Domestic

Increased domestic natural gas supplies and infrastructure, coupled with lower gas price volatility, has led Oneok Inc. to announce that it will discontinue its energy services segment and release its nonaffiliated, third-party gas transportation and storage contracts to interested parties.

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) amended its oil and gas well construction requirements rule (Statewide Rule 13) to clarify requirements related to casing, cementing, drilling, well control and completions. The changes take effect Jan. 1, 2014 and apply to any wells drilled on or after that date.

The recent approval of a second license to export domestic liquefied natural gas (LNG) to non-free trade agreement (FTA) nations includes language that supports the disputed exports as being in the public interest, Sempra Energy CEO Debra Reed said at an investor conference Thursday in New York City.

Tony Clark may have traded in his state regulator’s hat for a seat at FERC, but he has not changed his opinion that states are better equipped to oversee the regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) than the federal government.

A flat domestic natural gas rig count, combined with an eroding storage overhang, provide opportunities for U.S. gas prices and related operators to trade higher this year, according to BMO Capital Markets Dan McSpirit and Phillip Jungwirth. Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA) also expects higher gas prices on average, but coal may regain some of the market this summer.

In another plan for getting shale-driven domestic crude oil supplies in the central United States to the West Coast, Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies on Monday formed a joint venture to develop and operate a new rail shipment-linked 120,000 b/d unloading and marine loading facility at Port of Vancouver, WA, across the Columbia River from Portland, OR.

With the federal government continuing to drag its feet on applications for exporting domestic liquefied natural gas (LNG) — and President Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Energy (DOE) hedging his bets on the issue — some industry officials contend that regulatory agencies may not be the best place to decide how many of those facilities should operate.

The U.S. onshore rig count currently is “trendless,” but there’s hope for some direction in first quarter reports by three of the top domestic oilfield services providers, Schlumberger Ltd., Baker Hughes Inc. and Halliburton Co., according to Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Inc. (TPH).

With the federal government continuing to drag its feet on applications for exporting domestic liquefied natural gas (LNG) — and President Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Energy (DOE) hedging his bets on the issue — some industry officials contend that regulatory agencies may not be the best place to decide how many of those facilities should operate.