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Looking to support local oil and natural gas development operations in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays, Valerus and Brilex Industries have established a partnership to manufacture oil and gas production equipment in Youngstown, OH, for building surface facilities operating in the shales.

Schlumberger Ltd. and Cameron on Thursday said they have created OneSubsea, a joint venture (JV) to leverage their expertise to manufacture a complete subsea production system from pore space to export space to unlock reserve potential from offshore developments.

Riding high on record profits and continuing efficiencies, the contract drilling sector nevertheless faces uncertainties during the first half of next year that require patience and flexibility, said the CEO of Tulsa-based Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP).

The latest Interior Department Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposed plan on oil shale and oil sands leasing on western lands has come under attack from the chairman of a prominent House energy subcommittee.

Princeton, NJ-based NRG Energy Inc. and Houston-based GenOn Energy Inc. said Friday that their respective shareholders have approved a proposed merger that has implications for the nation’s mix of natural gas- and coal-fired generation plants (see Daily GPI, Aug. 10). When completed, the NRG-GenOn combination would create the nation’s largest competitive electric generator with nearly 47,000 MW of capacity, spanning gas, coal, solar, nuclear and wind facilities. The merger still needs approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the New York Public Service Commission, among others. “An overwhelming shareholder vote” for the combination reflects the fact that the merger is a “win-win for everyone,” according to NRG CEO David Crane. GenOn CEO Edward Muller pointed to “substantial cost savings and efficiency benefits” from the merger.

New wells in the nation’s shale plays helped push natural gas production higher in Texas and some other states in August, but it wasn’t enough to keep the U.S. total from sliding to 76.60 Bcf/d, a 3.4% decline compared with 79.33 Bcf/d in July, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest Monthly Natural Gas Gross Production report.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Matthias Jaeger, CEO of German steelmaker Benteler Steel/Tube, announced Friday that they have reached a deal for the construction of a $900 million hot-rolling tube mill in Caddo, LA, strengthening the company’s position in the North American oil country tubular goods market.

By 2021, the Eagle Ford Shale could produce nearly $62.1 billion in output, support about 82,600 full-time jobs, add nearly $34 billion in gross regional product and about $888 million to local government revenues and $1.6 billion to state revenues, according to a new studies of 14 South Texas counties comprising the Eagle Ford area.

Two environmental groups have protested Honolulu, HI-based The Gas Co. LLC’s (TGC) application that would clear the way for its utility to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) into Hawaii from the U.S. mainland.