Maintain

A state district judge in New Mexico Tuesday handed the state’s oil/gas industry an early new year’s present, putting a halt to legal appeals of ongoing industry efforts to revise rules for handling drilling and production waste, the so-called “pit rule.” An Oil Conservation Commission hearing on the industry efforts is now scheduled for Jan. 23 in Santa Fe.

FERC Thursday approved Industrial Shippers’ request for Northern Natural Gas to revise its tariff to allow for partial crediting of reservation charges during force majeure or unplanned outages.

Southern plans to implement a systemwide OFO Type 6 Notice effective Wednesday until further notice, saying it must maintain the pipeline’s operational integrity by requiring shippers and poolers to remain in balance (including available no-notice injection entitlements). Tiered penalties will apply to customers running positive daily imbalances exceeding 2% or 200 Dth, whichever is greater.

As Ohio awaits results of preliminary Utica Shale wells, industry leaders told an audience in Columbus last week that the play, if successful, could revive the state’s manufacturing sector.

Governors have called on House and Senate appropriators to maintain funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in fiscal 2012 at the current level — $5.1 billion.

Southern California Gas declared a high-linepack OFO for Saturday, setting a 10% tolerance for positive daily imbalances.

Southern California Gas did not extend a high-linepack OFO beyond Wednesday,

After rebranding itself last year and finishing a transformation into “a significant resource play company,” SM Energy Co. plans to step up development in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas and the Bakken-Three Forks formation while it hopes to sell down Eagle Ford assets, secure a joint venture (JV) partner in the Haynesville Shale and exit the Marcellus Shale.

Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s shift to balance its natural gas-weighted portfolio required a lot of spending last year — an estimated $4.7 billion — to acquire liquids-rich property, but the risky outlay already is proving its worth, CEO Aubrey McClendon said this week.