Male moths locate females by navigating along the latter's pheromone (odor) plume. Two strategies are involved: males must find the outer envelope of the pheromone plume, and then head upwind. Can understanding such insect behavior be useful for robotics research? Yes, according to an entomologist, whose research using computer simulations shows that such insect behavior has implications for airborne robots (drones) that ply the sky searching for signature odors.

Strong natural gas production and ethane extraction in US shale plays have created an oversupply of NGLs, but plunging crude prices at the same time have reduced their global competitiveness with naphtha as a petrochemical feedstock.

While some produced waters from the Marcellus shale contain elevated radium, a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) study showed that the risk of exposure is low.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) formed a Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force to help state agencies, natural gas producers, and communities closely work together as thousands of miles of pipelines are proposed to move gas and related products from wellheads to markets.

The US drilling rig count dropped 10 units during the week ended May 29 to settle at 875 rigs working, falling below the nadir of the 2008-09 downturn by a single unit, according to data from Baker Hughes Inc.

The US Environmental Protection Agency proposed renewable fuel quotas for 2014 that it said reflect the year’s actual biofuel use, and for 2105 and 2016 and, for biodiesel, quotas through 2017 that increase steadily over time.

A compressor malfunction has forced an unplanned shutdown of the fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at PBF Energy Inc.’s 170,000-b/d refinery at Toledo, Ohio.

Petroleo Brasilierio SA (Petrobras) found a 352-m oil column of 31º gravity in continuous and connected reservoirs while drilling the second well in the Carcara area on Block BM-S-8 in the ultradeep waters of the presalt Santos basin.