Fund

One day after purchasing natural gas processing facilities and associated infrastructure in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays, MarkWest Energy Partners LP said it plans to remain independent and will allocate more toward capital expenditures (capex) in 2012.

In another move to fund its Sabine Pass LNG liquefaction project in Louisiana, Cheniere Energy Partners LP has agreed to sell $1.5 billion in newly issued CQP Class B units to investment funds managed by Blackstone Energy Partners LP and Blackstone Capital Partners VI LP, the Houston-based company said Tuesday.

Texas natural gas producers are suing the City of Arlington, TX, to stop a recently enacted $2,400 per well annual fee on operators. The fee’s anticipated $781,450 annual revenue would fund the city’s “Natural Gas Well Preparedness and Response Plan,” which was adopted in March.

Hopeful that it is seeing the final months of a moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) tick away in New York, Norse Energy Corp. ASA — a company that, like many others, has suffered through years of uncertainty at the hands of the delay — is positioning itself to hit the ground running in the Marcellus and Utica shales.

Two members of the Ohio General Assembly are drafting a bill that calls for raising the state’s severance tax on natural gas drilling and would create a fund for localities where drilling takes place.

With a eye on natural gas prices, Dallas-based Exco Resources Inc. is dropping more than half of its drilling rigs in the Haynesville Shale this year, cutting one rig in the Marcellus and deferring well completions in natural gas plays. However, CEO Doug Miller said Friday there are “huge opportunities” to buy distressed properties, which the company intends to pursue.

ConocoPhillips revealed Wednesday that in the last three months of 2011 it acquired more than 100,000 acres in North American liquids-rich shale plays, bringing its unconventional acquisitions last year to more than 500,000 acres.

Fort Worth, TX-based Quicksilver Resources Inc. has added depth to its North American lineup of oil and gas prospects with two large-scale commercial projects — one in search of a partner — which altogether would give it a large presence in seven North American basins, officials said Thursday.

A U.S. District Court judge has approved a $77.1 million settlement to resolve claims against Amaranth Advisors LLC, a hedge fund that collapsed in September 2006 after suffering $6 billion in market losses due to wrong-headed bets in natural gas futures.