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The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday the number of drilling rigs active in the Utica Shale during the last week of October had more than doubled compared with the same week in 2011, with an increase in rigs targeting oil more than offsetting the loss of natural gas rigs.

The Marcellus Shale is a “solidly economic” shale play that could play a big role in liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the United States to Europe and Asia, but regulatory hurdles, stiff competition and market forces are all significant obstacles, according to two energy industry experts.

By 2021, the Eagle Ford Shale could produce nearly $62.1 billion in output, support about 82,600 full-time jobs, add nearly $34 billion in gross regional product and about $888 million to local government revenues and $1.6 billion to state revenues, according to a new studies of 14 South Texas counties comprising the Eagle Ford area.

EFL Overseas Inc. (EFLO) has acquired from Nahanni Energy Inc. additional rights and interests in the Liard Basin natural gas field and facilities in the Kotaneelee area of the Yukon Territory, the Houston-based company said.

One of the seven Pennsylvania municipalities that sued over the legality of Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law, is now considering changes to its local drilling ordinance to comply with the measure, a move intended to help it collect more than half a million dollars in impact fee revenue.

A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to fine an energy company for a 2010 fire could be the first time federal and state regulators have levied fines for the same incident in the Marcellus Shale.

A legislator in the Pennsylvania General Assembly on Monday said the state Public Utility Commission’s (PUC) decision to withhold nearly $1 million in impact fee revenue from four townships amounted to extortion.

Anyone familiar with the Eagle Ford Shale shouldn’t be surprised that U.S. Capital Advisors analyst Cameron Horowitz would title his latest note on the play “South Texas Swagger.”

A legacy shale play in south-central Oklahoma geographically similar to the Bakken, Marcellus and Eagle Ford shales could add 1.8 million boe to Continental Resources Inc. reserves in the next few years, the management team disclosed last week.