2010

Tapping all of the potential in U.S. shale natural gas isn’t a given; it requires changes to, and investment in, basic energy infrastructure, including an expansion of the U.S. pipeline and storage network, according to KKR & Co. LP.

The growth of the natural gas industry in the heart of Pennsylvania’s eastern Marcellus Shale helped the area avoid the worst of the 2008 recession, and the positive effects have only just begun, according to a study issued by the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development (IPPED).

A trial to determine various parties’ liability for BP plc’s Macondo well blowout in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, which destroyed Transocean Ltd.’s Deepwater Horizon rig and killed 11 men, has been delayed until Feb. 25 from Jan. 14 in New Orleans. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier cited tourist events — the NFL Super Bowl and the Mardi Gras festival — that would keep New Orleans’ hotels booked. However, Barbier declined to delay a Nov. 8 hearing on a settlement BP reached with the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee, which is composed of private parties (see Daily GPI, March 6). The tentative settlement for $7.8 billion would resolve a “substantial majority of legitimate economic loss and medical claims,” BP said.

A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to fine an energy company for a 2010 fire could be the first time federal and state regulators have levied fines for the same incident in the Marcellus Shale.

Halliburton Co. CEO Dave Lesar made clear Wednesday that the slowdown in the U.S. and Canadian drilling market is only “transitory,” and the company will sit it out before cutting prices to capture new business.

Constellation Energy Partners LLC (CEP) said Monday it’s looking for a buyer for its natural gas-heavy Black Warrior Basin properties in Tuscaloosa County, AL.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law four pipeline safety bills that in part deal with the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion. He also signed a half-dozen other energy-related bills in the final days of September.

Sidewinder Drilling Inc., a privately held upstart that’s been in the unconventional drilling game for a little more than a year, on Tuesday said it had a $242 million definitive offer on the table for Fort Worth, TX-based Union Drilling Inc., which operates across the U.S. onshore.

Transocean Ltd., which owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, has offered to pay about $1.5 billion to settle U.S. claims for the April 2010 deepwater disaster, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on Monday.