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Meritage Midstream Services LLC plans to build a rich gas gathering system in Webb County, TX, with Escondido Resources II LLC as the anchor customer.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has agreed to spend millions for repairs to roads in four counties in the West Virginia Panhandle, in order to mitigate damage done to the roads by trucks hauling equipment and water to its wells sites in the region.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) to Dominion Transmission Inc. (DTI) for a proposal to expand its pipeline system in Pennsylvania to deliver more Marcellus Shale gas to markets in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region.

Consol Energy announced Wednesday that its plans to drill 70 wells in the Marcellus Shale play by the end of the year were slightly ahead of schedule, thanks to the 13 horizontal wells it drilled during 1Q2011.

Last week the North Dakota Senate voted to support hydraulic fracturing and to extend oil tax breaks in the unlikely event that oil prices sharply decline, but turned down a proposal to reduce the top oil tax rate in exchange for higher production totals.

Caiman Energy has completed a 120 MMcf/d cryogenic processing plant in the Marcellus Shale in Marshall County, WV, and, prompted by drilling projections from existing and potential customers, plans to open a 200 MMcf/d facility at the same location later this year, the Dallas-based company said Wednesday.

Characterizing the rapid rise of shale gas as a surprise to the entire industry, Sempra Energy’s top executive heading its liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations cautioned that the industry’s current game-changer needs to be viewed from both global and historical perspectives. Darcel Hulse, Sempra LNG CEO, told NGI that the whole shale gas story still needs to play out.

Characterizing the rapid rise in shale gas as a surprise to the entire industry, Sempra Energy’s top executive heading its liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations cautioned that the industry’s current game-changer needs to be viewed from both global and historical perspectives. Darcel Hulse, Sempra LNG CEO, told NGI’s Shale Daily that the whole shale gas story still needs to play out.

With the entire oil and gas industry under increased scrutiny because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, regulators in Pennsylvania and West Virginia last week were quick to shut down the drilling operations of some companies after a pair of unrelated accidents at two wells in the Marcellus Shale.