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How many U.S. government agencies does it take to frack a well?

EOG Resources Inc. is “indifferent” to growing natural gas volumes in North America as long as prices hover around $4, and instead will continue to focus on oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) in the Eagle Ford Shale, the Houston-based company said Wednesday.

Increased demand from Eagle Ford Shale producers and new gathering and processing agreements support the construction of an additional 300 MMcf/d of processing capacity at Enterprise Products Partners LP’s cryogenic gas processing facility in Lavaca County, TX, the partnership said. It is planning to construct 62 miles of 24-inch diameter and 30-inch diameter pipeline loops and increasing compression horsepower. The expansion is expected to begin service in the first quarter of 2013. Enterprise is currently constructing its Eagle Ford rich natural gas mainline system and associated laterals consisting of about 300 miles of pipeline and representing gathering and transportation capacity of more than 600 MMcf/d (see Shale Daily, Aug. 10). The Yoakum facility currently has 600 MMcf/d of capacity under construction, which is expected to begin service during the second quarter of 2012. With the additional 300 MMcf/d train, the plant will have total capacity of 900 MMcf/d when service begins, which is expected in the first quarter of 2013.

California’s Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday night to hold off on a ban of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and instead add well permitting requirements to require individual approvals by the county’s planning and development department.

New Jersey officials have told the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) that the state might withhold its dues to the organization if it doesn’t enact rules governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within the Delaware River Basin by its next meeting in September.

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed a bill that would have permitted offshore natural gas drilling to move forward, and instead issued two executive orders creating an offshore wind task force and a scientific advisory panel on energy.

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed a bill that would have permitted offshore natural gas drilling to move forward, and instead issued two executive orders creating an offshore wind task force and a scientific advisory panel on energy.

The answer to some of the environmental concerns about hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in Pennsylvania is a homegrown synthetic proppant that could be used instead of sand, according to Nittany Extraction Technologies, a company founded by two Pennsylvania State University engineering professors.

Making ethanol from newly abundant natural gas instead of corn would avoid taking food off the world’s table and could create another market for growing gas supplies coming from U.S. and other shale basins. Dallas-based Celanese Corp. last year announced a technology to do just that and is gearing up its efforts as Washington lawmakers move closer to repealing an ethanol subsidy supported by corn growers.