Eastern

BP plc plans to begin drilling the first of 10 appraisal wells in Trumbull County, OH, next April, but developing eastern Ohio’s portion of the Utica Shale may be hampered by a lack of pipeline infrastructure, officials said this week.

Gulfport Energy Corp. said Monday it has agreed to buy 30,000 net acres in the Utica Shale in eastern Ohio for approximately $300 million, a transaction that would boost the company’s position in the play to about 137,000 gross acres (99,000 net).

Big Sky Petroleum Corp. has acquired a 90% working interest in an initial lease block of more than 2,300 net operated acres on the eastern shelf of the southern Midland Basin in West Texas. The deal gives the Vancouver, BC-based company entry into the Wolfcamp/Wolfberry play.

Soaring Northeast cash prices were unable to offset a broader overall market decline averaging 11 cents Friday. Gulf and eastern points were especially hard hit. December futures fell 14.5 cents to $3.554 and January tanked 13.8 cents to $3.680. December crude oil fell $2.23 to $84.86/bbl.

The growth of the natural gas industry in the heart of Pennsylvania’s eastern Marcellus Shale helped the area avoid the worst of the 2008 recession, and the positive effects have only just begun, according to a study issued by the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development (IPPED).

FERC Thursday upheld its May order approving the New Jersey-New York Expansion Project, a 20-mile expansion of the company’s Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) and Algonquin Gas Transmission interstate pipeline systems (see Daily GPI, May 23).

FERC Thursday upheld a May order to approve the New Jersey-New York Expansion Project, a 20-mile expansion of the company’s Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) and Algonquin Gas Transmission interstate pipeline systems (see NGI, May 28).

Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) and Harvest Pipeline Co. have tentatively agreed to develop the capability to ship Utica Shale production from eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania by barge on the Ohio River.

FERC has to conduct a “vigorous and exhaustive” needs analysis for the proposed Constitution Pipeline before it allows the Marcellus-to-New York natural gas project to go forth, said an environmental law practice representing the grassroots coalition “Stop the Pipeline (STP).”