Further

Without dramatic intervention North Dakota’s natural gas flaring — already costing about $100 million/month — is going to get worse even if the percentage of total production flared goes down, as state and industry officials predict, according to a report released Monday by Boston-based social responsibility nonprofit organization Ceres.

Almost half of the drilling in the U.S. onshore now is being done on multi-well pads, further moving attention from the rig and well count and more to horizontal footage drilled and the number of fractured stages per well, Halliburton Co. CEO Dave Lesar said last week.

Almost half of the drilling in the U.S. onshore now is being done on multi-well pads, further moving attention from the rig and well count and more to horizontal footage drilled and the number of fractured stages per well, Halliburton Co. CEO Dave Lesar said Monday.

Environmental groups, the Edison Electric Institute and large natural gas end-users were quick to commend the Senate’s confirmation Thursday of Gina McCarthy as head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but oil and natural gas companies were apparently following the rule, “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”

Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission LP is offering capacity on its Gulf Market Expansion Project, which would give Marcellus and Utica Shale gas access to growing Gulf Coast markets in Louisiana and Texas, including for future export of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

BreitBurn Energy Partners LP is adding to its Permian Basin portfolio after agreeing to pay about $860 million for stakes in Whiting Petroleum Corp.’s Postle and North East Hardesty oilfields in Oklahoma.

Crestwood Niobrara LLC is buying a 50% interest in Jackalope Gas Gathering Services LLC from RKI Exploration & Production LLC for $108 million, parent Crestwood Midstream Partners LP said Monday.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) said it will invest $107 million to expand its Kinder Morgan Crude and Condensate pipeline system (KMCC) deeper into the Eagle Ford Shale play in Karnes County, TX. The expansion, supported by a long-term contract with ConocoPhillips, will extend the 178-mile pipeline 31 miles from the KMCC DeWitt Station in DeWitt County, TX, to ConocoPhillips’ central delivery facility near Helena in Karnes County. Kinder Morgan will also build receipt tanks and a truck unloading facility adjacent to ConocoPhillips’ Helena facility. Construction is expected to begin in July. “This expansion further assists our commitment to deliver up to 300,000 b/d of crude and condensate from the Eagle Ford Shale,” said KMP products pipelines President Ron McClain.

A “supply shock” to the global energy markets being created by North American oil production will be as transformative to the market over the next five years as was the rise of Chinese demand in the last 15, forcing operators to overhaul global investment strategies and reshape the way oil is transported, stored and refined, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Tuesday.