Conventional

Pennsylvania has a “well managed” and professional” regulatory program for oil and gas operations in the state, but should make four specific changes to how it regulates hydraulic fracturing (fracking), according to a report by the nonprofit State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations Inc. (Stronger).

Anti-fracking activists in the United Kingdom last week scored something of a win, forcing Staffordshire, England-based Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. to scale back conventional drilling operations in West Sussex on the advice of police worried about “direct action” by protesters who began a three-day demonstration last Sunday.

Almost half of the drilling in the U.S. onshore now is being done on multi-well pads, further moving attention from the rig and well count and more to horizontal footage drilled and the number of fractured stages per well, Halliburton Co. CEO Dave Lesar said Monday.

A wildfire along the Western Slope in Colorado south of Rangely in the Piceance Basin prompted Denver-based Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. to close 500 conventional natural gas wells in Rio Blanco County and evacuate an eight-worker plant. The shutdown was expected to continue at least through Friday, a Colorado-based Encana spokesperson told NGI.

Cardinal Midstream II LLC has secured a $200 million equity commitment from EnCap Flatrock Midstream to support midstream infrastructure development in conventional and unconventional resource plays, particularly in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Cardinal is focused on natural gas and crude oil gathering, compression and centralized production facilities, condensate stabilization, vapor recovery, and natural gas treating and processing. With the new commitment, Cardinal is led by CEO Doug Dormer and President Marc Lyons. Mark Ward has joined the company as COO. Ward has more than 30 years of engineering, operations and project management experience in the upstream and midstream.

Legislation to extend tax credits that support the conversion of conventional vehicles to run on cleaner fuels, such as natural gas, is awaiting the signature of Oklahoma’s governor after passage by the state House. The incentive, which covers about half the cost of converting a typical vehicle and three-quarters of the cost of establishing an alternative fueling station, will be extended until 2020. The incentives are expected to cost the state — a major natural gas producer — $1.5-2 million per year.

Halcon Resources Corp. is still figuring out the Utica/Point Pleasant play while it is making progress on well completions in the Bakken/Three Forks and adding acreage to its recently announced East Texas Eagle Ford play, CEO Floyd Wilson said Thursday.

President Obama’s $3.77 trillion budget for fiscal year (FY) 2014, unveiled Wednesday, for the fourth time seeks to repeal tax breaks for oil and natural gas producers. It also would tack on new fees for operations on federal lands and increase oil and gas royalties to fund renewable fuel development.

Seneca Resources Corp., the exploration and production subsidiary of National Fuel Gas Co., said Tuesday that six recently completed wells targeting the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania are among the most productive ever drilled in the play, according to initial test results.