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Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Inc. are beginning to see an upturn in U.S. and Canadian oilfield services following a tumultuous three-year period, which witnessed a six-month moratorium in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and a frenzied shift in onshore drilling activity from natural gas fields to liquids targets.

In an attempt to lure foreign investment back to its shale natural gas plays following several high profile defections, the country’s finance minister said a severance tax on unconventional production will take effect in 2015 but no tax would be levied until 2020.

Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Inc. are beginning to see an upturn in U.S. and Canadian oilfield services following a tumultuous three-year period, which witnessed a six-month moratorium in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and a frenzied shift in onshore drilling activity from natural gas fields to liquids targets.

There will be no quick remedy for restarting one of the units at idled San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in Southern California following a recent decision by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) that a public hearing will be required on a request from SONGS’s operator Southern California Edison Co. (SCE) to partially restart Unit 2. This follows utility warnings that without a restart this year of the one unit, a decision may have to be made by the end of this year on whether SONGS will be retired (see Daily GPI, May 2). There is now a 25-day period for appeal of the board’s decision. As the largest baseload source of electric generation in Southern California with 2,200 MW, the loss of SONGS would require other types of generation, including more natural gas-fired capacity and various efficiency programs, particularly in the summer (see Daily GPI, March 26; Feb. 28). SCE, which is the majority owner/operator of SONGS, had been hoping to obtain swift approval to restart at 70% capacity Unit 2. Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas and Electric Co. owns 20% of SONGS and a Riverside, CA, municipal utility holds about 3%.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) has approved a settlement with UGI Utilities Inc. that includes a $200,000 civil penalty, following a PUC investigation into an Oct. 31, 2011 natural gas explosion in Millersville, PA, that caused about $455,000 in damages to a home and a business.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Monday concluded a 16-month investigation by announcing that high levels of methane found in three water wells in Franklin Township in Susquehanna County “cannot be attributed to natural gas drilling activity in that geographical area.”

Energy & Exploration Partners Inc. (E&E) on Monday acquired 57,275 net acres and 11 producing wells in the East Texas Eaglebine formation from a subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy Corp.

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.

Following a second vote by the City of Dallas Plan Commission to deny Trinity East Energy LLC permission for three drill sites within the city limits, Trinity East Energy LLC said it will seek to persuade a super-majority of the 15-member Dallas City Council to grant the permits.