Ensure

Chesapeake Energy Corp. plans to sell stakes in at least three more onshore U.S. shale plays, CEO Aubrey McClendon told energy analysts Friday, and at the same time he claimed a leadership position for the company in the new natural gas age.

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) may be at the center of current debate in states that are experiencing a shale gas boom, but it will remain an important part of the industry and can be performed safely, according to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

California’s proposed law (AB 591) dealing with hydraulic fracturing (fracking) was close to being held over as a two-year bill late Wednesday, according to the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA). With less than two weeks left in this year’s state legislative session, AB 591 has not moved as deadlines have passed in the state Senate Appropriations Committee.

In an effort to ensure that air around Marcellus and Utica shale production sites is safe and to provide the shale industry “with the most efficient option to get operations up and running,” the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) said it is creating a new general permit.

Citing his financial ties to the oil and natural gas industry, an attorney with a Washington, DC-based advocacy group has called on the Obama administration to replace the chairman of the subcommittee exploring the risks associated with hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

In the wake of a well blowout last month in the Marcellus Shale, a Pennsylvania Senate committee has approved a bill (SB 995) that would require companies to provide to state and local authorities detailed emergency contact information for all of their wells in the state.

Responding to Transwestern’s low-linepack Alert Day for the West of Thoreau area (see Daily GPI, Nov. 19), Southwest Gas issued a Stage 3 OFO for Friday. Southwest told customers to ensure that their gas usage did not exceed scheduled supplies, adding, “The daily operating window has been reduced to 0% and negative daily nominations for imbalance paybacks from Southwest to customers have been eliminated until further notice.” The OFO was due to end Saturday. Transwestern said Friday it was lifting the Alert Day because of improved linepack.

In this “age of unconventionals,” shale gas and oil producers have to be as open as possible about their drilling operations, an ExxonMobil Corp. executive said last week.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is working “very closely” with international regulators to ensure that financial reforms that are implemented in the United States are consistent with those in foreign markets, said Chairman Gary Gensler.