and then blame them for poor service, in my opinion that’s pretty lame.”

The contract Veyo has with Connecticut includes a payment model in which the state gives Veyo a lump sum and the authority to distribute fees to cab companies based on their performance. Roswig called this model an invitation for market failure. To reduce payments, Veyo hired cheaper companies that often lack the capability to service wheelchair customers, leading to a vicious cycle that reduces available transportation methods for these patients.

At the state panel on Wednesday, Rep. Cathy Abercrombie, D-Meriden, expressed frustration with Coppack, the Veyo director.

“With all due respect, … these are everyday lives and people are trying to get from one place to another,” Abercrombie said. “And I don’t appreciate you comparing it to something like a hot air balloon.”

https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/09/19/connecticut-medicaid-patients-left-stranded/

CNRL completes Laricina Energy acquisition

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has completed its offer to acquire Laricina Energy Ltd., reporting acceptance by holders of 98.7% Laricina’s issued and outstanding shares. Both companies are based in Calgary.

The buyer expected to pay $46.35 million (Can.) for the shares by Sept. 18.

Laricina owns two steam-assisted gravity drainage projects in the West Athabasca region of Alberta, Germain and Saleski, both suspended in early development stages in 2015.

Laricina worked under court protection from creditors during 2015-16.

https://www.ogj.com/articles/2018/09/cnrl-completes-laricina-energy-acquisition.html