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Ten years ago the Permian Basin, first drilled nearly a century ago, was considered passe for oil and gas exploration. Today, however, a new generation of explorers and midstream operators has made the basin one of the hottest tickets on the reservoir circuit and there are no signs that the lights will be dimming anytime soon.

The burgeoning development of shale gas plays in the United States “has changed the playing field for long-haul pipelines,” diminishing the need to move natural gas along traditional west-to-east routes and leaving large stretches of pipeline underutilized, according to a new report from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P).

The monthly check from Chesapeake Exploration LLC will still be in the mail to Barnett Shale royalty owners, but some of them will find it to be a little lighter than in the past.

The preliminary draft permit rules for hydraulic fracturing operations, which would impose additional regulations on natural gas drillers operating in New York’s Marcellus Shale, were published Friday in their entirety by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

Southern California Gas did not extend a high-linepack OFO beyond Sunday’s Intraday cycle nominations. However, although the e-mail notice did not get sent until late afternoon Central time, it issued a new high-linepack OFO for Tuesday with a 10% tolerance for positive daily imbalances.

In e-mail notices that arrived a minute apart Thursday morning, Southern California Gas declared a high-linepack OFO for the same day and then extended it through at least Friday. The tolerance for positive daily imbalances was set at 10% in both cases. The distributor also said it will lose 30 MMcf/d of storage injection capacity from next Tuesday through June 10 due to anomaly repairs on Line 1004.

When it issued proposed rules that would allow natural gas development projects — with conditions — in affected areas of the Marcellus Shale last month, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) was flexing muscles it hasn’t used before in its 50-year history, according to Philadelphia-based law firm Blank Rome LLP.

In an e-mail announcement that didn’t arrive until early that morning, Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) declared a high-linepack OFO for Saturday, setting the tolerance for positive daily imbalances at 10%. The OFO was lifted Sunday. SoCalGas also said it lost 50 MMcf/d of injection capacity at its Honor Rancho storage facility when repairs began Sunday on a packing leak of compressor Unit #4; the work is expected to continue through Friday.

Energy professionals may be holding on to the more traditional ways of collaborating with employees through face-to-face meetings, e-mail and conference calls, but a growing number think that some of the Internet’s social media and networking sites could improve the workplace, a survey has found.