First

Ridgeline Energy Services Inc. said it plans to construct a water treatment facility in the Marcellus Shale near Punxsutawney, PA. The Calgary-based company said it had executed an agreement for an initial single train commercial installation (STCI) that would concentrate on produced water, with an anchor customer providing about 2,500-4,000 b/d of wastewater. Ridgeline said it was looking to build additional permanent installations in the same production area and expand its presence in western Pennsylvania. Installation of the first STCI is to begin in about a month.

Air Liquide Large Industries U.S. LP announced two projects in Freeport, TX, for its Gulf Coast pipeline and hydrogen/syngas businesses. The first project went on-line in March and has increased the supply of hydrogen purification and compression capacity to Air Liquide’s hydrogen pipeline system. The second project is expected to go online in 2014 and involves the construction of a new liquid oxygen storage and vaporization facility at the Freeport air separation unit complex to supply oxygen to the Gulf Coast pipeline network. This new installation represents an increase of nearly 25% over current storage and vaporization capacities on the networkd. Hydrogen gas is used by refiners to produce cleaner burning fuels, among other industrial uses. Government regulations calling for reductions in fuel emissions have increased demand for hydrogen. Growth in industrial gas demand is also anticipated as a result of the cost advantages resulting from low-priced natural gas, the company said.

A former steel plant in Steubenville, OH, is being redeveloped into an industrial park, a portion of which state and local officials say will be used to support operations in the Marcellus Shale.

Low natural gas prices have hit Pennsylvania, where deep-shale drilling fees collected last year fell about 3% from 2011, according to state data.

Global oil demand growth will hit a wall sooner than many think, thanks in part to expanding substitution of natural gas for oil in multiple applications worldwide, said analysts at Citi Research, a unit of Citigroup Global Markets Inc.

Global oil demand growth will hit a wall sooner than many think, thanks in part to expanding substitution of natural gas for oil in multiple applications worldwide, said analysts at Citi Research, a unit of Citigroup Global Markets Inc.

For the first time in “at least” three years, some of the largest North American exploration and production (E&P) operators that are weighted to natural gas expect to see a “significant production decline,” according to an analysis by Barclays Capital.

Canada’s frontier shale drilling hot spot lived up to hopes for a new source of premium-grade oil, according to first results disclosed from 2012-2013 winter exploration in the central Mackenzie Valley region of the Northwest Territories.

Following three straight years of production declines after the Macondo well blowout, this year likely will be the first for growth in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) since 2009, but it certainly won’t be the last, according to Raymond James & Associates Inc.