Energy patch communications services provider Texas Energy Network LLC (TEN) has purchased from Verizon Wireless lower 700 MHz A and B block wireless spectrum in the Eagle Ford Shale region of South Texas. The wireless spectrum encompasses 28 counties and will allow TEN to offer service over the entire Eagle Ford Shale play, the company said. “…[I]t will allow us to provide a much needed service to our customers who have been requesting improved communications services in the oilfield for some time,” said TEN CEO Gregory M. Casey. “We intend to build-out our wireless coverage of the Eagle Ford shale region with a 4G LTE network as soon as possible to bring high-speed bandwidth to the region.” The company is currently building a network in the Permian Basin as well. Separately, communications provider ERF Wireless said in April it hired a contractor to build out two high-speed wireless broadband networks in two separate areas of the Permian Basin region adjacent to existing ERF Wireless networks. In addition, ERF Wireless is using its own crews to construct three new networks that are near the extensive terrestrial wireless network system already owned and operated by ERF Wireless in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. ERF is active in the Eagle Ford as well (see Shale Daily, Jan. 13, 2011).

California-based STWA Inc. has completed testing by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for an applied oil technology (AOT) for improving oil pipeline transmission flow rates while reducing the energy used in the transportation. STWA said the AOT technology should provide options for the multi-billion-dollar oil pipeline and diesel sectors. The DOE 24-hour testing at a facility in Wyoming confirmed a 56% improvement in energy efficiency when AOT is used. STWA said with the use of viscosity reduction, its new AOT, as tested by DOE, “holds the potential to become an integral part of reducing crude oil pipeline power consumption,” according to CEO Cecil Bond Kyte, who said the product has a chance to “make a huge environmental impact worldwide.”