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With only a few days left before the Pennsylvania General Assembly recesses for the year, some groups are calling on lawmakers to pass an impact fee on Marcellus Shale development now, while others are criticizing the bills currently on the table.

Rex Energy Corp. is reporting results from its first Utica Shale test well that exceed initial results from a Chesapeake Energy Corp. well drilled nearby earlier this year.

Northeast Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale producers got some relief from sagging prices when El Paso Corp.’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. placed its long-awaited 300 Line forward-haul expansion in service, increasing capacity on the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) system by 350 MMcf/d, a nearly 50% boost.

The Pittsburgh City Council voted 6-3 on Monday to add a referendum to the fall ballot that, if approved by voters, would amend the city charter with a ban on all commercial natural gas extraction inside the city limits.

Southcross Energy has acquired from Tauber Pipeline LLC about 58 miles of 6-, 8-, 10- and 12-inch diameter natural gas pipelines in San Patricio and Refugio counties in South Texas, the Dallas-based midstream company said Tuesday. Terms were not released.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly won’t tackle a tax or fee on Marcellus Shale development during budget talks this summer, but will most likely return to the topic in the fall.

In the wake of a well blowout last month in the Marcellus Shale, a Pennsylvania Senate committee has approved a bill (SB 995) that would require companies to provide to state and local authorities detailed emergency contact information for all of their wells in the state.

Australia’s Eureka Energy Ltd. recently agreed to acquire 3,975 net acres in Burleson and Washington counties, TX, within the eastern liquids-rich fairway of the Eagle Ford Shale. The acreage potentially is within the gas condensate window as well, the company said.

A suburban Pittsburgh regional park authority in Allegheny County, PA, voted Thursday to sign a five-year, non surface lease with a Pittsburgh land brokerage firm that could lead to Marcellus drilling under the one park the authority runs. The agreement still needs to be approved by four of the five communities that the authority represents.