Range Resources Corp. won permission from a Texas appeals court to proceed with a defamation lawsuit seeking $3 million in damages from a man who accused the company of tainting his drinking water with drilling activities in the Barnett Shale (see Shale Daily, April 4). Two of the company’s claims against Steven Lipsky were allowed to stand by the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth. However, it ordered the trial court in Weatherford, TX, to dismiss Range’s claims against Lipsky’s wife, Shyla, and environmental consultant Alisa Rich, who was hired to assist in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs have claimed that Range tainted the Lipsky water well, but the Railroad Commission of Texas found otherwise after it investigated. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also had blamed Range for contaminating the well, the agency later backed down (see Shale Daily, Feb. 13; Feb. 21, 2012).

Independent oilfield services company Green Field Energy Services Inc. has completed more than 60 fracturing (fracking) stages using pumps powered exclusively by liquefied natural gas (LNG). The fracking was conducted on a series of wells in the Eagle Ford Shale, the first time in history that 100% LNG was utilized as the only fuel source for such frack jobs, the company said. “This application is yet another step closer to our soon-to-be-realized vision of using field gas to power our Turbine Frac Pumps [TFP],” said President Rick Fontova. Green Field had up to four TFP units operating during each frack stage, and each unit consistently pumped five barrels per minute at a pressure of 7,500 psi, the company said.