Field

Coal-to-gas switching, increased power generation use, a slight uptick in industrial demand and a few gas field shut ins have helped a bit to reduce U.S. gas storage levels, but unless weekly storage injections remain below 2 Bcf/d through the rest of the injection season, some energy analysts think maximum levels will be reached by mid September.

In a story published in April, BP Expanding in GOM Deepwater, the initial gas processing capacity from the Mad Dog field was incorrectly stated (see NGI, April 16). The platform initially was designed to process up to 60 MMcf/d of gas and up to 100,000 b/d of oil. NGI regrets the error.

Lifted by prices and successful well tests from an extension of the emerging Mississippian Lime play, oil production in Kansas rose last year, according to new estimates by the Kansas Geological Survey at the University of Kansas. Natural gas production in 2011, however, declined by more than 6%.

In the story BHP Unleashes $708M for Second Mad Dog Platform in Deepwater Gulf, the initial gas processing capacity from the Mad Dog field was incorrectly stated (see Daily GPI, April 12). The platform initially was designed to process up to 60 MMcf/d of gas and up to 100,000 b/d of oil. NGI regrets the error.

The expansion of Boardwalk Field Services LLC’s Eagle Ford Shale gathering system and construction of an associated cryogenic gas processing plant is on schedule, as is work on the Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP (BPP) subsidiary’s $90 million Marcellus Shale gathering system project, according to company officials. “We expect that a portion of our Marcellus gathering line will go into service in the very near future, and additional portions of the gathering line will go into service over the next 12 to 24 months,” BPP CEO Stan Horten said during a conference call with financial analysts. Boardwalk is adding about 55 miles of 20- and 24-inch gathering pipeline to its existing 340-mile South Texas gathering system (see Shale Daily, Feb. 7). Once complete, the combined pipeline system will have the capability to move more than 300 MMcf/d of liquids-rich gas from Karnes and Dewitt counties in the heart of the Eagle Ford play. The Marcellus gathering system in northeastern Pennsylvania is designed to connect Southwestern Energy Co. wells in the region to Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.’s (TGP) Line 300 (see Shale Daily, Oct. 11, 2011). BPP’s 1Q2012 operating revenues were $312.9 million, a 1% increase from $311 million during 1Q2011, and the Houston-based partnership’s net income was $92.6 million, a 12% increase from $83 million a year ago.

BP plc, still coming to terms with the devastating Macondo well blowout two years ago, said Tuesday it is selling one Gulf of Mexico (GOM) field and stakes in four others.

(The following is reprinted with permission of Jim Willis, editor of Marcellus Drilling News (MDN). Jobs in the shale gas industry were the focus of the first ever Natural Gas Career and Education Expo held at Broome Community College in Binghamton, NY Wednesday. MDN editor Jim Willis attended and published a very interesting account. Unfortunately, NGI wasn’t there, but, thanks to MDN, our readers won’t miss out.)

A Bureau of Land Management (BLM) field office in southwestern Colorado has released a preliminary environmental assessment calling for 21 parcels and 24,324 acres to be included in an upcoming natural gas lease sale. The draft assessment pared an initial proposal to include 22 parcels and up to 29,811 acres, mostly in Gunnison County, CO, in the auction, which is scheduled to be held Aug. 9. Under the BLM program, obtaining the leases is the first part of a multi-step process in which each lease holder would have to obtain a drilling permit, which would entail another environmental assessment of the individual drilling plans for each lease. It is all part of BLM’s master development plan and its use of multi-well development to help manage federal lease development. Before any exploration and development work can start, however, there will be site-specific reviews and analysis completed as called for under the National Environmental Policy Act, BLM officials said.

Proving that different shale plays have different economics, Southwestern Energy Co. plans to cut spending in the Fayetteville Shale and increase spending in the Marcellus Shale this year, the company said Tuesday.