Guidelines

A federal judge ruled last week that Pennsylvania landowners who signed Marcellus Shale leases with oil and gas companies — then unsuccessfully sued to have them nullified — did not “repudiate” the lease terms, and turned down the companies’ counter suit to extend the leases by two years to regain time lost during litigation.

Whether wastewater from natural gas drilling sites will be more extensively analyzed for radiation levels still is an unknown, but some Pennsylvania water systems don’t plan to wait and will step up radiological tests, officials said this week.

The Colcom Foundation of Pittsburgh, PA, has launched the $1 million Marcellus Environmental Fund to distribute grants to nonprofit organizations “to address the accelerating environmental impact of shale drilling in western Pennsylvania through public education, community engagement, best practices, baseline data collection, ongoing monitoring, land owner guidance and collaborative projects.”

A comprehensive research plan that would provide guidelines and an assessment tool for regulators should be conducted in order to minimize the environmental impact of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, according to researchers at the Academy of Natural Sciences (ANS).

CIG said it “is beginning to see some progress in achieving balance in its storage fields,” but the Ft. Morgan and Latigo facilities “continue to operate above the storage guidelines.” Therefore the previously announced Strained Operating Condition, OFO and Underperformance Caps will remain in place until further notice, CIG said, adding that it will update its assessment of operating conditions for the upcoming weekend no later than 2 p.m. MDT Thursday.

Colorado unveiled a proposed new set of guidelines for oil and natural gas production in the state in a series of stakeholder meetings last Tuesday in Denver, drawing questions and concerns from the industry. The proposal won’t be posted on the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission’s (O&G commission) website until Dec. 14 to allow some initial feedback from stakeholders to be included. The deadline for finalizing the new rules is July 1 next year.

Colorado unveiled a proposed new set of guidelines for oil and natural gas production in the state in a series of stakeholder meetings Tuesday in Denver, drawing questions and concerns from the industry. The proposal won’t be posted on the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission’s (O&G Commission) website until Dec. 14 to allow some initial feedback from stakeholders to be included. The deadline for finalizing the new rules is July 1 next year.

Saying its storage inventories are at or near reservoir guidelines, CIG declared a Strained Operating Condition (SOC) Thursday that will be in effect until further notice. “CIG’s ability to absorb imbalances caused by mismatches between scheduled receipts and deliveries or those imbalances arising from variations in actual gas flow from scheduled quantities is extremely limited,” the pipeline said. “This limitation includes capacity to handle storage injections in excess of each storage shipper’s Available Daily Injection Quantity (ADIQ) or inventory levels above Maximum Available Capacity (MAC).” Under the SOC, CIG said, injection rates in excess of ADIQ and/or inventory levels in excess of MAC are subject to unauthorized overrun charges.

In a new report outlining guidelines and recommendations for the U.S. wholesale merchant industry, Fitch Ratings said energy companies continue to foresee “adverse market conditions,” which has fostered a “new sense of reality” within the sector to reduce debt and improve the financials.