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Years of research, development and production line changes will be needed to clean up the oilsands by replacing the current method of boiling them into flowing with steam heat, according to new projections by Alberta’s Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB).

Two research projects to assess the oil shale potential of the Piceance Basin in northwestern Colorado are undergoing preliminary assessment by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Colorado.

Management of Australia’s Eureka Energy Ltd., which has acreage in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas, told shareholders they should reject an unsolicited offer from Aurora Oil and Gas Ltd., also of Australia and an Eagle Ford player. “The board considers the offer to be opportunistic and designed to solicit shareholders to sell their shares at a time when the company’s strategic direction and underlying potential is still emerging,” said Eureka Acting Managing Director Bill Bloking. Aurora has made an A$107 (US$111.7 million) unsolicited offer for Eureka. Aurora said the unconditional, all-cash offer represents “an attractive premium” (36.4% to Eureka’s previous closing price) and gives Eureka shareholders the opportunity to “crystallize immediate and certain value for their shares.” The acquisition would build Aurora’s “already strong presence in the Sugarkane Field, growing its portfolio of Eagle Ford interests” in line with its strategy, said Aurora CEO Jon Stewart (see Shale Daily, May 1).

A former director of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) under the last President Bush called the agency’s efforts to regulate hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of oil and natural gas production on public lands “senseless.”

Williams Partners LP is holding a binding open season through April 25 for capacity on an expansion of its interstate Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco) to provide incremental firm transportation to markets in southern Virginia and northern North Carolina by 2015.

Investors apparently approved of Philadelphia-based Atlas Resource Partners LP’s deal to acquire 277 Bcfe of proved reserves, including undeveloped drilling locations, in the Barnett Shale from Carrizo Oil & Gas. Atlas shares closed up 32% Friday following the deal’s announcement.

EQT Corp. is suspending its Huron Shale program “indefinitely” in light of low commodity prices, the Pittsburgh company announced in a one line statement Friday.

Global exploration and production (E&P) spending is forecast to grow by about 9% this year, with U.S. money targeting unconventional and deepwater plays, according to a survey by the energy team at Dahlman Rose & Co.

Global exploration and production (E&P) spending is forecast to grow by about 9% this year, with U.S. money targeting unconventional and deepwater plays, according to a survey by the energy team at Dahlman Rose & Co.