August

The North Dakota Industrial Commission on Tuesday approved a 30,000-acre single oil production unit in an area bounded by a state park and river in the west-central part of the state. The vote was unanimous to allow the atypically large production unit, which is intended to better protect the environment, a commission spokesperson told NGI’s Shale Daily.

The West Virginia state Senate unanimously approved Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s version of a Marcellus Shale regulatory reform bill on Tuesday by a 33-0 vote.

The nine-member city council in Colorado’s second largest city, Colorado Springs (pop. 416,000), voted unanimously Wednesday to invoke a 60-day moratorium on oil and gas drilling within the city limits. The action was taken in an emergency meeting scheduled to look at exploration and production (E&P) activity.

Hundreds of landowners with the nonprofit Associated Landowners of the Ohio Valley (ALOV) have agreed to sign lease agreements with Chesapeake Energy Corp.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) used an energy conference as an opportunity to urge state legislators and regulators to come to an agreement on Marcellus Shale regulatory reform, but also took a swipe at federal officials and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Natural gas producers can thank the hot summer for helping to burn up a large portion of the country’s growing gas production during the third quarter, according to the latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook, released Wednesday.

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) is assisting an investigation by the federal National Park Service (NPS) to determine whether any Marcellus Shale natural gas wells on state forest land were improperly approved by the state.

A committee of West Virginia lawmakers voted Wednesday to recommend steep increases in permit fees and bonding requirements for Marcellus Shale drilling, resolving two key areas of disagreement as they work to cobble together a draft regulatory reform bill.

When Rex Energy Corp. announced in August that it acquired the rights to lease about 11,000 net acres in Carroll County, OH, for $40 million, the company said it was doing so to develop a prospect in the Utica Shale play and expand its acreage position there.