Conventional

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) plans to raise fees it levies on operators of unconventional wells, but did not say by how much.

Implementing a law passed earlier this year by the state legislature, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) has adopted on an emergency basis long-lateral drilling rules that apply to all oil and natural gas formations in the state, not only unconventional plays.

Pennsylvania Republican state Sen. Scott Hutchinson circulated a memo last week seeking co-sponsors for legislation that would redraft the Oil and Gas Act of 1984 to clarify its language and address the current challenges facing legacy producers that operate under it.

The oil and natural gas sector continues to grapple with the commodity price rout, but the industry, and in particular Big Oil, is headed into a recovery leaner, more efficient and profitable as conventional exploration is increasingly eschewed, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd.

Unconventional natural gas wells tend to take longer to reach production but they may be almost three times as responsive as conventional gas wells, almost entirely because of higher productivity, an analysis has found.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s (AG) office has completed its review of a comprehensive package of environmental regulations for the state’s unconventional shale producers, bringing the rules one step closer to implementation.

It isn’t clear when the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will begin again with an overhaul of environmental regulations for the state’s ailing conventional industry after the General Assembly approved legislation last month to scrap a package that took more than five years to draft.

The oil and gas industry is adapting to sustained lower commodity prices, all to the good in the U.S. onshore, where the tight oil plays have become commercially viable at an oil price of under $60/bbl, Wood Mackenzie research has found.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolfon Thursday signed a bill into law that would allow new environmental regulations for shale oil and gas wells to move forward, and scrap a similar package for conventional wells. The general assembly passed the bill earlier this month (see Shale Daily,June 15). It took more than five years for the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to draft the rules. Legacy producers, trade groups and other stakeholders had accused the agency of crafting new regulations for conventional wells that would be unnecessary and too costly for the industry. Wolf signed SB 279 into law, which prevents the DEP from implementing the new regulations for conventional operations and establishes an advisory council to help the agency draw up new ones. The new shale regulations must still be reviewed by the state Attorney General’s office. Wolf also signed SB 1195, which allows the general assembly to review the DEP’s strategy for implementing the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan before it is submitted to theEnvironmental Protection Agency.