The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission moved one step closer to regaining its quorum as the White House sent its nominations of Richard Glick and Kevin J. McIntyre to be FERC members to the US Senate for approval on Aug. 2. Source: News

National Iranian Gas Co. said a natural gas pipeline able to lower reliance on former supplier Turkmenistan has been inaugurated in northern Iran. Source: News

The US Environmental Protection Agency withdrew 1-year deferrals it issued to governors earlier this summer for promulgating initial air designations (IADs) under the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and said it would continue to work closely with states in implementing the ground-level ozone emissions limits instead. Source: News

Jeremiah J. Ashcroft III has been named senior vice-president and president, midstream, of EQT Corp., Pittsburgh, effective Aug. 7. He also has been appointed senior vice-president and chief operating officer for EQT Midstream Partners LP. Source: News

PJSC Gazprom has started construction work on major units for subsidiary OOO Gazprom Pererabotka Blagoveshchensk’s (GPB) 42 billion-cu m/year grassroots Amur natural gas processing plant in Russia’s far-east region, about 15-km outside of Svobodny on the banks of the Zeya River. Source: News

Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose by about 40¢/bbl Aug. 2, settling toward $50/bbl again after a weekly US government report showed crude inventories dropped while gasoline demand rose for the week ended July 28. Source: News

Beach Energy Ltd., Adelaide, has found oil with the first horizontal well drilled in its Cooper-Eromanga basin Western Flank acreage. Source: News