Counties

Fort Worth-based Quicksilver Resources Inc. reported 2010 net income of $435.1 million ($2.45/share) compared to a net loss of $557.5 million (minus $3.30 share) for 2009. The 2009 net loss was primarily attributable to a $656 million after-tax impairment charge on oil and gas properties. For 2010 production averaged 355.2 MMcfe/d, up 9% from 2009, primarily driven by higher volumes from the Barnett Shale. The 2010 production volumes were 79% natural gas, 20% natural gas liquids (NGL) and 1% crude oil and condensate. Sales of natural gas, NGLs and crude oil totaled $856.3 million, up about 7% from 2009, mainly due to a 9% increase in production coupled with increased realized prices for NGLs and crude oil, which were offset in part by lower gas prices. The company is active in the Barnett Shale of North Texas, The greater Green River Basin in Colorado and Wyoming and the Wind River Formation in Oklahoma, as well as in northwestern Montana, Alberta coalbed methane and the Horn River Basin in British Columbia.

An air quality study conducted near Marcellus Shale natural gas operations in northeastern Pennsylvania during four separate weeks last year found no emission levels that would constitute a concern to the health of residents living nearby, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said Monday.

Laflin, PA-based coal company Silverbrook Anthracite has leased approximately 1,635 acres for Marcellus Shale gas exploration in Lackawanna County, PA, to a Texas land services firm in what county officials are calling the largest such lease ever recorded in the northeastern Pennsylvania county.

Truck traffic on Pennsylvania roads that is generated by Marcellus Shale drilling operations has cost the state $30-35 million more than the industry is providing for road repairs, according to a report by the state’s Department of Transportation (DOT).

The borough council of Ford City, PA, about 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in Armstrong County, is considering a proposal from EXCO Resources Inc. to lease nearly 300 acres of borough land for Marcellus Shale gas drilling operations.

The legislature of Tompkins County — which is in west-central New York in the midst of the state’s Marcellus Shale area — has approved a resolution prohibiting the leasing of county-owned land for natural gas drilling that involves hydraulic fracturing (fracking) well stimulation.

Targa Resources Partners has signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding (MOU) for development of a pipeline to transport y-grade natural gas liquids (NGL) from processing facilities in the Eagle Ford Shale to Mont Belvieu, TX, and a new fractionation train at the Targa-operated Cedar Bayou fractionation facility (CBF).

Units of Enterprise Products Partners LP have struck 10-year agreements to provide midstream services for liquids-rich gas and crude oil production from the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the partnership said Monday.

Eagle Rock Energy Partners LP is buying gas gathering systems and related facilities primarily in Wheeler and Hemphill counties in the Texas Panhandle from CenterPoint Energy Field Services Inc. for $27.5 million, the partnership said Monday.