Early

The venerable Permian Basin in West Texas is in the “early innings” of an oil/gas renaissance that promises to be technology driven, riding the wave of horizontal drilling, which still represents only a quarter of Permian rig activity, according to a report released Monday by Houston-based financial services company U.S. Capital Advisors.

Goodrich Petroleum Corp. Wednesday confirmed that a recently drilled well in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) of Louisiana and Mississippi had an initial flow rate exceeding 1,000 boe/d.

A new investor presentation posted early Tuesday by Chesapeake Energy Corp. included a full-page statement by the company with the headline, “It’s been a tough five weeks, but better days ahead.” By Tuesday afternoon, the statement, originally the second page of the 32-page presentation, had been deleted with no explanation by the company.

A new investor presentation posted early Tuesday by Chesapeake Energy Corp. offered 32 pages of onshore production and financial numbers, as well as a full-page statement that opened the document with the headline, “It’s been a tough five weeks, but better days ahead.” By Tuesday afternoon the page, originally the second page of the 32-page presentation, had been deleted with no explanation.

FERC on Wednesday approved for early environmental review Sempra Global’s proposal to construct facilities to liquefy natural gas for export and expand a pipeline that serves the existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Hackberry, LA.

TransCanada Corp. has submitted a presidential permit application to the U.S. Department of State (DOS) for the Keystone XL Pipeline from the U.S.-Canada border in Montana to Steele City, NE. The company said it will supplement that application with an alternative route in Nebraska as soon as that route is selected.

FERC has approved a request of El Paso Natural Gas for an early environmental review of its proposed 60-mile lateral that would cross the U.S.-Mexican border to supply more gas to power generation facilities.

ConocoPhillips, which early this year curtailed about 100 MMcf/d of domestic natural gas, continues to shut in “around 9,000 boe/d” in North America’s onshore because of low gas prices and more may be curtailed following further evaluation, CFO Jeffrey Sheets said last week. Encana Corp. also said last week it was curtailing more onshore gas (see related story).

Betting that a shale gas industry may develop in the state in the future, the Illinois Senate on Thursday passed 54-0 a measure (SB 3280) to regulate hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which would require the disclosure of chemicals used in fracking operations.