The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has responded appropriately to US Energy Sec. Rick Perry’s call for an examination of whether competitive markets might be jeopardizing the US power grid’s resilience and reliability by forcing utilities to retire nuclear and coal-fired power plants prematurely, a panel of stakeholders generally agreed on Oct. 31. Source: News

Drilling in Canada will increase to 7,900 wells in 2018 from 7,550 wells expected this year, according to the Petroleum Services Association of Canada. Source: News

Consol Energy Inc., Pittsburgh, will be split into a coal company and a natural gas exploration and production company focused on the Marcellus and Utica shale plays of the Appalachian basin. Source: News

US House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) released a new draft of proposed legislation to overhaul federal lands energy policy late on Oct. 31. The committee’s Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, which discussed two earlier drafts at hearings in October, will examine this one on Nov. 7. Source: News

ExxonMobil Corp. agreed to spend about $300 million for new air pollution control and monitoring equipment at five petrochemical plants in Texas and three in Louisiana.   Source: News

US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator E. Scott Pruitt issued a directive on Oct. 31 aimed at ensuring that any member of an EPA federal advisory committee is independent and free of any real, apparent, or potential interference with his or her objectivity on matters the committee considers. Source: News

Sydney and Port Moresby-based Oil Search Ltd. has spread beyond Papua New Guinea to buy into oil permits in Alaska west of the Prudhoe Bay oil fields. Source: News

Chevron Australia has shipped its first cargo of LNG from the Wheatstone natural gas project in Western Australia. Source: News