2011

Board members of the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) in Texas are mulling a report they received last Tuesday that recommends significant policy changes for gas drilling near schools and are expected to discuss the items early next month. However, the executive director of the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council (BSEEC) told NGI the document they are holding is essentially “a hoax.”

Natural gas utilities, commercial firms and state regulators have called on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to refine its proposed definitions for swap dealers and major swap participants, which — unlike commodity end-users — will be subject to mandatory clearing of swaps under the agency’s proposed reforms.

The more one learns about the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) investigation of well water contamination in North Texas alleged to be caused by Barnett Shale gas wells drilled by Range Resources Corp., the more something smells, an industry newsletter publisher has claimed, and he’s not alone.

Having failed to shut down the facility, the mayor of Ensenada in Baja California, Mexico, last Wednesday sought to negotiate tax revenues and a new gas transmission pipeline link with Sempra Energy’s Energia Costa Azul liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal along the Pacific Coast north of the port city. Mexican federal troops came to Sempra’s aid earlier in the skirmish and remained on site last week.

The growth of natural gas liquids (NGL) production from North American shale plays helped Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) set a net income record in 2010, according to COO Jim Teague.

In Arkansas, home to the Fayetteville Shale, state Rep. Kathy Webb (D-Little Rock) has introduced a quintet of bills targeting the natural gas industry for greater scrutiny of drilling operations. The content of the proposed legislation shows that the lawmaker has hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on her mind.

Democrats on a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee said pending draft legislation would “gut” the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA), but EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson did not go that far.

Offshore drillers Ensco plc and Pride International Inc. are combining in a $7.3 billion cash-and-stock deal, a transaction that highlights the “post-Macondo” world, Ensco CEO Dan Rabun said last week.

Range Resources Corp. said its estimated unproved resource potential at the end of 2010 reached 35-52 Tcfe, versus 2009’s estimate of 24-32 Tcfe, which was fueled by stronger drilling results. By itself, the resource potential in the Marcellus Shale leasehold jumped to 20-31 Tcfe on higher per/well reserves.