Chesapeake

Atlas Resource Partners LP (ARP) has entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with subsidiaries of Canada’s Equal Energy Ltd. in the core area of the Mississippian Lime, a formation in Oklahoma and Kansas rich in oil and natural gas liquids (NGL).

Data gathered from 30 large domestic natural gas producers indicate that the U.S. inventory of gas reserves has grown to about 300 Tcf, according to a new report from the American Gas Association (AGA). That estimate, based in large part on new discoveries in shale plays, shatters the previous domestic reserves record of 293 Tcf, which was recorded in 1967.

While its investments with Chesapeake Energy Corp. in Barnett and Utica shale gas and oil plays have been widely publicized, Paris-based Total SA also is quietly investing in a major research and development (R&D) project looking at in-ground ways to develop oil shale, an unrealized dream of energy independence that the industry and some policymakers have flirted with for decades.

Plains All American Pipeline (PAA) plans to build a 170-mile pipeline between Alfalfa County, OK, and its Cushing, OK, storage facility to service increasing Mississippi Lime crude oil production in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas, the Houston-based company said.

Tulsa-based midstream company Caballo Energy LLC is targeting the Mississippi Lime of Oklahoma and Kansas, and the Cana Woodford Shale with its acquisition of Eagle Chief Midstream LLC, which owns a gas gathering and processing system in northwestern Oklahoma.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has fined Talisman Energy USA Inc. $51,478 for a well control incident that prompted the company to shut down all North American hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) operations in early 2011.

Elected officials in Cecil Township, PA, voted unanimously on Monday to adopt changes to two of its ordinances governing Marcellus Shale development but are still waiting to hear if Range Resources Corp. will drop a lawsuit it filed against them in October over the changes.

FERC Monday issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) of Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s Northeast Upgrade Project, which when combined with the 300 Line expansion that recently went into service, will add 1 Bcf/d of capacity to transport gas from the Marcellus Shale basin to Northeast markets.

Range Resources Corp. has filed suit against a Pennsylvania township, alleging that the municipality violated state meetings law by not giving proper notice before making sweeping, prohibitive changes to its Marcellus Shale drilling ordinance.