Half

Nearly half of the U.S. oil and natural gas merger and acquisition (M&A) activity during the third quarter was driven by shale plays, according to the latest survey by consultancy PwC US.

Anyone nostalgic for the natural gas infrastructure boom of the latter half of the last decade need only wake up to the natural gas liquids (NGL) infrastructure boom of today — and look forward to what’s to come in response to growing crude oil production — according to an analysis due to be finished in about three weeks.

Two Calgary-based companies announced Tuesday that they will construct a 77-mile pipeline lateral in North Dakota to transport liquids-rich gas from the Bakken Shale to the Midwest for processing.

Anyone nostalgic for the natural gas infrastructure boom of the latter half of the last decade need only wake up to the natural gas liquids (NGL) infrastructure boom of today — and look forward to what’s to come in response to growing crude oil production — according to an analysis to be finished in about three weeks.

As natural gas produced from shale plays gains a larger slice of the gas market pie and production from the Gulf of Mexico continues to diminish, gas processing infrastructure is increasingly being added in non-Gulf Coast areas, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The Ohio Chamber of Commerce is partnering with three universities in the state to conduct an economic impact study on shale development.

In a new push for development of the Marcellus and Utica shales, Ohio Gov. John Kasich has appointed former Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Director David Mustine to a top post with JobsOhio, Kasich’s new private, nonprofit corporation designed to spur job creation and economic development.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has approved $100 million for its third annual alternative transportation investment plan, including nearly half of the budgeted funds going toward natural gas and biofuel transportation programs. The funding follows $259 million spent since the 2008-09 fiscal year under the same CEC-administered program.

Three-and-a-half years after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, Calpine Corp. made its final financial distribution spelled out in its court-approved plan for emerging from bankruptcy protection in late January 2008. Calpine released approximately 19.8 million shares of its common stock from reserves that previously had been set aside to satisfy bankruptcy claims that were still unresolved when the independent (mostly natural gas-fired) power plant operator/developer left Chapter 11 protection. Calpine senior officials hailed the milestone as putting the company’s debt-laden past to bed. The reserve shares were already counted among the 486 million weighted average shares outstanding listed by the company as of June 30, so there is no impact on earnings or cash flow from the final release of shares. Noting all the “technical matters” from the past are behind Calpine, CFO Zamir Rauf said the company now has “fully resolved all claims associated with our bankruptcy.”