Jones

Austin, TX-based independent Jones Energy Inc. late Monday said it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

U.S. onshore producer Comstock Resources Inc. on Thursday said negotiations are underway with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to become the majority shareholder.

Austin, TX-based Jones Energy Inc. has ousted founder and CEO Jonny Jones and President Mike S. McConnell effective Tuesday (April 17), according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Form 8-K. Jones is to continue to serve as chairman and McConnell will continue as a board member. Jeff Tanner has been appointed COO and will serve as interim CEO until a successor is appointed. Tanner, 55, has been executive vice president of geosciences and business development; he previously was vice president of exploration for Southwestern Energy Co. The onshore-focused producer was notified by the New York Stock Exchange in late December that it was noncompliant with continued listing standards as the stock fell below $1.00/share over 30 consecutive trading days.

ACNX Resources Corp. affiliate has agreed to pay a $433,500 fine to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection(DEP) for several violations at well sites in Greene County. CNX Gas Co. LLC was cited for failing to, among other things, properly control flowback and drilling fluids, maintain containment during hydraulic fracturing activities, and unauthorized discharge of industrial waste into state waters. The penalties come after a long-term investigation by DEP. The well sites have since been remediated.

A decision on whether opponents may be able to shut down Energy Transfer Partners LP’s Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is on hold for at least two months, according to a schedule established Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg for the District of Columbia. Boasberg ruled earlier in June the pipeline’s environmental review was in part inadequate and must be reconsidered. He previously ruled twice against challenges. The Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux, together with environmental supporters, have attempted to halt DAPL operations for months.

A federal judge in Virginia agreed to certify three separate complaints against subsidiaries of EQT Corp. and Consol Energy Inc. as class action lawsuits but denied the status to two other cases that also allege the companies cheated Southwest Virginia landowners out of millions in royalties.

Austin-based Jones Energy Inc. said more than half of its gross identified drilling locations are in its growing Merge play, which is now about 21,000 net acres in the Eastern Anadarko Basin; it “has transformed” the company’s asset base, Jones said.

Jones Energy Inc. will pay $136.5 million to SCOOP Energy LLC for approximately 18,000 net acres primarily in southern Canadian and northern Grady counties in Oklahoma, the Austin-based independent oil and natural gas company said Thursday.

Jones Energy Inc. has agreed with an undisclosed private company to acquire both producing and undeveloped oil and gas assets in the Anadarko Basin for $195 million.