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Triangle Petroleum Corp. recorded the first profitable quarter in its history, is on track to meet its oil production goal for the year and is excited about its new joint venture (JV) in the Bakken Shale, even as it keeps at the ready plans to drop a drilling rig should policymakers in Washington, DC, fail to reach a compromise over the fiscal cliff.

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) has released the latest revised draft amendments of rules relating to the well integrity issues of well casing, cementing, drilling and completions, cathodic protection wells, and seismic holes and core holes. The draft revisions are being circulated for an informal comment period, which is to end Dec. 31. The revisions are in response to comments RRC staff has received so far. The proposals are working drafts that have not been finalized and have not been submitted to the Texas Register for publication for public comment. Revisions are proposed to rules relating to cement sheath thickness; drilling fluid programs; isolation of productive zones; surface casing testing; cement specifications, quality and requirements; new requirements for wells that are to be hydraulically fractured (fracked); minimum separation of wells to be fracked; and well control/blowout preventer and pipeline shut-off valve requirements. One of the proposed revisions would ban fracking at noncemented wells when the zone being fracked ends within 1,000 vertical feet of a usable aquifer.

North American onshore spending in 2013 is forecast to be dominated by Big Oil, international oil companies (IOC) and national oil companies (NOC), according to the latest annual review by Barclays Capital.

The latest Interior Department Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposed plan on oil shale and oil sands leasing on western lands has come under attack from the chairman of a prominent House energy subcommittee.

Gulfport Energy Corp. has spud some of the largest producing wells in the Utica Shale to date, and the play continues to be the Oklahoma City-based operator’s “primary focus area,” according to CEO James Palm.

The latest word from New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) is that the entire natural gas distribution system on the barrier island has been compromised, officials of hurricane-ravaged Seaside Heights, NJ, told residents of the borough on its website.

Resources for the Future (RFF) has released an update of its ongoing project to compare regulations in 31 states with current or near-future shale gas development. The latest series of maps shows more than 27 different elements of regulation nationwide.

Natural gas well completions in 3Q2012 were down considerably from a year ago, according to the American Petroleum Institute’s latest well completion report, which indicated that 2,209 gas wells were completed in the period, a 35% decline from y3Q2011; oil well completions rose by 18% to 8,580. “The oil and natural gas industry expanded oil drilling in the third quarter…thanks in large part to access on private and state lands,” said Hazem Arafa, director of API’s statistics department. Overall, well completions — including oil and gas wells — maintained high levels from a year ago, with 12,291 wells completed during the third quarter, according to the API report. Total exploratory well completions in the third quarter remained the same (700 wells), and total footage drilled rose 3% to 91.985 million feet.

Baker Hughes Inc., the industry’s third-largest oilfield services provider, said Friday the slump in U.S. natural gas activity weighed heavily on its latest quarterly profits. However, the No. 1 oilfield services provider, Schlumberger Ltd., managed to avoid the carnage in North America’s onshore by accelerating activity overseas.