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Appalachian midstream provider MarkWest Energy Partners LP and private equity fund The Energy and Minerals Group (EMG) have completed an amendment to give EMG a larger stake in their joint venture (JV) in the Utica Shale.

Dry gas producers have been a victim of their own success, but they’re still making their way in a glutted market. The Marcellus Shale is throwing off decent returns and plenty of gas.

Geisinger Health System has been awarded a $1 million grant from the Degenstein Foundation to help complete a study on the health impacts from Marcellus Shale gas drilling, a report eagerly anticipated by officials in at least two states.

Mack Redford, a former Boise private practice attorney, has been confirmed for a second six-year term on the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) by the Idaho State Senate. Redford was appointed to a second six-year term by Gov. Butch Otter, who originally appointed him to the PUC in 2007, and in 2008-2009 he served as president of the three-member regulatory panel. A former attorney specializing in commercial transactions, construction and engineering law, Redford now serves on the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners, serving on both the international and water committees.

Natural gas prices have been due for a shot in the arm, and they’re going to get one, actually more than one. But producers will have to wait until the impact of drilling declines is felt, lifting gas to $4.00/MMBtu, and then until power generation load growth gains traction and lifts prices to $5.00/MMBtu after 2015, according to consultant ICF International.

President Obama was playing “fast and loose” when he claimed in his State of the Union (SOTU) address that his administration has been working to speed applications for permits to drill (APD) for energy production on federal lands, said Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA), the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.

Transocean Ltd.’s agreement to plead guilty for its role in the April 2010 Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico has been accepted by a federal court in New Orleans. Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform, which was destroyed in the well blowout, killing 11 men. U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo accepted the agreed-upon settlement reached in January with the Department of Justice, in which Transocean pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and agreed to pay $400 million in criminal penalties. Transocean also has agreed to pay $1 billion in civil penalties, which is to be decided in a different court.

Gas prices have been due for a shot in the arm, and they’re going to get one, actually more than one. But producers will have to wait until the impact of drilling declines is felt, lifting gas to $4.00/MMBtu, and then until power generation load growth gains traction and lifts prices to $5.00/MMBtu after 2015, according to consultant ICF International.

A group of environmental organizations has written to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Region 6 administrator alleging that politics and not science caused the agency to drop a water contamination case against Range Resources Corp. and calling for a resumption of legal action.