Dakota

ProWater, a Sustainable Environmental Technologies Corp. (SET) subsidiary, said Wednesday it has started drilling a new saltwater disposal (SWD) well in North Dakota’s portion of the Bakken Shale and will test a new automated system to support shale oil drilling in the play.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Thursday approved four key energy nominations: Tony Clark, former chairman of the North Dakota Public Service Committee, to sit on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; FERC Commissioner John Norris for a full five-year term on the Commission ending mid-2017; Adam Sieminski, former chief energy economist for Deutsche Bank, to be administrator of the Energy Information Administration; and Marcilynn Burke to be assistant secretary of the Department of Interior with oversight of the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement. Burke’s nomination was sent to the Senate floor for confirmation, despite the fact that all Republicans on the committee voted against it, a Republican aide said. He noted that a Republican hold could be placed on Burke’s nomination on the Senate floor.

Colorado School of Mines, Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and the University of Texas at Austin (UT) on Thursday launched a shale natural gas and oil training development initiative, which initially would be funded with separate $1 million grants from ExxonMobil Corp. and GE.

Exploration and field development in the largest continuous shale oil play in the Lower 48 states, the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and Montana, will be guided by new geo-models developed with funding from the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE).

The Federal Reserve Board took notice of an expanding shale gas industry in parts of the country as the national economy grew at a moderate pace, according to a report released Wednesday.

Countering recent reports that drilling activity in the Bakken Shale play in North Dakota was being cut back, an analyst with Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) told NGI’s Shale Daily Monday that drilling and production was still “full steam ahead,” although margins may compress some next year.

Linn Energy LLC has agreed to acquire Midcontinent oil and gas properties primarily in the Granite Wash of Texas and Oklahoma from Plains Exploration & Production Co. (PXP) for $600 million.

Natural gas production in the northeastern United States has grown rapidly since 2009, thanks to increased drilling in the Marcellus Shale, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Tuesday.

June’s flood in and around the Bakken Shale play in North Dakota has been a setback for all the producers in the area, but it may not be as devastating as earlier reports indicated, MDU Resources Group Inc. senior executives said Tuesday during a second quarter earnings conference call.