Majority

A report that surfaced Friday on the root causes of the downed Southern California nuclear generating plant has further put the plant majority owner-operator in a legal battle with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), the designer and installer of the plant’s failed new steam generators.

In a stunning setback for shale development in the Empire State, the New York State Assembly voted 95-40 on Wednesday to enact a two-year moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF). The bill, A5424, now moves to the state Senate.

While drilling, prices and permitting all declined in North Dakota, natural gas and oil production set new monthly records, according to the most recent statistics compiled at the end of October in a Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) report released Monday.

By a very slim margin last Thursday, the Democratic majority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) voted to appeal a federal court ruling that tossed out the agency’s controversial final rule aimed at limiting speculative trading in the swaps market.

Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission voted to partially adopt federal clean air rules that target hydraulic fracturing (fracking) emissions and hold public meetings next year to consider full implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules.

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. announced Monday that it had closed on the sale of a majority of its leasehold in the northern Utica Shale to an undisclosed buyer for $43 million in cash.

EnerVest Ltd., the second biggest leaseholder in Ohio’s Utica Shale, plans to sell the majority of its properties in several packages in hopes of fetching $6 billion or more.

Industry investment in infrastructure and more emphasis on infill developmental wells are helping to contain North Dakota’s wellhead flaring of natural gas in the oil/liquids-rich Bakken Shale formation, a state official said.

EnerVest Ltd., the second biggest leaseholder in Ohio’s Utica Shale, plans to sell the majority of its property in several packages in hopes of fetching $6 billion or more.