Drew

It’s been a year since Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s shareholders voted out most of the board of directors, chastised then CEO Aubrey McClendon and drew a line on corporate governance (see Daily GPI, June 11, 2012). Prized assets since have been sold, capital budgets have been cut, offices closed.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) ended three days of hearings in Denver Wednesday as it drew closer to finalizing new setback requirements for oil and natural gas wells, but it still fell short of finishing the unpopular and complex task.

Denver-based exploration and production (E&P) independent Venoco Inc. drew attention in a recent financial commentary citing the renewed oil/gas production in formerly depleted fields in and around Los Angeles as proof that E&P activity can coexist in heavily populated urban areas (see Daily GPI, July 8).

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

A ballot initiative to raise the Arkansas severance tax on natural gas production being promoted by former gas industry executive Sheffield Nelson recently drew a few more foes, according to the energy industry-backed anti-tax group Arkansans for Jobs & Affordable Energy (AJAE). The Association of Arkansas Counties (AAC), the Poultry Federation and the Northwest Arkansas Council recently signed on in opposition to the tax hike on producers. “…[O]ur association believes a natural gas severance tax increase would be harmful for Arkansas counties and for Arkansans,” said Chris Villines, executive director of the AAC.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is asking state lawmakers to hold firm on local zoning restrictions included in legislation to impose an impact fee on natural gas drillers.

Kinder Morgan Inc.’s (KMI) analyst day Wednesday drew the largest crowd CEO Rich Kinder said he’s ever seen at the event. Perhaps it was because of “some little acquisition we’ve been working on” (El Paso Corp.), he suggested. Even with lawyers keeping executives mostly mum on that item, shale gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) made for plenty to talk about.

Export of liquefied U.S. natural gas from the Gulf Coast drew another step closer to reality last week as Cheniere Energy Partners LP unit Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC said it had struck its second sale and purchase contract — with Gas Natural Aprovisionamientos, a unit of Gas Natural Fenosa.

Export of liquefied U.S. natural gas from the Gulf Coast drew another step closer to reality Monday as Cheniere Energy Partners LP unit Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC said it had struck its second sale and purchase contract — with Gas Natural Aprovisionamientos, a unit of Gas Natural Fenosa.