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U.S. onshore horizontal drilling has improved steadily across every category, in part because of improvements in technology, but the “human experience factor” appears to be playing a substantial role as well in moving well times and depth curves to the left, according to an analysis by Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH).

Tradition Midstream LLC said it has secured $100 million in equity financing to develop infrastructure across North America, with an initial focus on unconventional plays in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) announced this week that Chesapeake Energy Corp. vice president of government affairs Dave Spigelmyer has been re-elected as the organization’s chair. Randy Albert (COO, Gas Operations, CONSOL Energy), Scott Roy (vice president, Government and Regulatory Affairs, Range Resources Corp.) and John Mollenkopf (senior vice president and COO, MarkWest Energy Partners) were re-elected as vice chair, treasurer and secretary, respectively. The 2013 executive board members are: Dave Cannon, deputy general counsel, Government and Environmental Affairs, EQT Corp.; Jeff Kupfer, senior advisor, Policy and Government Affairs, Chevron; Heather Lamparter, vice president, Legal, EXCO Resources (PA), LLC; Craig Mayer, general counsel, Pennsylvania General Energy; Gary Smith, vice president and general manager, EOG Resources; and Jack Williams, president, XTO Energy. John Bonn, president of NiSource Midstream Services, NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage, and Terry Bossert, senior vice president, Environment & Regulatory Affairs, Chief Oil & Gas, were elected by their peers to serve as at-large members of the Executive Board. Formed three years ago as an organization tasked with addressing issues regarding the production of natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays, the MSC has grown to a diverse, member-driven organization representing virtually every business segment along the robust shale supply chain in the region.

Tapping all of the potential in U.S. shale natural gas isn’t a given; it requires changes to, and investment in, basic energy infrastructure, including an expansion of the U.S. pipeline and storage network, according to KKR & Co. LP.

Resources for the Future (RFF) has released an update of its ongoing project to compare regulations in 31 states with current or near-future shale gas development. The latest series of maps shows more than 27 different elements of regulation nationwide.

The Pittsburgh City Council has referred a series of proposed amendments, which would create “mineral extraction districts” and possibly open the city to at least limited Marcellus Shale drilling, to the city’s planning commission.

Support is growing for the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) — a state government entity that controls an 8,000-square mile watershed covering about one-fifth of the state — to sell water for natural gas drilling in the Marcellus and Utica shales, albeit on a temporary basis.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said it estimates that shale formations in the United States contain 483 Tcf of unproved technically recoverable natural gas and 33.2 billion bbl of unproved technically recoverable tight oil.

Braskem America on Wednesday agreed to take over some of the petrochemical operations at the old Sunoco Marcus Hook Industrial Complex south of Philadelphia with a $56 million infusion and another $15 million in state support that preserves more than 100 jobs and creates at least 28 more.