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Despite the threat of legal action from Gov. John Hickenlooper, the city council of Fort Collins, CO, has adopted a resolution banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within city limits.

Despite the threat of legal action from Gov. John Hickenlooper, the city council of Fort Collins, CO, has adopted a resolution banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within city limits.

Backed by a plethora of natural gas supplies from its upstream business, ExxonMobil Chemical Co.’s multi-billion-dollar plan to expand its Baytown, TX, petrochemicals complex is on track, an executive said Tuesday at the IHS CERAWeek 2013 conference in Houston.

A Pennsylvania official said royalties from Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling on public lands will add about $60 million to state coffers this year.

LNG Canada Development Inc., a consortium led by Royal Dutch Shell plc to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Kitimat, British Columbia (BC), was granted a long-term export license by Canada’s Ministry of Natural Resources.

Apache Corp. is continuing to plan for a relief well “if that becomes necessary” as it contains natural gas migration from an offshore well in shallow Louisiana waters, a spokesman told NGI. A relief rig was sent to the site Feb. 15 as Apache monitored a well where gas had been flowing underground for several days (see Daily GPI, Feb. 19). The well, being drilled by the Ensco 87 jack-up rig, is about 50 miles east of Venice, LA, in Main Pass Block 295 in about 218 feet of water. “There has been no impact to the environment and no injuries,” said spokesman John Roper. “We are continuing to control the migration of gas in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. We are also continuing to plan for a relief well if that becomes necessary.”

Allegheny County Airport Authority (ACAA) board members Friday unanimously approved a deal with Consol Energy Inc. for Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling rights at Pittsburgh International Airport. The arrangement could be worth $500 million over the next 20 years.

Opponents of TransCanada Corp.’s proposed northern portion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada running through parts of Nebraska argued last Thursday in state district court in Lancaster County that Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman lacked the authority to approve a proposed route for the project. In January, he approved a new alternative route (see Shale Daily, Jan. 23). Opponents of the project want Heineman’s decision voided by a district court judge because they allege a state pipeline siting act passed last year by Nebraska’s legislature is unconstitutional. The legislation gave the governor the ultimate decision on the route. At the end of last year Lancaster County District Judge Stephanie Stacy rejected the state’s attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed.

Another proposal has emerged in the North Dakota state legislature seeking to eliminate exemptions from the state’s current one-year limit for oil production wells flaring associated natural gas.