Leads

Ohio government officials and industry experts met for a shale symposium hosted by law firm BakerHostetler LLP on Thursday, offering their opinions of what the challenges will be in the Utica Shale as the play develops.

Gulfport Energy Corp. officials have reaffirmed the company’s commitment to the Utica Shale, unveiling details of an accelerated, but cheaper, drilling plan coordinated with the construction of much-needed infrastructure in the play.

An estimated 4,700 gallons of hydrochloric acid (HCL) that were spilled on Wednesday at a Chief Oil & Gas LLC drilling operation in Leroy Township in Bradford County, PA, had been remediated almost entirely by Thursday, officials said.

An investment manager organization that leads a coalition of shareholder advocacy groups for social and environmental issues says progress has been made in the third year of its quest to convince natural gas operators to be more forthcoming over how they are managing the risks associated with hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

An investment manager organization that leads a coalition of shareholder advocacy groups for social and environmental issues says progress has been made in the third year of its quest to convince natural gas operators to be more forthcoming over how they are managing the risks associated with hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Michael Bromwich, who now leads the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), has been tapped to take over the newly formed Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) until a permanent director is named, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Friday.

Michael Bromwich, who now leads the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), has been tapped to take over the newly formed Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) until a permanent director is named. Bromwich’s top assistant, BOEMRE Senior Adviser Tommy P. Beaudreau will lead the new Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). Bromwich and Beaudreau have been involved in the creation of the two new bureaus, which are to be officially established on Oct. 1. Bromwich agreed to serve as the BSEE chief, and Interior said it has launched “an aggressive, nationwide recruitment effort to find a permanent director.” Beaudreau would be the permanent BOEM director. Salazar’s Secretarial Order in 2010 divided the former Minerals Management Service into the BSEE, BOEM and the Office of Natural Resources Revenue. MMS was renamed BOEMRE, and ONRR now operates under Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget. ONRR manages revenues associated with federal offshore and federal and American Indian onshore mineral leases, as well as revenues received as a result of offshore renewable energy efforts. BSEE is to handle inspections, enforcement and safety of offshore oil and gas operations while BOEM is to be responsible for energy leasing and planning on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Operators have the tools today to tap into unconventional natural gas and oil reservoirs at a more efficient and more productive pace but the technologic advances have only scratched the rock’s surface, a Schlumberger Ltd. executive said earlier this month.

Many U.S. independents continue to spend time and resources to unlock North American natural gas production, but EOG Resources Inc. CEO Mark Papa, who leads one of the biggest independents in the United States, doesn’t understand why.