Attempt

Frio County, TX is in the heart of Eagle Ford Shale country, but drilling waste hauling and disposal worries have overshadowed the economic boom that oil and gas activity has brought to the South Texas region, county officials said.

Backed by Germany’s government, three global firms have begun a three-year project that will attempt to make the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) into a useful component of various industrial processes, starting with abundant natural gas supplies as a feedstock.

Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) utility is still treading water on a four-year attempt to upgrade some underground storage in the region. The utility is still trying to finalize environmental reviews that wary local residents are using to question the projects.

In an attempt to lure foreign investment back to its shale natural gas plays following several high profile defections, the country’s finance minister said a severance tax on unconventional production will take effect in 2015 but no tax would be levied until 2020.

Citing the action as an attempt to prevent public safety and environmental degradation, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Thursday approved a citation program under which its staff can levy fines, payable by shareholders, against public utilities.

In an attempt to install more of a risk-based approach to state inspection programs for the oil and natural gas industry, Colorado lawmakers are considering new requirements in a measure (SB 202) that passed out of the state Senate Wednesday on a 22-11 vote. The bill now goes to the lower House for consideration.

While both oil and gas production rates in the Bakken Shale set records in February, there’s much more to come. With a large increase in multi-well pad operations, North Dakota’s chief oil and natural gas regulator expects to see “a big surge in production” in the Bakken Shale starting in June.

Opponents of TransCanada Corp.’s proposed northern portion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada running through parts of Nebraska argued last Thursday in state district court in Lancaster County that Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman lacked the authority to approve a proposed route for the project. In January, he approved a new alternative route (see Shale Daily, Jan. 23). Opponents of the project want Heineman’s decision voided by a district court judge because they allege a state pipeline siting act passed last year by Nebraska’s legislature is unconstitutional. The legislation gave the governor the ultimate decision on the route. At the end of last year Lancaster County District Judge Stephanie Stacy rejected the state’s attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed.

U.S. oil and gas merger and acquisition (M&A) activity will be stronger this year as companies attempt to position themselves for higher prices and increased demand, according to a nationwide survey of CFOs at 100 exploration and production companies.