Statoil has been proactively linking the contractual price of natural gas to European gas trading hubs and abandoning oil-linked pricing as Brussels pushes for market liberalization, consumers fight oil-linked prices and regional hubs gain liquidity. The change is slowly taking place in Eastern Europe, but “all of its German contracts and nearly all its UK, Dutch and Belgian contracts now reference prices at regional gas hubs.” [Financial Times]

The New York Times’ Joe Nocera wrote an interesting editorial about the recent fracking moratoriums instituted in Colorado and how the industry is regulated. He asserts that methane leakage is “Fracking’s Achilles’ Heel,” because it reduces the viability of using natural gas as a bridge fuel until more renewable energy can be fed into the US power grid. The only problem is that fracking itself has little to do with methane leakage, which is more of an issue during production and transportation of natural gas. While Nocera essentially comes out in favor of well-regulated, safely-produced natural gas, by conflating fracking directly with the methane leakage issue, he makes the conversation more confusing. [New York Times]

Quartz has a piece about the EPA cutting the biofuel blending requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard that focuses on the advanced biofuel – particularly cellulosic ethanol – portion of the statute, production of which has failed to live up to expectations. And while this is true, it misses the larger point about decreasing US gasoline consumption and hitting the ethanol blendwall, which were the primary factors behind the EPA’s decision. [Quartz]