March

March natural gas is set to open 16 cents higher Tuesday morning at $5.07 as traders balance somewhat milder short-term weather forecasts with expectations of the thinnest ending inventories since 2008 when spot futures traded over $10. Overnight oil markets were narrowly mixed.

Injection wells in Ohio handled more wastewater from oil and gas drilling in 2012, especially from out-of-state sources in the Marcellus and Utica shales, but they are on pace to handle less of the material in 2013.

Despite protests by state officials and the energy industry, the Boulder (CO) County commission on Tuesday extended a 16-month drilling moratorium now in place by another 18 months, following the lead of the Boulder city council, which earlier this month imposed a one-year drilling permit ban (see Shale Daily, June 7).

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett defended the decision to enact an impact fee, rather than a severance tax, on oil and gas drilling, and he said there was nothing new to report on a proposed ethane cracker in the western part of the state.

The Buckeye Water District (BWD), a utility based in Columbiana County, OH, agreed to supply water for at least three years to a subsidiary of Rex Energy Corp. for oil and natural gas drilling in neighboring Carroll County, OH, the most prolific in the Utica Shale.

Like other cities and its own county in Colorado, the Boulder City Council is set to consider two actions related to the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on open space within the city limits.

With flaring of wellhead associated natural gas still hovering around 30%, state officials in North Dakota welcome the proposed new natural gas pipeline from the Bakken to Minnesota by a unit of Bismarck-based MDU Resources Inc., and the governor has pledged support for the pipeline’s development.

In an attempt to lure foreign investment back to its shale natural gas plays following several high profile defections, the country’s finance minister said a severance tax on unconventional production will take effect in 2015 but no tax would be levied until 2020.

Thomas F. Darden has retired from the Quicksilver Resources Inc. board chairmanship and from his officer position effective Wednesday, the company said. He will remain on the board as a director and chairman emeritus and will continue to work for Quicksilver through the end of the year. He will be focused on pursuing a joint venture in British Columbia’s Horn River Basin, something that the Fort Worth, TX-based company has sought for some time (see Shale Daily, May 8). Darden is to retire from Quicksilver on Dec. 31 but will continue to advise the company on the Horn River development and other projects, the company said. W. Yandell Rogers was elected chairman Wednesday. He has served as an independent director since March 1999.