Field

A unit of Royal Dutch Shell plc on Tuesday gave the green light to its first new development in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) in 18 months, the Kaikias deepwater field about 130 miles offshore Louisiana, after slashing costs by more than half.

A state of Wyoming report released on Thursday has concluded that natural gas drilling activity, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking), did not contaminate water wells in the town of Pavillion, which five years ago was the subject of controversial U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tests tying the gas operations to water problems.

Denver-based FourPoint Energy LLC said it will continue to look for more transactions to beef up its onshore portfolio after tripling its staff and offices through its buyout of Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s remaining Anadarko Basin properties.

Eight oil and gas fields in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM) came online last year, four are slated to start up this year and two more ramp up in 2017, all signs that offshore output should hit record highs next year, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Thursday.

Under a second order from the state’s oil and natural gas supervisor, Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) began this week preparing to drill a second relief well at the 86 Bcf-capacity Aliso Canyon underground storage field 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Memorial Resource Development Corp. (MRD) in separate deals is acquiring or leasing acreage adjacent to its North Louisiana operating areas in the Cotton Valley Sands formation’s Terryville Complex.

A subsidiary of J-W Energy Co., a privately-held exploration and production (E&P) company based in Dallas, said it has acquired oil and natural gas properties in northern Louisiana from Australia’s BHP Billiton Ltd., a move that will increase its production totals and proven reserves.

Three field laboratories and six research projects across the United States will be hard at work over the next few years to develop technology that minimizes environmental impacts of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) resource development, while maximizing economic and national security benefits.

Hess. Corp., operator and partial owner of the Stampede oil and natural gas project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM), will move forward with the project and expects it to begin production in 2018, the company said Thursday.