Laterals

Appalachian pure-play Montage Resources Corp. plans to spend its first year focused on cutting costs, generating free cash flow (FCF) and modestly growing production, management said recently during its first earnings call since Eclipse Resources acquired Blue Ridge Mountain Resources to form the new company.

Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc. is considering a plan to exit shale development in Poland, a move that helps the company focus elsewhere but is also a blow to what was once considered Europe’s best source for shale natural gas and a hedge against pipeline gas supplies from Russia.

Quicksilver Resources Inc. has executed an agreement with the U.S. exploration arm of Royal Dutch Shell plc to establish an area of mutual interest (AMI) covering more than 850,000 acres of the Sand Wash Basin in northwestern Colorado.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday denied a petition by environmental groups seeking to halt construction of a natural gas pipeline that would traverse three counties in the heart of Marcellus Shale country in northern Pennsylvania.

Appalachian Basin producer Consol Energy Inc. said Monday its estimated proved, probable and possible (3P) reserves totaled 20.2 Tcf at the end of 2011, which was 41% higher than in 2010.

Three conservation and environmental groups are seeking to stall the construction of Inergy subsidiary Central New York Oil and Gas Co.’s (CNYOG) MARC I Hub project in northeast Pennsylvania until the company corrects “serious flaws” in its invasive species management plan.

Believing natural gas and oil prices will stay at their current levels “for a while,” Talisman Energy Inc. could shift money from the Marcellus and Montney shales to the Eagle Ford Shale next year as its focuses on liquid-rich plays, CEO John Manzoni said Wednesday.

Range Resources Corp., an early pioneer in the Barnett Shale that has since taken its estimable talents to the Marcellus, on Wednesday saw its share price jump almost 20% in early trading after reports surfaced that Royal Dutch Shell plc or another major oil company might make a bid for the company.

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP said its Texas Gas Transmission LLC subsidiary has completed remediation of pipe anomalies on its Fayetteville and Greenville Laterals and has received authorization from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to operate them at standard operating pressures (0.72 of the Specified Minimum Yield Strength).