Across

University of Adelaide researchers in Australia are developing a new type of laser system that will monitor methane levels across large areas in order to monitor emissions of the greenhouse gas. The system has the potential to detect methane leaks from long-distance underground gas pipelines and gas fields, including coal seam gas extraction operations, and to measure methane emissions from animal production, the university said. “We hope to accurately measure methane concentrations up to a distance of 5 kilometers,” said project leader David Ottaway, senior lecturer in the university’s School of Chemistry and Physics. “This will give us an ability to map methane over an area as large as 25 square kilometers in a very short time. At the moment current technology only allows detection at a single point source as it blows past the detector.”

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. raised second quarter oil production guidance to 10,800-11,200 b/d from 9,600-10,000 b/d, increased its 2013 crude oil production growth target to 40% from 28% and raised its total 2013 production growth target to 10% from 6%, based largely on results in the Eagle Ford Shale.

Century Midstream LLC, whose focus primarily will be to develop and expand emerging liquids plays across North America, was launched Wednesday by private equity energy firm First Reserve Corp. and a team of seasoned midstream veterans.

Denver-based exploration and production (E&P) independent QEP Resources Inc. reported encouraging results from its first four-well pad drilling on recently acquired South Antelope property in the Williston Basin in North Dakota. QEP said it also completed nine wells — four in the Bakken and five in the Three Forks formations on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

Following similar initiatives around the nation, Houston-based CenterPoint Energy on Thursday said it will add 35 natural gas vehicles (NGV) to its fleet across Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. It also is planning to supply compressed natural gas (CNG) to 17 new fueling stations built in its multi-state territory.

A MDU Resources Group Inc. subsidiary last week launched a natural gas pipeline project that would stretch across the Bakken Shale from western North Dakota to western Minnesota, where it would connect with Viking Gas Transmission Co.’s gas system.

An MDU Resources Group Inc. subsidiary on Thursday announced a natural gas pipeline project that would stretch across the Bakken Shale from western North Dakota to western Minnesota, where it would connect with Viking Gas Transmission Co.’s gas system.

With natural gas prices increasing, a joint venture (JV) in the Marcellus Shale has announced plans to build a dry gas pipeline across two neighboring counties in north-central West Virginia.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co.’s first horizontal Wolfcamp Shale well in Martin County, TX, — the Mabee K #1H — has been placed on production with an initial rate that the company called “strong,” and an analyst following Pioneer said confirms prospectivity in the county.