Agreement

EQT Corp. on Thursday followed through again with its intent to continue consolidating core acreage in Appalachia, this time announcing that it outbid two other producers during a bankruptcy auction for about 85,000 net acres from Stone Energy Corp.

Amid strained relations with state officials, three Native American tribes whose reservation lands provide more than 20% of North Dakota’s oil production on Tuesday threatened to abandon an oil production revenue-sharing agreement with the state.

Thailand’s PTT Public Ltd. Co. has struck an agreement with BP plc for about 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 20 years beginning in 2017. LNG is to be sourced from BP’s supply portfolio, including the Freeport LNG export project in Texas.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and officials in Midland, TX agreed Tuesday to a groundbreaking private-public partnership that would provide citizens with a steady source of freshwater and give the producer a ready supply of reclaimed water for its extensive oil and gas operations in the Permian Basin.

Gastar Exploration Inc. could add a third rig in 2017 as it continues delineating its acreage in the Sooner Trend of the Anadarko Basin, mostly in Canadian and Kingfisher counties (aka, the STACK).

Australia’s 88 Energy Ltd. said the design for a well that will target an untested liquids-rich shale play in the onshore North Slope of Alaska has been revised from a lateral to vertical completion, and will be subject to multi-stage stimulation and subsequent flow test.

Backed by private equity, Gastar Exploration Inc. announced a 60-well drilling program Thursday for its leasehold in the Oklahoma STACK play (the Sooner Trend of the Anadarko Basin, mostly in Canadian and Kingfisher counties).

November natural gas is set to open 3 cents lower Monday morning at $3.26 as forecasters can come up with no near-term seasonal cold to spur demand. Overnight oil markets rose.

The 14-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which produces more than one-third of global crude oil output, reached a tentative agreement Wednesday to reduce output for the first time in eight years — to 32.5 million b/d from an August level of 33.24 million b/d.