EQT Corp. announced Thursday that horizontal drilling in the Marcellus Shale helped the company achieve record sales volumes overall and in the Marcellus in 2012 — the latter an 85% increase from 2011 — as it posted net income of $183.4 million for the year.
Announced
Articles from Announced
Consol Shifts to Development Mode in Utica
Consol Energy Inc. announced Friday that it would begin shifting its Utica Shale program in Noble County, OH, from exploration to development mode, after seeing encouraging results and data from its test wells and those of its competitors in the play.
Salazar to Depart Interior in March
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who oversaw a moratorium on offshore drilling after the BP plc oil spill and the restructuring of the agency, will step down in March, the agency announced Wednesday.
Canada’s BNK Encouraged by Test Results in Woodford Shale
Canada’s BNK Petroleum Inc. announced Sunday that its subsidiary in the United States has so far seen “very encouraging results” from a test well in southern Oklahoma’s Tishomingo field, in the Ardmore Basin of the Woodford Shale.
Denbury Buys ConocoPhillips’ Cedar Creek Anticline Portfolio
ConocoPhillips is selling a package of properties in the Cedar Creek Anticline (CCA) of North Dakota and Montana to Denbury Resources Inc. for $1.05 billion cash.
Industry Brief
A recently combined and publicly held exploration and development company, Salt Lake City-based Richfield Oil and Gas Co., announced a purchase in the Graham Reservoir oilfield in Uinta County, WY. Richfield bought a shut-in well in the Wasatch National Forest (Well #16-15) from Frontier Energy for $610,000, including 640 acres of mineral leases. The company said the purchase gives it 100% working interest in a mineral lease in the Graham Reservoir, located approximately 120 miles northeast of Salt Lake City in southeastern Wyoming. The well has been shut in since 2003 and was completed in the Dakota Formation at 15,600 feet. Flow testing and production operations will get underway later in the first quarter. For Richfield, which is the product of the merger of Hewitt Petroleum Inc. and Freedom Oil & Gas Inc. in 2011, the acquisition is part of the process of “methodically building our reserve and production base” through graded acquisitions,” said CEO Douglas Hewitt.
Consol Focusing on Marcellus, Utica Shale Gas in 2013
Consol Energy Inc. announced Monday that it plans to spend most its capital expenditure (capex) budget in 2013 on natural gas production in the Marcellus and Utica shales, and will sell millions in other assets.
Industry Briefs
Westlake Chemical Corp.’s previously announced expansion of the Petro 2 ethylene unit at its complex in Lake Charles, LA, has begun. This expansion will be completed in conjunction with a planned maintenance turnaround and will increase ethane-based ethylene capacity by 230-240 million pounds annually in support of the company’s ethylene integration strategy. The unit is expected to be down approximately 60 days for the work to be completed.
People
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the incoming chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has announced that members of his senior staff will include Joshua Sheinkman, staff director; Sam Fowler, chief counsel; and senior counsels Dan Adamson, Patty Beneke, David Brooks, Michele Miranda and Todd Wooten. Drew Johnston and Cisco Minthorn also will be part of the counsel staff. Senior professional staff will include Isaiah Akin, Meghan Conklin, Kevin Rennert, Allen Stayman and Sara Tucker. Keith Chu has been tapped to be press secretary, and Samantha Offerdahl will be press assistant.
BLM Extends Comment Time for Wyoming Gas Drilling DEIS
The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in Rawlins, WY, announced that it will hold a public open house next Tuesday and extend the public comment period into March on a draft environmental assessment for the proposed expansion of natural gas drilling in two counties.