Eagle Ford

Chesapeake Energy Corp., which has faced multiple lawsuits across the country regarding alleged royalty underpayments, now is facing allegations that it cheated landowners in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas of more than $9.4 million.

As it looks to protect its balance sheet in 2016, SM Energy Co. will focus its drilling and completion activity on the Permian Basin “to the maximum extent possible,” shifting to an oilier mix as it weathers the downturn in commodity prices.

Penn Virginia Corp. (PVA) interim CEO Edward Cloues on Tuesday told analysts following the company that he’s a believer in its future and the Eagle Ford Shale-focused producer will make it out the other side of the commodity price collapse.

Forest Oil Corp. struck a $1 billion deal to sell oil and gas assets in the Texas Panhandle to Templar Energy LLC as part of a deleveraging program that will allow the company to focus on the Eagle Ford Shale. One analyst called the sale a positive, but investors booed and sent Forest shares tumbling on Friday.

AnEOG Resources Inc.Eagle Ford Shale well that experienced a well control incident Wednesday was still burning Friday morning although the fire had diminished, the company said. There were no reports of injuries as a result on the incident in Lavaca County, TX, and all rig personnel were safely evacuated and accounted for, EOG said.Wild Well Controlwas contracted to assist in the response effort. The company said it was too early to determine the cause.

While earlier research in Texas’ Barnett Shale linked drilling waste injection into underground storage wells with increased seismic activity, new work in the Eagle Ford by the same geologist suggests that drawing liquids out of the ground can induce earthquakes there.

Liquids-rich and oil plays have clearly won the hearts and dollars of North American producers. The Eagle Ford and Bakken shales are stars now, but several others are poised to join or possibly eclipse them, according to a recent note by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P).

Spectra Energy Transmission’s Texas Eastern Transmission announced an expansion to serve industrial markets in South Louisiana by Spring 2015 with shale gas supplies from multiple basins. An open season runs through Sept. 27.

Big Oil’s attempt to take over the North American onshore from U.S. independents so far hasn’t paid off as some would have imagined just a few years ago, with the majors still struggling to capture the kind of profits and production results they may have been anticipating.