Pierre Bertrand

A branch of the New York State Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Town of Dryden can prohibit the gas drilling hydraulic fracturing within its borders. The decision could embolden other New York municipalities to impose similar bans, potentially upending the primacy of state law over the oil and gas industries.

A large pocket of offshore natural gas could shift Eastern Mediterranean geopolitics on its head. As the threat of war looms between Israel and Iran, the newly found gas could add extra friction between the two countries.

The good news for U.S. drivers is that unless a world-wide catastrophic event, like war breaking out between Iran and Israel, takes place soon, the $5 figure will not be hit in the near future, according to AAA.

The number of working rigs for drilling oil is on the rise in North America, according to the latest figures released by Baker Hughes.

An Ecuadorean court Monday defied an international arbitration panel's request that the country prevent plaintiffs from collecting on billions of dollars in environmental damages from Chevron Corp.

A large natural gas find off the northern coast of Venezuela is changing the way gas in the Caribbean Basin is being sought.

For those purchasing a new car and looking to save on gasoline prices, here is a list of the top 15 fuel efficient cars out on the market, according to ConsumerReports.org.

Transocean crews over the weekend began drilling a relief well off the coast of Nigeria to allow for the proper abandonment of a Chevron Corp. natural gas well that exploded, killed two contractors, sank, and has remained on fire for more than one month.

Japanese conglomerate Mitsui MOEX Offshore will pay $90 million for the BP Gulf Oil Spill of 2010 in what is the first settlement ahead of the liabilities trial expected to start in 10 days.

Chevron, the No. 2 U.S. energy company, won two small legal victories this week that could lessen potential liabilities over alleged pollution in South America. A court in Ecuador had previously levied an $18 billion fine.

Spanish oil producer Repsol, in the news in recent weeks for starting deep-water oil exploration off Cuba, is on Thursday expecting crews from Texas to help control a blowout in one of its Alaska exploration wells.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Thursday issued a renewed pollution discharge permit for ConocoPhillip's idled refinery in Delaware County.

Gas prices on average have gained 12 cents a gallon in just the last month, the AAA reports. At an average $3.51 a gallon, that's 38 cents above 2011. What's happening?

The Maryland legislature will take up legislation that would have oil and natural gas companies pay $10 for every acre leased for natural gas drilling to fund a hydraulic fractruring economic feasibility and environmental impact study.

A spokesman for Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs announced this week that ExxonMobil would be barred from the country's fourth round of oil and natural gas auction.

With Repsol exploring for oil in Cuban waters, just how much recoverable oil could there be?

Oil-rich Cuba is starting to drill offshore by awarding a contract to Spain's Repsol. But the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela could be the biggest beneficiary.

Billionaire investor George Soros attributed the nation's favorable economic outlook to the nation's shale resources in a weekend interview.

President Barack Obama's election-year budget draws a sharp contrast with his Republican opponents by proposing to raise taxes on the rich while directing funds for infrastructure.

The Environmental Protection Agency has yet to respond to a Texas Railroad Commission request to reclassify its draft report linking hydraulic fracturing to ground water contamination as a scientific assessment.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve released a survey Friday that suggests the employment rate will drop further as 2012 progresses. Currently the unemployment rate in the country hovers near 8.5 percent.

Pretrobras, Brazil's oil giant approved the construction of several dozen new oil rigs designed to tap into the country's large offshore oil deposits.

Offshore drilling for oil has begun in Cuban waters in the shadow of the Florida Keys, and with the memory of BP's Macondo Gulf of Mexico spill still fresh, authorities are bracing for the worst.

With the price of natural gas so low, BG Group has become the latest company to scale back their shale natural gas production in the United States, in what could be the start of a temporary retreat from the gas industry in the country.

In the fallout of months-worth of bitter debate, the Associated Petroleum Industries of Pennsylvania is trying to find out if the state's General Assembly did indeed put in place a fair and reasonable impact fee.

The Pennsylvania legislature, after a full day's debate, narrow approved a bill that would levy annual fees against natural gas companies for each natural gas well they drill in the state.

In the next year, ConocoPhillips expects to increase its Arctic footprint thank to a partnership with Singapore's Keppel Offshore and Marine.

A few hydraulic fracturing permits could be approved by year-end, New York Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens said.

Pennsylvania lawmakers in the state's Senate have set a template for the rest of the Northeast U.S. to follow in approving a measure to impose annual fees on natural gas companies for each natural gas well they drill.