2009

Dave Hager, 56, who has been running Devon Energy Corp.’s exploration and production (E&P) program since 2009, has been promoted to COO, giving him responsibility for all operating areas and related corporate functions. Hager had been COO of Kerr-McGee Corp. prior to its 2006 merger with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Tony Vaughn, 55, will move into Hager’s former job as executive vice president of E&P. Vaughn has been senior vice president, exploration and strategic services. He joined Devon in 1999 after spending 12 years with Kerr-McGee.

The dismal days of 2009 are behind the chemical industry, and while the global recession isn’t completely gone, there are brighter times ahead. Much of that is because of the revolution in shale natural gas and oil, speakers at the IHS World Petrochemical Conference said Wednesday in Houston.

A Quebec government official said Wednesday that legislation will be introduced next week to formally enact a moratorium on shale gas development in the province, a ban that would be in effect until the results of a two-year study on potential impacts are fully vetted.

The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in Rawlins, WY, announced that it will hold a public open house next Tuesday and extend the public comment period into March on a draft environmental assessment for the proposed expansion of natural gas drilling in two counties.

Lamar McKay, who has served as chairman and president of BP plc subsidiary BP America since 2009, will take over as CEO of the Upstream business unit effective Jan. 1. In his new role McKay, who has worked for BP for 32 years, would lead the operator’s combined upstream businesses, which include the exploration, development and production divisions, together with the strategy and integration team. The upstream divisions were created in 2010 following the Macondo deepwater spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which led to a major reorganization designed to improve risk management and global standards. McKay would report to Group CEO Bob Dudley. McKay’s successor has not been announced.

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Friday said it will invest $5.6 million in more than a dozen research projects to increase understanding of the potential of methane hydrates as an energy source.

From 2009 to 2011 nearly 100,000 tons of pollution were released from Texas oil and gas facilities, refineries and petrochemical plants due to accidents and other non-routine events, according to the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). Natural gas operations were blamed for the majority of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and volatile organic compound (VOC) releases.

From 2009 to 2011 nearly 100,000 tons of pollution were released from Texas oil and gas facilities, refineries and petrochemical plants due to accidents and other non-routine events, according to the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). Natural gas operations were blamed for the majority of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and volatile organic compound (VOC) releases.

The permitting of horizontal natural gas wells in Ohio has grown more than eight-fold in one year; Chesapeake Energy Corp. became a major player in the Utica Shale, and Carroll County became the play’s “ground zero,” according to data from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ (ODNR) Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management.