Initial

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Friday extended by two months the deadline for comments on initial and variation margin requirements for uncleared swaps. The comment period was to close on July 11, but it has been extended until to Sept. 14.

A horizontal well targeting the Cotton Valley formation in northern Louisiana recently flowed at an initial production rate of 3,019 boe/d over a 24-hour period, according to privately held producer Indigo Minerals LLC.

Southcross Energy is expanding the capacity of its Bonnie View Fractionator, which is nearing completion in Refugio County in South Texas. Initial capacity was intended to be 11,500 b/d of natural gas liquids (NGL), but that has been increased to 22,500 b/d. The facility is expected to operate at the higher capacity beginning in January. The fractionator is connected to the Seadrift ethane and propane products pipelines and will have truck-loading facilities to ship and receive NGL products. Completion of this project will bring Dallas-based Southcross Energy’s fractionation capacity in the Corpus Christi, TX, area to 27,300 b/d. About a year ago Southcross acquired about 58 miles of 6-, 8-, 10- and 12-inch diameter natural gas pipelines in San Patricio and Refugio counties (see Shale Daily, July 6, 2011).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is operating under a “misperception of initial production from gas wells,” which “has led to a drastic overestimate of methane emissions from hydraulically fractured [fracked] natural gas wells,” according to Darren Smith, environmental manager for Devon Energy Corp.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has begun building the Brasada Gas Plant in La Salle County, TX, which is expected to come online in 2Q2013 with initial capacity to process up to 200 MMcf/d of liquids-rich natural gas from the Maverick Basin, where the company operates on about 400,000 gross acres.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is operating under a “misperception of initial production from gas wells,” which “has led to a drastic overestimate of methane emissions from hydraulically fractured [fracked] natural gas wells,” according to Darren Smith, environmental manager for Devon Energy Corp.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) has cut the corporate credit rating of Fort Worth, TX-based FTS International Services LLC, one of the top five hydraulic fracturing (fracking) service providers in North America, because it said capacity additions and rising costs, combined with moderating demand and low natural gas prices, are pressuring margins in the fracture stimulation industry.

Goodrich Petroleum Corp. Wednesday confirmed that a recently drilled well in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) of Louisiana and Mississippi had an initial flow rate exceeding 1,000 boe/d.

New Mexico has completed initial hearings on a request from the state’s two main energy industry groups that the “pit rule” be modified to make it more cost effective. The hearings are scheduled to continue June 20 in Santa Fe, NM.