Assessed

The West Virginia Department of Revenue (DOR) has decided not to assign assessed value to oil and natural gas wellpad sites in the state, heeding the advice of a special committee of county assessors that doing so would pose a hardship to farmers who own surface, but not mineral, rights to their land.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said it estimates that five Mesozoic shale basins along the East Coast collectively hold a mean of nearly 3.9 Tcf in undiscovered natural gas and 135 million bbl of undiscovered natural gas liquids (NGLs), according to an abstract released Wednesday.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) lost twice Thursday as California regulators denied the utility’s appeal of a $16.7 million staff-imposed pipeline fine and assessed a separate $3 million penalty for shoddy record-keeping.

Continental Resources Inc. on Wednesday made a $340 million pitch to buy Bakken Shale-focused Wheatland Oil Inc., a company controlled by Continental CEO Harold Hamm.

As it filed an appeal to a $16.8 million regulatory fine assessed last month, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) found itself Wednesday in the cross-hairs of a state legislator’s criticism and facing skeptical reactions from consumers and regulators alike regarding its $2.2 billion long-term plan to upgrade its natural gas pipeline system.

The government of Quebec announced Tuesday that hydraulic fracturing could continue in the province for exploration purposes only, after the release of a much anticipated report that urged further study of the practice.

Southern California Gas issued a high-linepack OFO for Saturday, saying Buy-Back charges will be assessed to customers who deliver into its system more than 110% of their actual gas usage on the OFO day. “Please remember that the Winter Balancing Rules are currently in effect and you must also comply with the appropriate minimum delivery requirements,” the giant LDC added.

After dropping $4.493, or 33%, over the last three weeks of trading, August natural gas futures took a little bit of a break Monday as traders assessed the current sub-$10 price level and the market’s likely next move. Starting out the week, the front-month contract gained 7.9 cents to close at $9.163 one day ahead of expiration.

FERC late Thursday assessed civil penalties totaling $7.3 million in approving settlements of two separate enforcement matters involving BP Energy Co. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. subsidiary MGTC Inc. The penalties against BP coincided with a sweeping action by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Department of Justice, also on Thursday.