Rich Nemec

Under increasing community and political pressure, Allenco Energy Co. agreed to shut down operations at a controversial urban drilling site a few miles south of downtown Los Angeles in a working class neighborhood just north of the University of Southern California campus. Allenco said it will use the pause in drilling to improve its operations.

Ultimately the market will decide, but some industry stakeholders in North Dakota think the time may be fast approaching for the establishment of a Bakken crude oil price point, according to recent testimony to a state interim legislative committee examining the state’s energy future.

Natural gas and oil operations were not the cause of groundwater contamination in the Pinedale Anticline that was identified seven years ago and has been under investigation since then, according to two new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) reports released last Wednesday.

Wyoming’s Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in a three-year-old case in which landowner and environmental groups challenged the trade secrecy protection applied to the chemical disclosure part of the state’s rules covering hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The court has taken the case under advisement.

Compressed natural gas (CNG) is being studied regarding for it performs in sub-freezing temperatures and for how its fueling procedures can be accelerated to be more in line with that of liquid fuels.

Anti-hydraulic fracturing (fracking) organizations targeted California Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday using his public appearances in Southern California as sites for demonstration and protest.

With promotions in recent months and years that include executives drinking some cleaned up fluids used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking), Halliburton Corp.’s top leaders have attempted to demonstrate its and the industry’s ability to take lemons and make lemonade. In this case, the “lemonade” is a stale-favored drink that is nontoxic, but not meant to replace normal beverages of choice.

North Dakota’s swelling revenues from robust shale-driven production should get richer based on an announcement Tuesday by Tulsa-based Oneok Partners LP to invest $650-780 million by 2016 for new natural gas infrastructure, spending that could relieve a chronic flared gas problem.

Ford Motor Co. has begun production of 2014 model F-150 pickup trucks capable of running on compressed natural gas (CNG) with a “gaseous-fuel prep option” on 3.7-liter V-6 engines in the F-150 model.