Fayetteville

There were more than 14,000 oil and gas field operators in the United States last year, but the largest 100 of them as determined by total operated reserves accounted for nearly 90% of proved oil and gas reserves and included shale giant Chesapeake Energy Corp. and other companies active in the nation’s shale plays, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report.

Shale giant Chesapeake Energy Corp. “has one of the industry’s best collections of natural gas assets,” but “continuing concerns about the company’s profligate spending” and accounting methods led veteran analyst Philip H. Weiss of Argus Research to trim his recommendation to “sell” last week.

Houston-based Southwestern Energy Co., which up to now has focused its exploration efforts in the Fayetteville Shale of Arkansas, plans to test new hydrocarbon basins in New Brunswick (NB) after winning bids in a tender call for licenses covering more than 2.5 million acres (1.02 million hectares).

Houston-based Southwestern Energy Co., which up to now has focused its exploration efforts in the Fayetteville Shale of Arkansas, on Monday said it would test new hydrocarbon basins in New Brunswick (NB) after winning bids in a tender call for licenses covering more than 2.5 million acres (1.02 million hectares).

Houston-based Southwestern Energy Co., which up to now has focused its exploration efforts in the Fayetteville Shale of Arkansas, on Monday said it would test new hydrocarbon basins in New Brunswick (NB) after winning bids in a tender call for licenses covering more than 2.5 million acres (1.02 million hectares).

Due to “an issue” upstream of Little Red River Compressor Station with the in-line inspection tool it was running on the Fayetteville Lateral between the Grandview and Bald Knob stations, TGT will take volumes at 14 receipt points upstream of Little Red River to zero at the start of Thursday’s gas day. It declared a force majeure for those points. However, TGT said it expected the required maintenance to be completed by the start of Friday’s gas day.

TGT said Thursday it had “experienced an issue” with an in-line inspection tool that was running upstream of block valve 3 on the Fayetteville Lateral between the Grandview and Bald Knob compressor stations. The pipeline said it continued to hold physical supplies coming in upstream of the valve to 350,000 MMBtu/d Thursday, but will take 10 receipt points to zero flows Friday while it performs maintenance to remove the inspection tool from the line. Three receipt points in the area will remain available while the work, which is expected to be completed by the start of Saturday’s gas day, is being done, TGT said.

After allowing a one-day systemwide Stage 2 low-inventory OFO to lapse Friday, Pacific Gas & Electric issued a systemwide Stage 2 high-inventory OFO on its California Gas Transmission system for Saturday. A tolerance of 9% was set for positive daily imbalances, with noncompliance penalties of $1/Dth.

Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s natural gas-driven production jumped 18% last year, led by its “Big Four” gas shale plays: the Barnett, Haynesville, Fayetteville and Marcellus. However, with gas prices slumping from last year’s highs, the producer last week launched a $1 billion long-term debt plan to bolster its financing.