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Chesapeake Energy Corp. transferred nearly 1,100 oil and natural gas leases in and around an underground natural gas storage field in Columbiana County, OH, to Hilcorp Energy Co. in February.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) independent Science Advisory Board (SAB) has formed a Hydraulic Fracturing Research Advisory panel of independent experts to peer review the EPA’s 2014 draft report of results for its national study on potential health and environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources. EPA said the SAB panel will provide scientific feedback on EPA’s research in “an open and transparent manner.”

The Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGA) has submitted 119 pages of comments to the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), just before the deadline to comment on the proposed rules governing high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF).

The Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGA) has submitted 119 pages of comments to the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), just before the deadline to comment on the proposed rules governing high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF).

The petrochemical industry in the United States is poised for a “spectacular comeback,” thanks to an abundant supply of feedstock from shale reserves, industry analysts with GlobalData said Monday.

Three key lawmakers in New York say one month isn’t long enough for the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to receive public comments on proposed rules governing high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF), and they are asking the agency for an extension.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) said Tuesday it sold 13 of 16 available parcels in an oil and natural gas lease sale in the Green River District in east-central Utah.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Friday extended by two months the deadline for comments on initial and variation margin requirements for uncleared swaps. The comment period was to close on July 11, but it has been extended until to Sept. 14.

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is seeking stakeholder comments on eight planned lease sales scheduled in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) over the next five years, excluding Lease Sale 229 in the Western GOM and Lease Sale 227 in the Central GOM because information for those sales has been completed. In late June Interior Secretary Ken Salazar issued the final version of the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017, which includes 10 potential lease sales (see NGI, July 2) and BOEM now is asking stakeholders for information about potential leasing and development of these areas, including geological, environmental and biological conditions; archaeological resources, socioeconomic factors and potential concerns about conflicts with other uses. BOEM also is initiating the next stage of environmental and socioeconomic analysis for Western GOM Lease Sale 233 and Central GOM Lease Sale 231, proposed for 2013 and 2014, respectively, by publishing a notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement to build on the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for the Western and Central GOM lease sales. The FEIS provides baseline analysis in support of 10 lease sales scheduled in the Central and Western GOM, and it evaluates baseline conditions and potential environmental effects of leasing, exploration and development in those two offshore regions.