Limits

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) is assisting an investigation by the federal National Park Service (NPS) to determine whether any Marcellus Shale natural gas wells on state forest land were improperly approved by the state.

The Utica Shale could be worth $500 billion, and the “biggest thing economically to hit Ohio, since maybe the plow,” Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon told an audience in Ohio on Wednesday.

Northeast Natural Energy (NNE) has filed suit in circuit court against the City of Morgantown, WV, to prevent the city from enforcing its new ordinance banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

The promise of continued production growth from unconventional gas plays — shales in particular — has been repeated yet again in the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest production forecast. While the overall gas-directed rig count has fallen, the number of rigs targeting unconventional plays (gas and oil) has increased from last year.

Object Reservoir Inc., a services company providing complex reservoir modeling in unconventional gas plays, is rapidly expanding its Collaborative Exploitation Project (CEP) for the Marcellus Shale in northeast Pennsylvania and is looking into starting up a similar effort in the southwestern part of the state.

North Dakota’s oil patch accounted for less than 1% of total U.S. crude oil production three years ago, but today the state is pumping close to 6% of total crude output, thanks to the formidable Bakken-Three Forks shale region, the state’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) is reporting.

Marcellus Shale operators — and drilling opponents — waiting for the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to issue proposed natural gas development rules should get their wish Thursday morning, officials said.

Global gas prices could get a lift around 2014 when demand recovers and the delay of liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction projects limits the amount of LNG available, according to Ziff Energy Group.

Florida Gas Transmission did not extend an Overage Alert Day beyond Monday.