Drilling

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) said Friday the Oct. 21 meeting for commissioners to consider draft natural gas development regulations has been postponed by one month.

Joseph Martens, who directs the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), is scheduled to answer questions from the public from 9-10 a.m. EDT on Saturday about natural gas drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing on CitizensConnect, a website created by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to promote communication with his administration. DEC spokeswoman Emily DeSantis said all questions to Martens would be welcomed. “This is an important issue with great public interest. Commissioner Martens is happy to engage with the public about it.” Questions may be submitted online before Saturday.

November natural gas weakened again Friday as traders digested reports of additional drilling for natural gas and a production dynamic that continues to point to greater output. At the close November had fallen 8.1 cents to $3.666 and December had given up 5.3 cents to $3.962. November crude oil retreated $2.94 to $79.20/bbl.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) plans to hold a special meeting on Oct. 21 to act on draft natural gas drilling regulations, according to Executive Director Carol R. Collier. The proposed regulations would protect water resources of the Delaware River Basin when gas projects are developed and in operation. The DRBC received close to 69,000 comments on the draft rules, which originally were published in December (see Shale Daily, Dec. 10, 2010). The meeting, open to the public, is to be held from 1-3 p.m. in the Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive, Trenton, NJ. A public hearing at the meeting is not planned.

Seeking gas gathering capacity for its joint venture exploration and production operations in the Marcellus Shale, Ontario-based Epsilon Energy Ltd. said it has entered an agreement with its partners Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Statoil USA Onshore Properties Inc. to construct a new gathering system.

Production data issued by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Tuesday — which indicated that increased drilling in the Marcellus Shale has been the leading force in the growth of natural gas production in the northeastern United States — combined with a recent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report, demonstrates that the Marcellus Shale is hardly the shrinking violet some mainstream media reports have claimed, according to the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC).

Royal Dutch Shell plc and Ukraine’s state-owned oil company Naftogaz Ukrainy appear poised to clinch a deal to develop and explore shale gas in the eastern European country, with Shell initially investing about $800 million for exploration and production (E&P), according to a top Ukrainian official.

Natural gas production in the northeastern United States has grown rapidly since 2009, thanks to increased drilling in the Marcellus Shale, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Tuesday.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has filed an emergency rule regarding Marcellus Shale drilling, following through on Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s executive order from July mandating regulatory changes.