Continuing

Federal regulators, working with Walter Oil & Gas Corp., said Friday they were continuing to oversee and coordinate response efforts to secure the producer’s South Timbalier Block 220 natural gas well in the shallow Gulf of Mexico (GOM), which blew out last Tuesday and ignited a fire later that night.

Continuing to fetch higher per-acre prices, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) took in $49.8 million last Wednesday, selling 87 leases totaling 19,015 acres in North and South Dakota, the BLM Billings, MT, office said. South Dakota had the most activity.

Environmental groups, the Edison Electric Institute and large natural gas end-users were quick to commend the Senate’s confirmation Thursday of Gina McCarthy as head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but oil and natural gas companies were apparently following the rule, “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”

A coalition of landowners in Wayne County, PA, is threatening to file a lawsuit against the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) over a continuing delay in either enacting natural gas regulations in the basin or deferring regulation to its four member states (see related story).

The compressed natural gas (CNG) sector has seen no shortage of supporters, with continuing interest in new fleet orders, technology advancements in fuel tank design and governmental/utility initiatives, as witnessed at the recent Alternative Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in Washington, DC.

A coalition of landowners in Wayne County, PA, is threatening to file a lawsuit against the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) over a continuing delay in either enacting natural gas regulations in the basin or deferring regulation to its four member states.

As part of its continuing investigation into the rupture of a Columbia Gas Transmission pipeline in West Virginia in December, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has made more than 1,400 pages of documents on the pipeline explosion available to the public.

The physical natural gas cash market fell on average by 2 cents Wednesday as traders noted continuing weather-derived weakness at Northeast points. The Midwest was mixed and Gulf points eased a couple of pennies. The spot July contract was finally able to breach the $4.00 barrier and settled 0.3 cent higher at $4.001. August finished unchanged at $4.015, and July crude oil added 43 cents to $93.74/bbl.

Goodrich Petroleum Corp.’s Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) development is continuing, and the company has high hopes for the play. Meanwhile, it has returned to completing wells in the Haynesville Shale in anticipation of higher natural gas prices.