Charged

The American Petroleum Institute (API) has joined a chorus of critics calling for greater oil and natural gas industry representation on a federal panel charged with reviewing the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) used to develop shale gas.

The mayor of Dallas has directed city council to form a Gas Drilling Task Force and appointed a former council member to lead the body.

While stakeholders were battling staff cuts in the New York state agency charged with permitting and oversight of oil and gas drilling, greater potential obstacles to development of the state’s Marcellus Shale fairway loomed with the installation Jan. 1 of the new Democratic state administration.

As producers continue to seek natural gas liquids- (NGL) charged returns, the focus on the wet areas of the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas grows. Meanwhile, dry gas holdings in the Haynesville Shale of North Louisiana are becoming a little less dear, at least for now.

As the president and executive director of the two-year-old Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), Kathryn Klaber is charged with addressing the needs and wants of the gas industry, the affected communities and stakeholders, as well as the different governing authorities across an area that extends 95,000 square miles over five states.

A former gas trader in Houston has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering arising from an alleged scheme to defraud several natural gas trading companies of nearly $7 million, according to a newly unsealed 19-count indictment.

A former gas trader in Houston has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering arising from an alleged scheme to defraud several natural gas trading companies of nearly $7 million, according to a newly unsealed 19-count indictment.

Citing a rare state unit’s budget surplus, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) last Thursday slashed by 80% the fees charged by its pipeline safety bureau. The PRC unit conducts pipeline and facility safety inspections and helps enforce state and federal regulations for oil and natural gas pipelines.

Natural gas futures bulls saw the red of the matador’s cape Tuesday morning and charged, driving the October contract well past the heights of Monday’s rally. However, almost all of the day’s gains were given back in the last hour of the regular session as the prompt-month contract closed at $3.320, up only 2.3 cents from Monday’s finish.