Includes

Elected officials in a third town in Colorado, Erie, on Wednesday night adopted a six-month moratorium on oil/gas development on an emergency basis, making the halt effective immediately.

Linn Energy LLC late Monday said it agreed to pay $1.2 billion to acquire BP plc’s natural gas rich Hugoton Basin properties in Kansas.

Historically dependent on water and coal for its sources of energy, Idaho now is looking for more balance that includes natural gas and renewable resources, according to a recent opinion poll of the Pacific Northwest and the hopes of the fledgling Idaho Petroleum Council (IPC).

The groundwater in Pavillion, WY, contains chemicals that are normally used in natural gas production practices, such as hydraulic fracturing (fracking), according to a draft report released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Thursday.

Nexen Inc., whose portfolio is spread across North America and overseas, on Tuesday laid out its 2012 strategy, which includes new drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and taking as a partner Japan’s largest exploration and production (E&P) company to ramp up unconventional natural gas development in northeastern British Columbia (BC).

Princeton, NJ-based NRG Energy Inc.’s strategy for future growth includes natural gas-fired generation regardless of what happens with the continuing low wholesale gas prices, CEO David Crane told a quarterly earnings conference call last Thursday. Crane characterized NRG’s three-pronged focus on gas-fired power, solar and retail energy sales as being able to thrive in a low- or high-priced gas market.

Price divergence in Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s Zone 4 in northeastern Pennsylvania is one of those things that gets worse before it gets better.

CONSOL Energy Inc.’s Appalachian-based natural gas division produced a record 40.4 Bcf in 3Q2011, or nearly 13% more, than the 35.8 Bcf produced in the year-ago period, the company reported last week. Separately, Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. also is seeing strong results in the Marcellus Shale but said gas sales have been constrained because of “volume limitations” in some midstream infrastructure.

DCP Midstream is moving ahead with the Sand Hills Pipeline to carry natural gas liquids (NGL) from the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale to markets along the Gulf Coast.