Director

MSC also released a longer video on social media channels and is asking viewers to submit their questions about natural gas production and use. The video includes a series of clips from a variety of news programs detailing the economic benefits of developing the Marcellus Shale.

Rara Terra Minerals Corp. has reportedly acquired a 75% working interest in oil and natural gas leases in Trego County, KS, for $393,750.

Agreements carved out by the small Front Range Colorado town of Erie have added to the state’s rules covering hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and could serve as a model for other local jurisdictions. The state, however, maintains the exclusive right of enforcement.

The head of Wyoming’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is retiring, and Gov. Matt Mead said on Monday that he is starting a search for a replacement. DEQ Director John Corra, who has headed the department for two different governors since 2003, will stay on the job until October. Mead lauded Corra for setting “a standard for effective and balanced regulation with fiscal prudence.” Mead has asked for interested candidates to submit a letter of interest and resume to his office (2090 W. 24th St. Cheyenne, WY, 82002).

Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. named a new executive vice president/CFO, Cynthia Walker, a managing director with Goldman, Sachs & Co. Walker starts her new job Aug. 6, replacing James Lienert, who will move to the position of executive vice president for business support after two years as CFO. Walker has had a 12-year career with Goldman Sachs, during which she advised clients on energy industry transactions as a senior member of the natural resources group based in Houston. She also was a member of Goldman’s mergers and acquisitions group.

Maryland’s portion of the Marcellus Shale may be limited to only the two westernmost counties, but development would benefit the entire state, the executive director of the Maryland Petroleum Council (MPC) told an audience in Hagerstown, MD.

The first four in a series of 10 short films on energy from the director and producer of “Haynesville: A Nation’s Hunt for an Energy Future” (see Shale Daily, Nov. 23, 2010) debuted at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado this week.

Asia will represent the “lion’s share” of natural gas demand growth in the coming years, Royal Dutch Shell plc’s Marvin Odum, director of the America’s upstream business, told a Washington, DC, audience last week.

Asia will represent the “lion’s share” of natural gas demand growth in the coming years, Royal Dutch Shell plc’s Marvin Odum, director of the company’s America’s upstream business, told a Washington, DC, audience last week.