Hopes

The intent of continued research by the Department of Energy (DOE) into hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is “can we help drive the technology development forward,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a Senate committee Thursday.

Bluescape Resources Co. LLC (BRC) is under way with the construction of a 52-mile natural gas pipeline in West Virginia, a structure that the company hopes will one day connect future production from its wells in the Marcellus Shale with the marketplace.

A new company has leased about 1,500 acres in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia and hopes to find investors to raise $2 billion to develop an ethane cracker and other downstream facilities.

A new company has leased about 1,500 acres in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia and hopes to find investors to raise $2 billion to develop an ethane cracker and other downstream facilities.

Spectra Energy Corp. said it plans to spend about $1.3 billion on capital expenditures (capex) in 2012 and hopes to continue growing the value of its stock, according to the company’s financial plan for the upcoming year approved by its board of directors.

Spectra Energy Corp. said it plans to spend about $1.3 billion on capital expenditures (capex) in 2012 and hopes to continue growing the value of its stock, according to the company’s financial plan for the upcoming year approved by its board of directors on Wednesday.

Although Norse Energy Corp. ASA has put most of its leasehold in New York up for sale, the company said it hopes to continue doing business in the state — especially through a joint venture (JV) — and is currently in negotiations with several interested parties over its assets.

The Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania is generally divided into two regions, the northeast and the southwest, but increasingly the stretch of fairway between those regions is gaining prominence.

FERC has issued a favorable environmental assessment of National Fuel Gas Supply Corp.’s Northern Access Project and Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s 230C Project, both of which would provide for the bidirectional flow of 320,000 Dth/d of Marcellus Shale gas to the system of TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. at Niagara, NY.