Ford

Beginning Wednesday (Aug. 3) there will be a “HAWK” flying over the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas, collecting infrared images intended to reveal the release of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from natural gas production and other industrial facilities.

Consol Energy Corp. is returning to the Utica Shale. The Pittsburgh coal and gas producer recently announced plans to run six rigs starting this fall, five on its acreage in the Marcellus Shale and one full time in the Utica of eastern Ohio.

NuStar Logistics has reactivated and plans to operate its 60-mile Pettus South Pipeline to transport Eagle Ford crude oil to Corpus Christi, TX, part of its agreement with Koch Pipeline Co. LP, a subsidiary of Koch Industries Inc. The move will add 30,000 b/d of capacity to the Koch system, which totals about 540 miles in South Texas. In May 2010 Koch completed projects to expand its crude oil and gas condensates capacity by 25,000 b/d, then added another 50,000 b/d of crude and condensate capacity through an agreement with Arrowhead Pipeline LP in September 2010.

Alliance Pipeline LP said Hess Corp. has contracted for capacity on a North Dakota pipeline lateral and associated facilities it plans to construct to carry liquids-rich gas from the Williston Basin.

Active rigs in U.S. shale and tight sands basins gained 1% in the week ending April 1 to hit 981 rigs, up from 972 the previous week, according to NGI’s Shale Daily Unconventional Rig Count.

Abraxas Petroleum Corp. has completed its first Eagle Ford Shale well in South Texas. Blue Eagle Energy LLC, a joint venture of Abraxas formed with Rock Oil Co. (formerly Blue Stone Oil & Gas LLC) last year (see Daily GPI, Aug. 30, 2010), drilled the T Bird 1H well in DeWitt County, TX, to a total depth of 19,450 feet, including a 5,700-foot lateral. The well was completed with a 15-stage fracture stimulation and recently placed online at a restricted rate approximately 75 days after spudding, according to San Antonio-based Abraxas. The well is being opened slowly to prevent formation damage and an unrestricted rate will be announced in the near future.

Philadelphia officials on Tuesday directed the city-owned natural gas utility not to buy Marcellus Shale gas until more is known about the safety of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking).

A trio of Bayer AG-owned sites in West Virginia totaling about 1,480 acres would be ideal locations for thermal crackers to process ethane from the state’s Marcellus Shale area, the company said.

Given the difference in prices for natural gas liquids (NGL) and dry gas, NGL content in the Eagle Ford Shale “makes for a much more pleasant experience” for producers there, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) Chief Rich Kinder told financial analysts last week. And burgeoning activity in the South Texas play has filled up a KMP midstream project there.