Colombia

North Dakota passed another oil production milestone in November, averaging more than a half-million b/d, according to preliminary data released Tuesday by the state Industrial Commission.

Seeing no increase in natural gas prices, Talisman Energy Inc. is closing in on liquids in 2012.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has granted Empire Pipeline Inc. a certificate authorizing it to proceed with a pipeline expansion in Pennsylvania and New York that would enable Marcellus Shale production to be shipped northward on the Empire system. The certificate authorizes Empire to construct, operate and replace about 15 miles of 24-inch diameter pipeline to extend the Empire Connector Pipeline, an interconnection with the facilities of Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., and modifications to an existing compressor station to permit bidirectional flow on Empire’s system. Empire is a subsidiary of New York-based National Fuel Gas.

Federal agencies and the natural gas industry should provide communities newly affected by shale drilling activity with the kind of research needed to better understand those affects, according to Christopher Smith, the Department of Energy’s deputy assistant secretary for oil and natural gas.