Frack

North America’s hydraulic fracturing (fracking) services market should remain strong through 2016 on robust drilling and completion activity, with demand in the United States and Canada set for double-digit growth this year, PacWest Consulting Partners said in a new analysis.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has turned down calls to enact a two-year moratorium on silica sand mining in the southeastern part of the state, saying he doesn’t have the authority to implement such a ban.

The U.S. land market will complete a record number of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) stages in 2013, driven by horizontal drilling and efficiencies, according to PacWest Consulting Partners.

Technological innovations in the oil and gas industry have marked some remarkable discoveries over its 150-year history. Today, the innovations may be coming more quickly, but there’s still plenty to learn, energy stalwarts said Tuesday at the 25th Annual Rocky Mountain Energy Summit.

Permian Basin-focused Energen Resources Corp., said Wednesday its first well to test the upper Wolfcamp Shale in the Midland Basin and three upper Wolfcamp wells in the Delaware Basin have shown “excellent results.”

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., whose central operations are in the Marcellus Shale, said Monday it plans to use natural gas to power hydraulic fracturing (fracking) equipment in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Protesters aiming to “Stop the Frack Attack” were planning to hold a three-day meeting in the nation’s capital at the end of this week for obstructionist training sessions and lobbying of Congress, to be followed by a Saturday afternoon demonstration on the West Lawn of the Capitol.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP) said Wednesday it was teaming up with Pennsylvania-based Smart Sand to supply Northern White sand to drillers in key North American unconventional plays beginning with the Bakken Shale, where the first of several transload facilities is planned.

San Diego, CA-based Royale Energy Inc., a publicly held exploration and production (E&P) independent with about 15 MMcf/d of gas production, mostly in Northern California, was the biggest bidder for Alaska North Slope shale oil plays offered last month in a state lease sale.