Joe Fisher

The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) on Thursday unanimously approved Florida Power & Light Co.’s (FPL) contracts for a planned 600-mile pipeline system to bring more natural gas into the state.

Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp. continued to increase its emphasis on oil over natural gas with an agreement to sell its West Tavaputs gas property in the Uinta Basin in Utah.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has granted long-term, multi-contract authorization to Venture Global LNG LLC to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to free trade agreement countries (FTA) from a proposed terminal in Cameron Parish, LA.

It’s not how many rigs there are in the shale patch; it’s what they’re doing. As drilling productivity continues to climb, the industry has realized a simple rig count is a poor indicator of future production. Now the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is monitoring and reporting on drilling productivity.

BHP Billiton Inc. is selling a portion of its Permian assets in the Delaware and Midland basins in two separate packages representing 250,000 acres combined, as it high-grades its West Texas holdings.

An additional $250 million could become available for Texas highways impacted by energy sector traffic in counties that are seeing heavy energy development, such as Atascosa, Duval, Guadalupe, Karnes, La Salle, Live Oak, McMullen, Wilson and Webb. At a recent hearing of the Texas Senate Select Committee on Transportation Funding, State Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands) directed the Texas Department of Transportation to request the funding for 70 projects that had not been funded in a recent appropriations bill. On Oct. 9, the agency made the request to the Legislative Budget Board, which must approve it. The $250 million is in addition to $225 million for 39 energy sector-impacted state highway projects that the Texas Legislature approved during the 83rd legislative session (see Shale Daily, May 30).

The saying “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” aptly describes the relationship between natural gas and environmentalists. While gas is applauded by clean energy advocates for putting the screws to coal and nuclear power, hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and methane emissions keep it from “best friend forever” status among environmentalists.

Oklahoma City-based Chaparral Energy Inc. is doubling its position in the Marmaton Play in the Texas Panhandle and divesting noncore assets in the Ark-La-Tex region and Permian Basin as it transitions to a pure-play Midcontinent company in anticipation of an initial public offering (IPO) late next year.

PostRock Energy Corp. is buying about 22,000 net acres of leasehold in Pottawatomie, Cleveland and McCain counties in central Oklahoma for $3 million in cash and $7 million of its common stock. The company is targeting multiple reservoirs, the most significant of which is the Woodford Shale.