Enough

Anyone familiar with the Eagle Ford Shale shouldn’t be surprised that U.S. Capital Advisors analyst Cameron Horowitz would title his latest note on the play “South Texas Swagger.”

Shale gas is a doubled-edged sword for power generators in the Mid-Atlantic region, supplying them with abundant, low-cost gas while at the same time putting pressure on an already over-taxed pipeline infrastructure, generators said Thursday at the fifth and final FERC conference on gas-power coordination issues.

Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Thursday unveiled an energy plan that he said would open more federal lands to oil and gas drilling and would make North America energy independent by 2020 — the final year of his second term in office — if he is elected this November.

Sunoco Logistics Partners LP said it has received enough binding commitments to enable Permian Express Phase I, a project to transport West Texas crude oil to Gulf Coast markets, to proceed. The binding open season continues and will close on Sept. 6. Permian Express Phase I would provide continuous pipeline service from Wichita Falls, TX, to Nederland/Beaumont, TX, markets. At Wichita Falls, a connection from Basin Pipeline would be provided. Due to the use of existing assets, the capacity to transport 90,000 b/d to Nederland/Beaumont is to be operational in the first quarter of 2013 (see Shale Daily, June 22).

Lower commodity prices weren’t enough to slow business at National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV), which reported a growing backlog of capital equipment orders and increased quarterly earnings compared with 2Q2011.

Lower commodity prices weren’t enough to slow business at National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV), which reported a growing backlog of capital equipment orders and increased quarterly earnings compared with 2Q2011.

As the Bakken and Eagle Ford shale plays have shown, oil and gas wells go up long before there are enough homes for all the workers who flock to the energy patch for high-paying jobs. A study released Tuesday intends to lay out a strategy for Eagle Ford counties in South Texas to meet regional housing needs over the next 10-15 years.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said it estimates that five Mesozoic shale basins along the East Coast collectively hold a mean of nearly 3.9 Tcf in undiscovered natural gas and 135 million bbl of undiscovered natural gas liquids (NGLs), according to an abstract released Wednesday.

Stimulating natural gas and oil production by hydraulically fracturing horizontal wells doesn’t pose a big risk for triggering earthquakes that are strong enough for a human to feel, but other types of energy-related activities could make the ground noticeably shake, according to the conclusions of major government science report released on Friday.