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Legislators and regulators in New York are hinting that should high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) be permitted in the Empire State, localities that are the most receptive to the practice may be the first — and, possibly, the only — areas to allow it.

A ballot initiative to raise the Arkansas severance tax on natural gas production being promoted by former gas industry executive Sheffield Nelson recently drew a few more foes, according to the energy industry-backed anti-tax group Arkansans for Jobs & Affordable Energy (AJAE). The Association of Arkansas Counties (AAC), the Poultry Federation and the Northwest Arkansas Council recently signed on in opposition to the tax hike on producers. “…[O]ur association believes a natural gas severance tax increase would be harmful for Arkansas counties and for Arkansans,” said Chris Villines, executive director of the AAC.

New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joseph Martens said there currently is no timeline for a decision on whether hydraulic fracturing (fracking) will be permitted in the Empire State’s portions of the Marcellus and Utica shales, but he predicted a long summer of work ahead.

It may take some time before fewer drilling rigs and curtailed output make a dent in domestic onshore natural gas production. Dry gas production skyrocketed 11.6% in January from a year earlier to 2,047 Bcf gross, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.

Davy Jones, considered one of the biggest natural gas discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico’s shallow waters, faces several weeks of delay before commercial production begins after operator McMoRan Exploration Co. reported that a blockage has prevented a measurable flow rate in the first well.

Southern Natural Gas Co. LLC (SNG) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the green light to abandon nearly 20 miles of pipeline and associated facilities in Alabama to comply with a correction action order issued by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to address the hazards associated with wrinkle bends, which led to a failure on SNG’s system in 2009.

Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corp. eschewed all talk on Wednesday that its North American onshore properties are anything but stellar by announcing a $1 billion increase to the 2012 capital spending budget, with nearly all of the money to be focused on exploration efforts in the company’s in-house unconventional portfolio.

California lawmakers are rekindling an effort that died last year to place chemical disclosure requirements on oil and natural gas producers that use hydraulic fracturing (fracking) well stimulation.

A quartet of nominees for positions at FERC, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Interior Department appeared before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday to answer questions about hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and other issues as part of their confirmation process.