Formation

In the midst of continued oil/natural gas production growth, albeit at a slower pace, North Dakota’s drilling activity has slowed significantly and the amount of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) even more so, according to the state’s top oil/gas official. Activity is projected to increase again next year, however, with continuing technology advances.

The Allegheny County Airport Authority (ACAA), which runs Pittsburgh International Airport and Allegheny County Airport, has accepted the lower of two bids it received to drill Marcellus Shale natural gas wells on airport property.

Consol Energy Inc. and EQT Corp. were the only companies to submit bids for leases to drill for natural gas on 9,263 acres at Pittsburgh International Airport and Allegheny County Airport just outside of the city, according to the Allegheny County Airport Authority (ACAA).

With its oil and liquids-rich play, the Bakken Shale in North Dakota keeps attracting prospective drilling operations even as the formation’s overall rig count has declined slightly since January, according to the state’s latest monthly statistics at the end of August.

Crestwood Midstream Partners Monday said it has completed the acquisition of gathering and processing assets from subsidiaries of Devon Energy Corp. for $87.1 million, which is $2.9 million less than the originally reported acquisition price (see Shale Daily, July 25).

Driven primarily by continuing record oil production from the Bakken Shale formation, North Dakota’s economy is booming and is on target to produce more than $3.5 billion in tax revenues by the end of the state’s current two-year (2011-2013) fiscal year budget period, according to the state tax commissioner.

The Mississippian Lime formation, which stretches across northern Oklahoma, western Kansas and southern Nebraska, is drawing increased industry interest, thanks to cheaper drilling costs and shallower wells compared to North Dakota’s Bakken Shale, according to the “IHS Herold Mississippian Oil Play Regional Play Assessment.”

Comstock Resources Inc.’s second quarter results took a beating from “extraordinarily low natural gas prices,” but the company continues to shift to oil in a big way and just sealed a joint venture (JV) for its “growth engine” Eagle Ford Shale acreage. Comstock expects good things to come from the Permian Basin and plans to hold on to its Haynesville-Bossier Shale acreage in anticipation of better days for dry gas.

A horizontal well targeting the Cotton Valley formation in northern Louisiana recently flowed at an initial production rate of 3,019 boe/d over a 24-hour period, according to privately held producer Indigo Minerals LLC.