Delays

In an effort to avoid having to restart the process from square one, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will file for a 90-day extension on Thursday to finalize rules governing high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF).

Already planted firmly on the side of states’ rights advocates in the debate about regulating hydraulic fracturing (fracking), Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead said Thursday he thinks the Republican Party platform and presidential candidate Mitt Romney recognize that the states must play a key role in the nation’s energy policy.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has been downgraded again by Fitch Ratings, and on Monday two proxy services recommended against reelecting two directors at the annual meeting in June.

Following 30 years of declining oil output in the Lower 48 states, the United States now is well on its way to becoming energy independent — a structural supply shift that promises to reach well beyond oil and natural gas stocks, analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc. said in a note Monday.

Pennsylvania will end another year without an impact fee on natural gas drilling in the Marcellus and Utica shales.

The permitting delays in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) haven’t been a positive for most producers but for Apache Corp., they’ve actually been a benefit, CEO G. Steven Farris said last week.

The permitting delays in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) haven’t been a positive for most producers but for Apache Corp., they’ve actually been a benefit, CEO G. Steven Farris said Thursday.

The Interior Department on Monday extended 1,381 deepwater oil and natural gas drilling leases to compensate for delays caused by the Macondo well blowout and subsequent offshore drilling moratorium.

A Jefferies & Co. analyst this week cut his 2012 earnings forecasts and price targets by 30-50% for some of the biggest domestic onshore drillers and well service companies because he expects to see slower growth for oil and gas rigs.