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A committee of West Virginia legislators has finalized a compromise Marcellus Shale regulatory reform bill and is urging Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to call a special session for its passage.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tried to clarify its plan to develop national pretreatment standards for wastewater before the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment on Wednesday.

It likely will last only a few days before starting to diminish again, but heating load is building from the Midwest through a wide snowy swath of the Rockies, and the South and Northeast can expect to feel a similar chill as the weekend approaches. The result was a second day of firming cash quotes at nearly all points.

Illinois-based Nicor Inc.’s Central Valley Gas Storage Project in Northern California will hold an open season before the end of this year, an executive with the project told the LDC Forum: Rockies & West meeting Tuesday in Los Angeles.

CONSOL Energy Inc.’s natural gas division said Thursday it produced a record 40.4 Bcf in 3Q2011, or nearly 13% more than the 35.8 Bcf produced in the year-ago period. Separately, Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. also reported strong results in Appalachia, but it said gas sales have been constrained because of “volume limitations” in some midstream infrastructure.

A Pennsylvania judge said he would try to render a decision by Friday (Oct. 7) over whether a controversial referendum banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) should be placed on the November ballot in Peters Township.

Ten years on, drilling in the Barnett Shale has expanded the economy of the 24-county region in North Texas by 38%, according to a new study that said cumulative economic benefits of the Barnett from 2001 to 2011 include $65.4 billion in gross product for the region and $80.7 billion for the state.

With the bar continually raised on the estimated ultimate recoveries (EUR) from wells drilled in U.S. shale gas plays, determining how to value unconventional acreage is proving to be a diverse, complicated process, according to a new report.

Inspectors with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are on pace to find more cementing and casing violations in the Marcellus Shale than before, but a spokesman for the agency said the uptick is the result of tighter regulations, not an industry problem.