Field

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. said Friday it plans to fund construction of a 200 MMcf/d capacity cryogenic natural gas processing plant to serve shale gas producers in the West Virginia portion of the Marcellus Shale.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), the federal guardian of the river’s watershed, on Thursday unveiled proposed rules that would allow natural gas drillers to develop the sensitive 13,000-plus net acres within the Marcellus Shale under stringent — and expensive — conditions.

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, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report.

The members of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) likely knew what would happen once they issued their 83-page proposed rulemaking to conditionally allow natural gas drillers to tap into the watershed.

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.

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, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report.

Opal Plant operator Williams Field Services (WFS) said Tuesday afternoon existing cold in the plant area and “the projected extremely cold weather forecast going into the long holiday weekend may require WFS to make nomination reductions. These cuts would be due to the potential for current and future [equipment] freeze-offs. We are encouraging all customers to nominate the gas they believe is currently flowing.” WFS also advised customers to rank the gas they would prefer to have cut if that became necessary.

The North American shales have been good to Devon Energy Corp. as evidenced by the company’s strong 3Q2010 earnings revealed this week. The Oklahoma City-based exploration and production (E&P) company said it set new quarterly production records in both its Barnett and Cana-Woodford shale plays.

Opal Plant operator Williams Field Services (WFS) said it was continuing to curtail Cycle 3 (Intraday 1) nominations for Wednesday’s gas day after the Turbo Expander Plant 4 went down again (see Daily GPI, Nov. 3) after an attempted start at 5:45 p.m. MDT Tuesday. WFS said further investigation revealed the issue, and manufacturer Solar has located replacement parts that would be on site Wednesday. The new estimated time for restoring full Opal capacity was midnight Wednesday.