Completion

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) on Tuesday approved RRC staff-recommended revisions to proposed changes to commission rules governing casing, cementing, drilling and completion of wells; cathodic protection wells; and seismic holes and core holes. Changes were initially proposed in September in response to action by the Texas Legislature. The revised proposal for changes takes into account responses received by commission staff during a public comment period. The current 45-day public comment period will end at noon April 1. A public hearing is scheduled for 1:30 CST Feb. 21 at the RRC’s Austin office.

Devon Energy Corp. is selling its assets in the Utica Shale in eastern Ohio, part of a strategy to raise new venture capital so it can focus on opportunities in the Permian Basin, Mississippian Lime and the Niobrara formation.

Atlas Pipeline Partners LP said Monday it was accelerating the completion of a $200 million, 200 MMcf/d processing plant in West Texas and separately has signed a contract with SandRidge Energy Inc., the partnership’s largest producer customer in the Mississippian Lime.

Elected officials in the Town of Chenango, NY, voted 3-2 to reject a moratorium on local ordinances that, if enacted, would have delayed permitting for oil and natural gas activities, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking), within the Broome County town’s limits.

An expansion of Seaway Crude Oil Pipeline is nearing completion and will increase capacity from about 150,000 b/d to about 400,000 b/d, said Seaway Crude Oil Pipeline LLC, a joint venture of Enterprise Products Partners and Enbridge Inc. Seaway suspended service on its 500-mile, 30-inch diameter pipeline to complete the remaining pump station connections. Service is expected to resume by Jan. 11. In addition to the pipeline that transports crude oil from Cushing, OK, to the Gulf Coast, the Seaway system is composed of a terminal and distribution network originating in Texas City, TX, which serves refineries locally and in the Houston area. The Seaway system also includes dock facilities at Freeport and Texas City. Further expansion of the system is planned to be completed in 2014 (see Shale Daily, March 28, 2012).

During an earnings conference call Tuesday, analysts peppered the management of Fort Worth, TX-based Quicksilver Resources Inc. with questions about efforts to establish a joint venture (JV) in the Horn River Basin and take a partner in the Barnett Shale, but executives were tight-lipped, not wanting to disclose details of talks.

Natural gas well completions in 3Q2012 were down considerably from a year ago, according to the American Petroleum Institute’s latest well completion report, which indicated that 2,209 gas wells were completed in the period, a 35% decline from y3Q2011; oil well completions rose by 18% to 8,580. “The oil and natural gas industry expanded oil drilling in the third quarter…thanks in large part to access on private and state lands,” said Hazem Arafa, director of API’s statistics department. Overall, well completions — including oil and gas wells — maintained high levels from a year ago, with 12,291 wells completed during the third quarter, according to the API report. Total exploratory well completions in the third quarter remained the same (700 wells), and total footage drilled rose 3% to 91.985 million feet.

Two legislators in Ohio, well-known foes of shale development, have introduced a pair of bills designed to reverse a gag order that they say prevents medical personnel from doing their jobs as it relates to providing chemical information about hydraulic fracture (frack) fluids.

The United States likely will add 11 Bcf/d of natural gas to its reserves this year at total finding, development and completion costs under $3.00/Mcf, while a review of 45,000 unconventional oil wells is finding “tremendous” growth in oil reserves, preliminary IHS Inc. data indicate.