Division

California regulators are looking for a new head of the state’s reorganized Consumer Protection and Safety Division (CPSD) in response to recommendations from an independent review panel that called for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to change the way it oversees natural gas pipeline safety in the wake of last year’s devastating pipeline rupture in San Bruno, CA. The CPUC is looking nationwide for a new CPSD director.

Calgary-based Ensign Energy Services Inc. is boosting its services in the U.S. onshore through an agreement to acquire Rowan Cos. Inc.’s land drilling division for US$510 million in cash.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has granted Empire Pipeline Inc. a certificate authorizing it to proceed with a pipeline expansion in Pennsylvania and New York that would enable Marcellus Shale production to be shipped northward on the Empire system. The certificate authorizes Empire to construct, operate and replace about 15 miles of 24-inch diameter pipeline to extend the Empire Connector Pipeline, an interconnection with the facilities of Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., and modifications to an existing compressor station to permit bidirectional flow on Empire’s system. Empire is a subsidiary of New York-based National Fuel Gas.

New Jersey wants the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to ultimately oversee the approval process for natural gas well sites in the river basin, and is calling for a strict limit to the initial number of production wells to be drilled once it adopts regulations on hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking).

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) signed the 2011 Shale Reservoir Development Act into law on Wednesday. The measure is designed to protect stakeholders, clarifies the jurisdiction of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) and modifies the state’s oil and gas laws to address advances in technology.

The pace of development at Encana Corp. was hampered in 2010 by low natural gas prices, but farm-ins, partnerships and joint ventures (JV) similar to the $5.4 billion transaction with an affiliate of PetroChina International Ltd. will help the company double its production growth over the next five years, CEO Randy Eresman said Thursday.

Pittsburgh-based Consol Energy Inc. said its natural gas division achieved record quarterly production of 36.2 Bcf for the quarter ended Dec. 31. This was 44% higher than the 25.1 Bcf produced in the year-ago period. For the year, the company produced 127.9 Bcf, eclipsing 2009’s record production of 94.4 Bcf by 35%, the company said. Consol said it will update its gas production forecast in conjunction with the release of its 2011 capital budget on Jan. 27.

North Dakota’s oil patch accounted for less than 1% of total U.S. crude oil production three years ago, but today the state is pumping close to 6% of total crude output, thanks to the formidable Bakken-Three Forks shale region, the state’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) is reporting.

Arguments are scheduled Wednesday (Dec. 8) in a Alaska Superior Court to hear Senate Republican candidate Joe Miller’s lawsuit challenging the state of Alaska and the state’s Division of Election’s criteria for counting write-in ballots, which made incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) the apparent winner in the U.S. Senate elections last month.