Driller

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has ordered a local gas driller to stop operations after discovering natural gas and other contaminants in nearby private water supplies.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. on Thursday completed the sale of its Fayetteville Shale properties to a subsidiary of Australia’s BHP Billiton Ltd.

More shale rigs and higher dayrates lifted the latest quarterly earnings of U.S. land-based driller Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (PTEN), which last week topped Wall Street’s forecasts.

Still stinging from the nationalization last month of 11 idled rigs in Venezuela, contract driller Helmerich & Payne Inc. looked on the bright side Thursday, announcing plans to build nine new rigs for U.S. deployment along with its third fiscal quarter results, which took a hefty hit from a Venezuela-related charge.

Driller Nabors Industries Ltd. said last week it expects its results for the third quarter to be lower than current analyst consensus estimates due to operational and other factors.

Driller Nabors Industries Ltd. said Friday it expects its results for the third quarter to be lower than current analyst consensus estimates due to operational and other factors.

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Texas oil and natural gas well driller Patterson-UTI Drilling Co. for several violations and has proposed penalties totaling $47,600 for allegedly failing to protect employees from hazardous working conditions.

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Texas oil and natural gas well driller Patterson-UTI Drilling Co. for several violations and has proposed penalties totaling $47,600 for allegedly failing to protect employees from hazardous working conditions.

Nabors Industries Ltd., the largest land driller in the world, “recently” has begun to see a weakening in several of its U.S. Lower 48 operating areas and is uncertain how much it may affect industry rig counts and rates, CEO Gene Isenberg said last week. A “significant” reduction in spot market rates is likely in some areas, although he said any contraction in North American natural gas drilling is likely to be “shallow and brief.”