Area

The Permian Basin remains Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s (Oxy) go-to area for exploration and production, and beginning in 2014 there should be a sharp increase in oil production in California, according to CEO Steve Chazen.

Abraxas Petroleum Corp. said a recent Eagle Ford Shale well has been performing better than expected, but its operations in the Williston Basin in North Dakota have been hampered by equipment troubles.

Natural gas prices in the various North American shale basins rose about 50 cents, or close to 20%, year-to-year from Jan. 1, 2012 to Jan. 1, 2013, moving mainly from the $2.80s to the $3.30s per MMBtu. At the same time, operating rigs in the same basins dropped 21%, according to surveys conducted throughout the year for NGI’s Shale Daily.

An infrastructure development slowdown across the Marcellus Shale region over the next 12 months will sharply reduce the rate of production growth, to 1.3 Bcf/d from growth of 2.3 Bcf/d in the last 12 months, according to FBR Capital Markets.

Producer Antero Resources, which recently refocused all of its efforts on Appalachia, has signed up for Utica Shale processing, fractionation and marketing services with MarkWest Utica EMG LLC.

The growth of the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania’s eastern Marcellus Shale helped the area avoid the worst of the 2008 recession, and the positive effects have only just begun, according to a study by the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development (IPPED). A comparison of the impact of the Marcellus on Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district, the Barnett Shale in Texas and the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas led IPPED to conclude “that there is definite potential for growth in wealth, employment and housing” within Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district, which includes many of the top producing counties. Core drilling counties fared better than noncore drilling counties, but the economic benefits of the Marcellus spilled over throughout the region.

Canada’s Duvernay Shale has the potential to become one of the “most attractive liquids-rich plays” in North America, according to Wood Mackenzie analysts, who point to ExxonMobil Corp.’s decision this month to pay $3.1 billion for one of the play’s biggest developers as affirmation.

Boulder County, CO, officials may need to keep in place longer than expected a moratorium on the processing of development plans for oil and gas permits. County Planning Commission members said Wednesday they need more time to complete new regulations meant to address potential public health and environmental impacts of oil and gas exploration in unincorporated areas of the county, according to news reports. In February Boulder County commissioners passed a resolution that placed a moratorium on accepting applications until Feb. 4, 2013. The Planning Commission asked the Board of County Commissioners to extend the moratorium by three to six months. Government officials from around Colorado have challenged the state’s authority to regulate energy operations (see Shale Daily, Sept. 24; Aug. 17). The state maintains exclusive jurisdiction in this area under the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

A New York judge on Tuesday invalidated the City of Binghamton’s two-year ban by on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and exploration activities that was enacted late last year.