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Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. is planning to build production through the rest of this year from its substantial asset base in the Appalachian Basin after being knocked back early this year from a lack of pipeline capacity for natural gas liquids (NGL), CEO Gary Evans said Tuesday.

GE Oil & Gas has signed an $84 million agreement with the exploration and production arm of Mexico’s Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to provide and install subsea high-capacity wellheads for deepwater and ultra-deepwater drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The GOM is estimated to hold more than half of Mexico’s prospective energy resources, but it needs advanced technology to tap the oil and gas, according to GE. The high-technology subsea wellheads would provide a larger load, pressure capacity and a full-bore design, helping drillers reach greater depths. Pemex is to receive SMS800 and DWHC 700 wellheads, similar technology that GE already has installed at several Mexican oilfields including Perdido, Lakach and Kunah.

In an attempt to install more of a risk-based approach to state inspection programs for the oil and natural gas industry, Colorado lawmakers are considering new requirements in a measure (SB 202) that passed out of the state Senate Wednesday on a 22-11 vote. The bill now goes to the lower House for consideration.

LyondellBasell has contracted with TexStar MidStream Services LP for TexStar to install two natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation units next to affiliate Equistar Chemicals LP’s Corpus Christi, TX, plant. The units will process NGLs from the Eagle Ford Shale.

Thanks to Pennsylvania air quality regulations and the “increased use of natural gas in the power generation sector,” Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Mike Krancer said air pollution has “gone down considerably” within the state since 2008, even as the unconventional production of shale oil and gas ramped up.

Pennsylvania’s General Assembly moved with amazing speed in the closing days of June to install a drilling moratorium on upscale, ex-urban Philadelphia counties, attaching the provision in a must-pass budget measure (SB 1263) that Gov. Tom Corbett signed July 2.

Pennsylvania’s General Assembly moved with amazing speed late last week to install a drilling moratorium on upscale, ex-urban Philadelphia counties, attaching the provision in a must-pass budget measure (SB 1263) that Gov. Tom Corbett is expected to sign.

Sempra Energy’s Los Angeles-based Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) utility is making preparations to install nearly six million smart gas meters in what is said to be the largest such program ever undertaken in the gas utility sector. Sempra’s combination utility, San Diego Gas and Electric Co. is currently installing both gas and electric smart meters throughout its system in San Diego County and southern Orange County. SoCalGas’s $1 billion program is expected to take through 2017 to complete. The utility’s representatives have been meeting with community leaders to explain the advanced metering network while they also has assemble a 150-person internal staff to carry out the implementation with contractors.

Questar Pipeline Co. (QPC) is holding an open season through Jan. 31 to solicit binding support to install nine miles of natural gas pipeline and ancillary facilities on its jurisdictional line (JL) 47 in Duchesne County, UT.