Depths

The dry gas Haynesville Shale will have its day again — when gas prices have a $5 handle — and Comstock Resources Inc. will be ready, management of the Frisco, TX-based producer told financial analysts Tuesday.

After a record-setting 2011, North Dakota continues to set all-time highs in oil and natural gas production, producing wells and rig counts, according to the latest statistics from the state’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).

A nonprofit organization that conducts reviews of state oil and natural gas regulations has concluded that North Carolina’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has experienced staff but is not adequately prepared to regulate oil and natural gas activities.

Encana Oil & Gas (USA), owner of a natural gas field in Pavillion, WY, that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claims is contaminated by chemicals used in production practices (including hydraulic fracturing, or fracking), has called on the agency to suspend the public comment period on a draft report issued in December.

While the debate over hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the Cumnock Formation stalls in the North Carolina General Assembly, two municipalities have taken steps to regulate the practice locally.

After weathering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s draft report late last week, which claimed that the groundwater in Pavillion, WY, contains chemicals that are normally used in natural gas production practices, such as hydraulic fracturing (fracking), Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc., a subsidiary of Encana Corp., went on offense Monday, noting that many of the EPA’s findings from its recent deep monitoring wells, including those related to any potential connection between fracking and Pavillion groundwater quality, “are conjecture, not factual, and only serve to trigger undue alarm.”

The groundwater in Pavillion, WY, contains chemicals that are normally used in natural gas production practices, such as hydraulic fracturing (fracking), according to a draft report released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Thursday.

Amid cries for Stronger safeguards regarding the public disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) on Monday put off for a week or more finalizing the state’s proposed new rules on disclosing fracking chemicals used in oil and gas shale fracking operations. COGCC heard more than 11 hours of testimony in Denver.

Natural gas found in North Texas water wells did not come from the Barnett Shale but rather the gas-bearing Strawn formation, which is closer to the surface, hearing examiners at the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) said in a report released Monday. If accepted by commissioners, the finding would exonerate Range Resources Corp., which had been accused of contaminating the wells with its Barnett drilling activities.