Conference

Arizona regulators opened a prehearing conference on a 4% general rate increase request by UNS Gas Inc., the UniSource Energy Corp. natural gas distribution utility in parts of Arizona. The Arizona Corporation Commission has scheduled evidentiary hearings to run through Feb. 17. UNS is asking for an annual revenue increase of $5.6 million, increasing its rate base to $254 million, effective May 1. Tucson, AZ-based UniSource Energy is the holding company for UniSource Energy Services, which provides gas and electric services to about 237,000 customers, along with Tucson Electric Power, which provides electricity to more than 400,000 customers in southern Arizona.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) used an energy conference as an opportunity to urge state legislators and regulators to come to an agreement on Marcellus Shale regulatory reform, but also took a swipe at federal officials and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

A unit of Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP plans to build a $90 million gathering system in northeastern Pennsylvania to connect Southwestern Energy Co. wells in the region to the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.’s (TGP) Line 300.

Consol Energy announced Wednesday that its plans to drill 70 wells in the Marcellus Shale play by the end of the year were slightly ahead of schedule, thanks to the 13 horizontal wells it drilled during 1Q2011.

Australian energy giant BHP Billiton Petroleum has become the latest international energy heavyweight to buy into U.S. shale plays with a transaction to acquire Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s Fayetteville Shale portfolio for $4.75 billion cash.

A Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) hearing intended to get to the bottom of the matter of whether the Barnett Shale gas drilling activities of Range Resources Corp. led to the contamination of two water wells in Parker County, TX, has been postponed to Jan. 18 from Monday (Jan. 10). In the meantime, one interested observer told Shale Daily that both research that condemns the company and other findings that would exonerate it are incomplete.

Quicksilver Resources Inc. set a new record for average daily production in a quarter, producing an average of more than 362 MMcfe/d in the third quarter, up 16.4% compared to about 311 MMcfe/d for the same period in 2009, the company said.

While prices are down, volatility as a percentage of price is not, she tells conference attendees.

BP plc and its worldwide team of experts had been preparing for a lot of good fun at this year’s annual Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), held last week in Houston.