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Ohio voters believe the benefits of shale gas development outweigh the risks, but they also believe the state should put the breaks on development, according to a new poll.

Only a day after issuing them, Tennessee lifted two meter-specific Balancing Alert OFOs. The pipeline also said it continues investigation of a November rupture near Main Line Valve (MLV) 205-4 in Morgan County, OH, about four miles southeast of the city of Glouster (see Daily GPI, Nov. 21, 2011). Currently line 4 is isolated and Tennessee is maintaining a reduced pressure from Station 200 in Greenup, KY, to Station 219 in Mercer, PA. The Rockies Express (REX) interconnect flows into Line 4 between MLVs 208 and 209. To further evaluate the section between the valves, Tennessee was required to reduce the pressure there. Thus it was not accepting any nomination increases at the REX meter Tuesday and effective Wednesday until further notice will not accept any nominations at all from the REX meter.

Victory Energy Corp. said Thursday a carbonite formation well in southeastern New Mexico it holds an interest in has been successfully re-entered, five years after being plugged, and is now completed, fracked and producing oil and natural gas.

Texas environmental regulators are planning to launch monitoring of Eagle Ford Shale air emissions some time next year. What has been learned from ongoing emissions monitoring in the Barnett Shale will be applied in the South Texas play, an engineer with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) told NGI’s Shale Daily.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed a landmark Marcellus Shale regulatory reform bill — also known as the Natural Gas Horizontal Wells Control Act — into law on Thursday.

The Marcellus Shale is the eastern United States’ new natural gas supply source of choice, and Williams is in the process of developing a new pipeline to connect supply with market via Williams’ existing Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco).

Spending by international oil and gas companies in 2012 is likely to hit record levels, while exploration and production (E&P) expenditures in North America also should be up by healthy margins, according to a new survey by Barclays Capital analysts.

December natural gas slipped lower in light trading Friday as traders continue to see little threat of higher prices in the near term but also see a dearth of sellers at present prices. At the close January had fallen 6.4 cents to $3.584 and February had retreated 6.2 cents to $3.613. January crude oil added 76 cents to $100.96/bbl.

Although the dogs are still barking in Pennsylvania, the caravan for imposing a fee on natural gas drillers in the most active shale gas state appears to be moving on.