Equipment

Oklahoma regulators on Monday approved rebates of up to $2,500 for natural gas vehicles (NGV) and home fueling equipment providing compressed natural gas (CNG). Rebates will be offered by ONEOK’s Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. (ONG) utility, and all residents of the state are eligible for the program.

Marcellus Shale natural gas production leaped to nearly 4 Bcf/d in just three years, and even though it remains the most economical gas play in Lower 48 states, producers already are moving rigs to more liquids-prone targets, according to Barclays Capital energy analysts.

As part of its strategy to create a major natural gas supply hub in northeastern Pennsylvania, Williams Partners has formed an interstate pipeline joint venture with Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., one of the top producers in the Marcellus Shale.

The Obama administration on Wednesday denied the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline proposal on the recommendation of the U.S. State Department, saying at this time it is not in the U.S. national interest to build the 1,700-mile link from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

An equipment failure at a deepwater Gulf of Mexico drilling platform contracted by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell plc released about 319 barrels of biodegradable drilling mud and water last weekend before being contained, according to a report filed with the National Response Center (NRC).

If Europe develops its shale gas resources, it will likely take its sweet time about it, according to a new report from Ernst and Young Global Ltd.

Encana Natural Gas Inc., a subsidiary of Encana Corp., on Tuesday opened its first natural gas fleet fueling station for public use in Wyoming. Fleet vehicles and drilling equipment will both be using compressed natural gas (CNG), and other fleet-based stations already operating in the state will open for public use.

In a day-long hearing Thursday before New York legislators that was at times slowed by audience jeers and shouting, regulators and business leaders urged the state to support expanding natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale.

A shortage of onshore drilling equipment capable of blasting into shale is contributing to double-digit inflation in some of the big U.S. unconventional plays, an issue expected to be played out over the coming weeks as North American exploration and production (E&P) companies unveil earnings for the first three months of 2011.