Funding

Randy Eresman, who has led Encana Corp. since 2006, suddenly resigned on Friday, fueling speculation about whether he jumped or was pushed out of the boardroom.

Williams, which has been expanding its onshore presence in the Marcellus and Utica shales, late Tuesday snagged a deal to significantly expand its onshore footprint in a $2.4 billion transaction to acquire half of the natural gas pipeline system once owned by Chesapeake Energy Corp.

Propelled by its U.S. onshore crude oil and liquids output, EOG Resources Inc. reported better-than-expected profits for the third quarter. Investors in return sent the stock price up 4.37% on Tuesday.

Williams Partners LP (WPZ) agreed late Tuesday to expand its business venture in the Utica Shale with Caiman Energy II by funding almost half of a midstream infrastructure development in Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania.

Canadian junior producer MGM Energy Corp. on Thursday clinched a farm-out agreement in the Mackenzie Valley’s Canol Shale with a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Citing the the recent disclosure of a “crucify them” enforcement mentality of a former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official and several agency missteps involving the use of hydraulic fracturing to develop unconventional gas, Congress Wednesday was called upon to exercise greater oversight over EPA’s regional officials and their activities.

Funding for a proposed study of the health impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is not included in a $132.5 billion state budget that the New York State Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to on Tuesday.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee last Tuesday disagreed about the significance of declining oil and gas production on federal lands during a hearing on the department’s proposed 2013 budget.

Driven by record natural gas output from core holdings in the Pinedale Anticline of Wyoming and the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, Ultra Petroleum Corp. on Wednesday reported quarterly profit numbers that beat Wall Street’s expectations. The Houston producer also disclosed that it established a third core area, almost 100,000 net acres in the liquids-prone Niobrara formation of the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin of Colorado.