Focus

Newfield Exploration Co. offered what some analysts took to be a conservative outlook for activity in 2017, but during a conference call Wednesday, CEO Lee Boothby said the company is ready “to step on the accelerator” when stronger commodity prices and incremental cash flow give it the incentive.

Whiting Petroleum Corp., one of the largest oil producers in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale, has nearly doubled its capital expenditures (capex) budget for 2017 with an eye to develop core acreage in the Williston and Denver-Julesburg (DJ) basins.

Denver-based SM Energy Co. said Wednesday it plans to focus most of its capital on the Permian Basin as it digests acquisitions there. Plans for the first quarter include restarting drilling in the Eagle Ford Shale, where production declined during the third quarter.

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) said it will focus on regulatory activities and water quality monitoring related to shale gas development within the basin, as the organization begins its latest two-year Water Resources Program for the fiscal years 2014 and 2015.

The Kentucky Oil and Gas Association’s (KOGA) first comprehensive research of the economic impact of the oil and gas industry found that the state had 14,632 producing natural gas wells in 2011 and produced more than 3 million bbl of oil in 2012, but the number of horizontal well permits issued has declined each year since 2009.

Century Midstream LLC, whose focus primarily will be to develop and expand emerging liquids plays across North America, was launched Wednesday by private equity energy firm First Reserve Corp. and a team of seasoned midstream veterans.

To give the growing Permian Basin its full focus, Laredo Petroleum Holdings Inc. has agreed to sell all of its Granite Wash properties in the Anadarko Basin to affiliates of EnerVest Ltd. for $438 million in cash.

A bill to require oil and natural gas companies to meet enhanced water and air emissions standards in order to earn streamlined state environmental permitting was introduced Tuesday by the majority leaders of both houses in the Colorado legislature.

Pro and con on the proposed northern segment of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) rachetted up their campaigns this week in anticipation of a U.S. State Department hearing on the project Thursday in Grand Island, NE.