Carolyn Davis

Newly re-formed Rock Oil Holdings LLC has secured a private equity commitment of up to $250 million from Riverstone Holdings LLC subsidiaries to secure acreage in the Eagle Ford and Utica shales, and the Permian Basin. Company executives previously built a leasehold and associated production in the Eagle Ford, which were sold in separate transactions in 2012 and 2013 to Sabine Oil & Gas LLC and Sanchez Energy Corp. Abraxas Petroleum Corp. in 2010 had partnered in the play with predecessor Blue Stone Oil & Gas LLC (see Shale Daily, Aug. 30, 2010). Affiliate Riverstone Energy Ltd. also has committed $82 million to privately held Fieldwood Energy LLC, which it formed and which is the largest producer in the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico (see Daily GPI, March 12).

Gulf of Mexico (GOM) player Energy XXI, which has made a name for itself through production expertise and horizontal drilling finesse, is taking over EPL Oil & Gas Inc. in a friendly merger that would create the largest public independent on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Proforma production would be close to 65,000 boe/d.

The North American energy sector — from exploration and production (E&P), oilfield services and midstream — still has a big target on its back again this year among activists that want to force changes, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

North America’s energy renaissance is going full tilt, but it could be shackled by a lack of personnel, more stringent regulations and even geology, IHS CERAWeek executives said in Houston last week.

Chevron Corp. is sitting in the sweet spot to deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Asia-Pacific markets from two world-class Australian export facilities, but there’s no hurry to move an inventory of dry natural gas prospects in the U.S. onshore until conditions are right, executives said Tuesday.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. improperly deducted drilling expenses from Barnett Shale natural gas royalty payments and violated some terms of a lease agreement, a Texas appeals court has affirmed.

The rupture of a section of a Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. natural gas pipeline in Sisson, WV, in late 2012 was caused by severe corrosion that could have been detected with regular inspections, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported Monday.

Close to one-quarter of the jobs added to U.S. payrolls since the economic downturn began in 2008 is the result of the booming natural gas and oil industry, former Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday.

At what level natural gas storage inventories will be at the end of this month remains an open-ended question. It all depends on the weather. However, natural gas producers and some analysts are sanguine stocks will bounce back through the summer in time for the next withdrawal season.