Eagle

Although drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale has slowed and some producers have dropped rigs, there is enough of a drilling backlog that, if wells were brought online over a one-year period, production would continue to grow but at a slower pace, energy analysts with Barclays Capital said.

Hess Corp. won’t sell its unconventional assets in the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Utica shale plays, but it is looking at proposals from a hedge fund that wants a larger stake in the company, Hess officials said during a 4Q2012 earnings call on Wednesday.

Hess Corp. won’t sell its unconventional assets in the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Utica shale plays, but it is looking at proposals from a hedge fund that wants a larger stake in the company, Hess officials said during a 4Q2012 earnings call on Wednesday.

Plains All American Pipeline LP (PAA) has agreed to pay Chesapeake Energy Corp. $125 million for crude oil and condensate gathering assets in the Eagle Ford Shale. The acquired assets are complementary to and would be connected with PAA’s existing crude oil and condensate gathering systems. Included in the purchase are 40 miles of crude oil/condensate gathering pipelines with a throughput capacity of 50,000 b/d; 150,000 bbl of existing crude oil and condensate storage capacity; 300,000 bbl of storage capacity under construction; and a truck unloading terminal. Chesapeake agreed to provide long-term acreage dedications of future production from its South Texas leasehold in Webb and Dimmit counties.

Houston-based ZaZa Energy has completed drilling and casing its Eaglebine Stingray A-1H well in Walker County, TX, and said evaluation results are “very encouraging,” with estimates of 21 Bcf of gas and 29 million bbl of oil per section in place. ZaZa said it expects to begin hydraulic fracturing operations on Nov. 12, with initial production planned for late November.

Linde North America has upgraded its carbon dioxide (CO2) plants in Corpus Christi, TX, and Woodward, OK, to better serve the Midcontinent and Eagle Ford Shale regions with expanded CO2 availability. “Linde has brought these plants on stream to supply the surging demand for CO2 in the oil and gas industry,” said Lauren Porambo, CO2 product manager. “The use of CO2 in fracturing completions displaces the use of water, reduces formational damage and enhances well production.” CO2 is injected in a liquid state and converts to a gaseous state down-hole, mitigating formational damage and fluid on formation, while enhancing well clean-up and flow-back, Linde said. Conventional liquid pumps are used, so service companies require no specialized equipment.

A legacy shale play in south-central Oklahoma geographically similar to the Bakken, Marcellus and Eagle Ford shales could add 1.8 million boe to Continental Resources Inc. reserves in the next few years, the management team disclosed last week.

A U.S. flagged oil tanker arrived at the Port of Corpus Christi, TX, on Wednesday to load Eagle Ford Shale crude for transport to other U.S. ports. The Jones Act of 1920 requires that any goods moved by water from one U.S. port to another must be carried by a U.S. flagged ship. The M/V Pennsylvania passed by the Harbor Bridge gateway to the inner harbor Wednesday and docked at the port’s Oil Dock No. 1, the Corpus Christi Caller Times reported. It is the U.S. built tanker’s first visit to the Corpus Christi port.

With the natural gas price slump now being measured in terms of years instead of months, producers continue to pull rigs from dry gas unconventional plays to pursue oil targets, according to NGI’s Shale Daily Unconventional Rig Count.