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Oil and gas companies could be showing more interest in drilling wells targeting the Marcellus Shale in Wyoming County, PA, after having hired a seismic contractor to perform tests across nearly half of the county on their behalf.

Marathon Oil Corp., which began 2012 as a pure-play exploration and production (E&P) company, has its sights trained on two big shale plays in the United States: the Eagle Ford and the Bakken, company officials said Wednesday.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said Tuesday it is reorganizing, a move designed to assist regulators with a burgeoning workload from the state’s booming oil and gas industry in the Marcellus Shale.

While pushing back the potential of Alaska natural gas until the 2025 time frame, a panel of industry executives with a focus on Western Canada painted a near-term future for British Columbia (BC) that could see the province greatly expand its gas production from 3 Bcf/d to 5 Bcf/d based on growing potential for new supplies from shale. As a result, the executives who spoke Wednesday at the LDC Gas Forum: West & Rockies in Irvine, CA, think the idea of exporting some of those supplies as liquefied natural gas (LNG) is still a real possibility.

Rockies Express Pipeline LLC’s (REX) projected time frame — early February — for completing the remainder of its western leg known as REX-West has come and gone.

Rockies Express Pipeline LLC’s (REX) projected time frame — early February — for completing the remainder of its western leg known as REX-West has come and gone. The company now expects the remaining 213 miles of the REX-West project, running eastward from an ANR Pipeline interconnect in Brown County, KS, to Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line (PEPL) in Audrain County, MO, to be in service some time in March.

Tennessee declared a force majeure event Friday for Compressor Station 249 in Carlisle, NY, due to the necessity of performing emergency repairs to the foundation supporting the frame of Unit 1A. If left unrepaired, this issue could result in a loss of mechanical integrity of the unit and/or a major failure resulting in an extended outage, Tennessee said. It expected to complete the repairs in seven days. Tennessee anticipates potential restrictions through a pro rata portion of Secondary in the Path nominations through Station 249 and said additional constraints may become necessary.

In the 2012-2015 time frame, liquefied natural gas (LNG) makes sense for the Pacific Northwest, which could be losing Canadian and U.S. Rockies supplies by then, according to a developer of a proposed Oregon LNG receiving terminal. And the prices of LNG supplies will be very attractive, NorthernStar Natural Gas CEO Paul Soanes said at an energy conference Thursday in Seattle.

Seeking an unprecedented time frame of six years to lock in its general retail gas and electric utility charges, including profit levels, Sempra Energy’s two California utilities Friday filed joint general rate case proposals to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), seeking increases of $251.9 million for San Diego Gas and Electric Co. and $211.million for Southern California Gas Co. operations, representing increases of 4% to 7%.