The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) wants to hire a “state regulatory and legislative affairs manager” based in Washington, DC, who would to focus on natural gas. The manager would ” assist in organizing and managing efforts to enact a comprehensive set of regulations and reforms in key natural gas producing states,” with emphasis on the Appalachian region. The selected applicant would help “create and manage strategic coalitions and relationships with industry, regulators, policymakers, “grasstops” opinion leaders” and other nongovernmental organizations. Information is available at www.edf.org/jobs/state-regulatory-and-legislative-affairs-manager-natural-gas-program.

Calgary-based KANATA Energy Group Ltd. has closed a $330 million equity financing arrangement with investors including ARC Financial Corp., Energy Spectrum Capital and Teachers’ Private Capital, establishing a new midstream infrastructure and service company. KANATA will primarily focus on the acquisition, construction and operation of field gathering, processing and liquids extraction facilities in Western Canada. It will be led by CEO Kevin Cumming, who is joined by Kim Anderson as CFO and Peter Real as vice president of engineering and construction. Mike Dever and Randy Hughes will be vice president of operations and vice president of business development, respectively.

The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), which represents the governors of 38 oil and natural gas producing states, has published a compilation of state statutes governing exploration and production. The state-by-state summary, which is to updated annually, specifically details rules and regulations pertaining to oil and gas. The free online documents cover the nuances in the regulatory language, as well as definitions for, among other things, hydraulic fracturing, production, permits and setbacks.

Amelia Resources LLC has been retained as a technical consultant to host a data room to market mineral rights across 40,000 net acres (73,000 gross acres) in the updip oil window of the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) in southwestern Mississippi. “The minerals are located within the prolific oil-rich Wilcox sand play,” said Amelia President Kirk Barrell. The name of the seller was not disclosed, but the client “has a long track record with the petroleum industry,” Amelia said. In January Amelia said it was marketing 47,300 net acres in the play on behalf of an undisclosed client (see Shale Daily, Jan. 10). The Woodlands, TX-based Amelia has an estimated 124,000 net acres in the TMS and has evaluated more than 800 wells across Louisiana and Mississippi (see Shale Daily, June 28, 2012). Goodrich Petroleum expects well costs in the TMS to come down this year, according to BMO Capital Markets analyst Dan McSpirit, who also said that early competitor wells in which Goodrich retains an interest show production curves flattening. Other companies active in the TMS include Devon Energy Corp., Encana Corp., Indigo II Minerals LLC, EOG Resources Inc., Sinopec, Halcon Resources, Yuma Cos., Exchange Exploration and Production, Justiss Oil, Manti Resources, MCX Exploration, Stone Energy and Swift Energy.