Acreage

In a move anticipated by oil and natural gas producers, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) said Monday it was suspending 64 water withdrawal permits due to ongoing drought conditions in the basin, the highest number of suspensions since it began issuing permits in 2008.

Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling declined nearly 7% in the first five months of this year from the same period of 2011 in part as operators began moving from dry gas to wetter targets, according to data from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

The price for Utica Shale acreage is rising at a surprising clip if a lease agreement signed this week by the Board of Commissioners of Columbiana County, OH, and an agent for Chesapeake Energy Corp. is any indication.

During a year in which producers shifted their spending away from natural gas and toward oil and away from amassing acreage to developing what was previously acquired, “everything was up,” Ernst & Young LLP’s Charles Swanson, Houston managing partner, told reporters in Houston last week at a briefing on the company’s latest U.S. exploration and production (E&P) benchmark study.

During a year in which producers shifted their spending away from natural gas and toward oil and away from amassing acreage to developing what was previously acquired, “everything was up,” Ernst & Young LLP’s Charles Swanson, Houston managing partner, told reporters in Houston Tuesday at a briefing on the company’s latest U.S. exploration and production (E&P) benchmark study.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is considering revisions to requirements for the Air Quality Standard Permit for Oil and Gas Handling and Production Facilities, which are used to authorize oil and gas facilities in the Barnett Shale of North-Central Texas.

Three families in western Pennsylvania have filed a lawsuit against 17 defendants, including an operator for Range Resources Corp. and two independent water testing labs, alleging that a drilling and impoundment site caused health problems. The plaintiffs also accused Range and the labs of conspiring to hide evidence of drinking water contamination.

Management of Australia’s Eureka Energy Ltd., which has acreage in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas, told shareholders they should reject an unsolicited offer from Aurora Oil and Gas Ltd., also of Australia and an Eagle Ford player. “The board considers the offer to be opportunistic and designed to solicit shareholders to sell their shares at a time when the company’s strategic direction and underlying potential is still emerging,” said Eureka Acting Managing Director Bill Bloking. Aurora has made an A$107 (US$111.7 million) unsolicited offer for Eureka. Aurora said the unconditional, all-cash offer represents “an attractive premium” (36.4% to Eureka’s previous closing price) and gives Eureka shareholders the opportunity to “crystallize immediate and certain value for their shares.” The acquisition would build Aurora’s “already strong presence in the Sugarkane Field, growing its portfolio of Eagle Ford interests” in line with its strategy, said Aurora CEO Jon Stewart (see Shale Daily, May 1).

A new completion design doubled initial production (IP) rates from the Marcellus Shale in southwestern Pennsylvania for Range Resources, the Fort Worth, TX-based company said Thursday.