WASHINGTON - Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Tuesday he will put on hold about 20 applications to export liquefied natural gas until he reviews studies by the Energy Department and others on what impact the exports would have on domestic natural gas supplies and prices. Moniz, who was sworn in Tuesday as the nation's new energy secretary, said he promised during his confirmation hearing that he would "review what's out there" before acting on proposals to export natural gas. Among the things Moniz said he wants to review is whether the data in the studies are outdated.

WASHINGTON - The Energy Department on Friday conditionally approved a Texas company's proposal to export liquefied natural gas, only the second such project allowed to move forward amid a production boom that has led to glut of domestic natural gas. The action would allow Freeport LNG Expansion L.P. to export up to 1.4 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas per day from its terminal near Freeport, Texas, south of Houston. The DOE said granting such a permit for shipments to countries that do not have free trade agreements with the U.S. was in the public interest.

POCA, W.Va. - Two workers were injured Monday when highly flammable gas used in welding exploded at a West Virginia industrial site, officials say. Fire crews were sent at about 3:20 p.m. to Airgas, a distributor of specialty gases in Poca, outside of Charleston. Putnam County emergency management director Frank Chapman said the explosion involved about 50 tanks of acetylene that were at Airgas waiting to be refilled. What caused the tanks to explode wasn't known.

Russia's Rosneft state oil giant announced Wednesday that it had signed a framework agreement with Japan's Marubeni Corporation for the possible construction of a liquified natural gas plant in the Russian Far East. The announcement marks one of Rosneft's biggest efforts to date to diversify beyond the oil market and present a direct challenge to Russia's natural gas firm Gazprom.