Department

The chief of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ (ODNR) Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management (DOGRM) has issued a unitization order for Chesapeake Energy Corp. in Carroll County, putting forced pooling into effect for a second time in the emerging Utica Shale.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee plans to hold a hearing at 10 a.m. on April 9 to consider the nomination of Ernest Moniz to be secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE). Moniz would succeed current Energy Secretary Steven Chu (see Daily GPI, March 5). Moniz currently serves as science adviser in the administration and director of the MIT Energy Initiative. He is a familiar face to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, where he has testified on a variety of energy issues. Moniz has a reputation of being supportive of natural gas development, calling it a “bridge fuel” even as he has called for more funding for renewable energy. In 2010 he co-authored an MIT study that concluded that gas would be a leader in reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions over the next several decades, mostly by replacing older, inefficient coal plants with combined-cycle gas generation.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has upheld a lower court’s ruling supporting the Interior Department’s arguments that it is not required to immediately issue leases to oil and natural gas producers following purchases.

Workers brought a malfunctioning natural gas well in Wyoming County, PA, under control on Thursday, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

The Ohio Oil and Gas Commission has scheduled a hearing for D&L Energy Inc.’s motion for stay of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ (ODNR) decision to shut the company down after oilfield waste was dumped illegally in late January.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has upheld a lower court’s ruling supporting the Interior Department’s arguments that it is not required to immediately issue leases to oil and natural gas producers following purchases.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has updated several maps and data charts for the Utica Shale and Point Pleasant formation, including one map showing the weight of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) that could be used by operators to decide where to drill in the future.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) ordered Noble Energy Inc. to cease operations and regain control of an impoundment pit in Marshall County after thousands of gallons of drilling wastewater spilled into a waterway in February.

Cheniere Energy Inc. unit Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC has applied to the U.S. Department of Energy to export additional volumes from its planned terminal in Cameron Parish, LA. Sabine Pass is seeking authorization to export to both free trade agreement (FTA) and non-FTA countries the equivalent of 101 Bcf per year in support of a contract it struck last December with Total Gas & Power North America Inc. (see Daily GPI, Dec. 18, 2012). The term of the 20-year agreement begins upon the first commercial delivery for the project’s fifth train and has an extension option of up to 10 years. However, Sabine Pass said it is not obligated to serve the Total contract from train five and may use whatever capacity is available at the facility. Recently, Sabine Pass and related companies filed at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to set in motion the approval process for the project’s fifth and sixth trains (see Daily GPI, March 7).