Less

Less than a month after receiving a 3 MW order from a large independent oil and gas company for deployment in the producer’s acreage in the Eagle Ford Shale play in South Texas, Capstone Turbine Corp. said Thursday it has received a follow-on order from the same undisclosed company for six more C1000 Power Packages, accounting for an additional 6 MW.

There were more than 14,000 oil and gas field operators in the United States last year, but the largest 100 of them as determined by total operated reserves accounted for nearly 90% of proved oil and gas reserves and included shale giant Chesapeake Energy Corp. and other companies active in the nation’s shale plays, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report.

Less than two months after gaining a financially able partner to develop some of its Marcellus Shale acreage, Gastar Exploration Ltd. on Wednesday said it would buy another 59,000 net acres in the WestVirginia portion of the play.

With production more than doubling in less than a year, Marcellus Shale gas already is displacing pipeline flows from the west, an energy analyst said last week.

In a positive turn less than two weeks after federal officials lifted the offshore drilling moratorium, Chevron Corp. on Thursday sanctioned the long-awaited Jack/St. Malo project, a promising project that it would operate in the Lower Tertiary trend in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

With less than two weeks remaining until an election that could shift the balance of power in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and the state’s General Assembly remain deadlocked over a proposed natural gas severance tax.

With less than two weeks remaining until an election that could shift the balance of power in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and the state’s General Assembly remain deadlocked over a proposed natural gas severance tax.

For the second time in less than a month the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has delayed release of proposed regulations that may dictate how portions of the Marcellus Shale are developed. The proposed rules now aren’t expected until November or December.

With less than a month remaining before an election that could change the makeup of both chambers of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the state’s Republican-controlled Senate is preparing to take up legislation (SB 1155) approved last week by the Democratic-controlled House that would impose a 39 cents/Mcf (about 10%) severance tax on natural gas drilling in the state.