Addition

In addition to briefing state lawmakers Wednesday on the governor’s newly released energy policy, an adviser to Gov. Matt Mead offered a joint state legislative committee a glimpse at the governor’s proposed baseline water testing rule that would apply to oil and natural gas drillers.

George P. Mitchell, whose company successfully paired horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which launched the rebirth of onshore natural gas and oil drilling in North America, was honored Monday by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and state legislators.

Marcellus and Utica shale midstreamer MarkWest Energy Partners LP has expanded its service offerings in the Anadarko Basin in a $245 million cash agreement with Chesapeake Energy Corp.

For industry and government officials in North Dakota hungry for new ways to reduce the nearly 30% of the state’s associated natural gas that is flared, it is unclear if an innovative approach from a Louisiana-based oil/gas field services firm using converted military helicopter jet engines will prove to be a panacea anytime soon.

Officials in Robinson Township, PA, told leaseholders that they were welcome to contact Range Resources Corp. and try to convince the company to reapply for two Marcellus Shale drilling permits the township denied in February.

While other stakeholders have been critical of California’s preliminary draft hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rules, two energy attorneys with the firm of K&L Gates consider the rules’ proposed protections for trade secrets to be adequate for shielding exploration and production (E&P) operators’ proprietary information tied to fracking.

Baker Hughes Inc. Chairman Chad Deaton said he is retiring effective April 25. President and CEO Martin Craighead is to assume the chairman’s role in addition to his current responsibilities, the board announced. Deaton joined the oilfield services company in 2004 and served as chair and CEO until January 2012, when he became executive chairman (see Daily GPI, Jan. 25, 2012). Craighead, who began working at Baker in 1986, was appointed COO in 2009 and president in 2010. “I am confident that with Martin, Baker Hughes has the optimal leadership for the future,” Deaton said. The Houston-based company works in 80 countries and has more than 58,000 employees worldwide.

Canadian political leaders are refusing to let project delays and shaky markets lower high expectations for rapid development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from shale drilling in northern British Columbia (BC).

Colorado producers on Friday raised the ante in their concerns about a state agency’s efforts to establish new rules on setbacks for oil and natural gas drilling operators, gaining support from local business groups for a fact sheet citing the economic benefits that resource production brings to the state.