Dallas-based Azure Midstream Partners LP has struck two new producer deals for a combined 32 MMcf/d of capacity. The first is a four-year, fee-based deal with an East Texas independent that is growing its position in Panola County, TX. It has one rig active in the county drilling two horizontal Haynesville Shale wells. Additional wells are planned. The second is a five-year fee-based deal in the Waskom, TX, area with a producer that has a well producing 9.2 Mcf/d. The producer is currently evaluating drilling offsets and has been working to acquire additional acreage in the area. The well is one of the first horizontal Cotton Valley wells in the Harrison County area.

A new exploration and production company, Travis Peak Resources LLC, recently secured drilling permits in north-central Pennsylvania in an area where other companies are testing the Utica Shale. Austin, TX-based Travis Peak received three permits between October and November from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to drill horizontal wells in Westfield Township, Tioga County. In recent years, Seneca Resources Corp. and a Royal Dutch Shell plc subsidiary have tested successful Utica wells in the area, where the formation is deeper than it is farther to the west (see Shale Daily, Oct. 13, 2015; Nov. 24, 2014). Travis Peak, which partnered with the private equity firmEnCap Investments LP in 2013, also has interests in the Permian Basin, the Midcontinent and along the Gulf Coast. The company entered the Appalachian Basin in 2014 looking to lease land for Utica development, according to local news media reports at the time. It’s unclear if the company has started to drill in Tioga County or if it plans to soon.