The Alaska Department of Natural Resources‘ Division of Oil and Gas has issued a final written finding for the Cook Inlet Areawide Oil and Gas Lease Sales from 2019-2028, declaring that “the potential benefits of lease sales outweigh the possible negative effects,” and that the lease sales are in the best interests of the state. The proposed sale area totals 3.9 million acres that includes 2.2 million acres of uplands in the Matanuska and Susitna River valleys and 1.7 million acres of tide and submerged lands in upper Cook Inlet from Knik Arm south to Anchor Point and Tuxedni Bay. There are 815 tracts ranging in size from 640 to 5,760 acres. The state is the predominant landowner in the sale area.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) said Oklahoma City-based Roan Resources Inc. has voluntarily agreed to permanently end all hydraulic fracturing operations at a well in Grady County after the region was struck by a 3.4-magnitude earthquake on Sunday (Nov. 4). Following the quake, the OCC’s Oil and Gas Division had ordered Roan to halt fracturing operations at the Victory Slide well near Bridge Creek, OK.

Commonwealth LNG has pushed back the expected in-service date of its proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal in Cameron Parish, LA, to 1Q2024, two years from the original date outlined in a pre-filing application with FERC in 2017. Under the revised plan, Commonwealth LNG expects to file a final application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in early 2019 and to make a final investment decision in 3Q2020. Construction is set to begin in 4Q2020.