Controls

Consol Energy has drilled its first Upper Devonian Shale well, in Greene County, PA, with results that bode well for the 300,000 acres it controls with commercial Upper Devonian potential.

The “threat of regulatory overreach” in not allowing liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports “is tantamount to introducing price controls on natural gas,” ExxonMobil Chemical Co. President Stephen Pryor said last week, directly countering the campaign of another chemicals giant, Dow Chemical Co., which has been heavily lobbying to protect its domestic feedstocks.

The “threat of regulatory overreach” in not allowing liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports “is tantamount to introducing price controls on natural gas,” ExxonMobil Chemical Co. President Stephen Pryor said Tuesday, directly countering the campaign of another chemicals giant, Dow Chemical Co., which has been heavily lobbying to protect its domestic feedstocks.

Williams, which controls a bevy of natural gas pipeline and midstream assets from the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) into Canada, saw its profits upended last year in part because of the big decline in liquids prices, especially for ethane and propane. However, CEO Alan Armstrong is looking toward the future based on “continued high demand for energy infrastructure” in North America, “from power generation to petrochemical manufacturing.”

Thanks to Pennsylvania air quality regulations and the “increased use of natural gas in the power generation sector,” Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Mike Krancer said air pollution has “gone down considerably” within the state since 2008, even as the unconventional production of shale oil and gas ramped up.

Consol Energy Inc. said Monday that although it reported lower natural gas production for 3Q2012 compared to one year ago, the figure was misleading because of reporting adjustments and its decision in September to idle a southern Virginia coal mine that produced associated gas.

EnerVest Ltd., the second biggest leaseholder in Ohio’s Utica Shale, plans to sell the majority of its property in several packages in hopes of fetching $6 billion or more.

Support is growing for the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) — a state government entity that controls an 8,000-square mile watershed covering about one-fifth of the state — to sell water for natural gas drilling in the Marcellus and Utica shales, albeit on a temporary basis.

Support is growing for the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) — a state government entity that controls an 8,000-square mile watershed covering about one-fifth of the state — to sell water for natural gas drilling in the Marcellus and Utica shales, albeit on a temporary basis.