Matter

The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) on Thursday elected a new leadership team to helm the executive committee and announced the addition of almost three dozen associate member companies.

A Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) hearing intended to get to the bottom of the matter of whether the Barnett Shale gas drilling activities of Range Resources Corp. led to the contamination of two water wells in Parker County, TX, has been postponed to Jan. 18 from Monday (Jan. 10). In the meantime, one interested observer told Shale Daily that both research that condemns the company and other findings that would exonerate it are incomplete.

A Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) hearing intended to get to the bottom of the matter of whether the Barnett Shale gas drilling activities of Range Resources Corp. led to the contamination of two water wells in Parker County, TX, has been postponed to Jan. 18 from Monday (Jan. 10). In the meantime, one interested observer told Shale Daily that both research that condemns the company and other findings that would exonerate it are incomplete.

Two lawsuits were filed in Dallas Wednesday alleging that units of Devon Energy Corp., Encana Corp. and Chesapeake Energy Corp. contaminated water wells in the Barnett Shale with hydraulic fracturing and the storage of drilling waste.

With higher natural gas liquids (NGL) prices relative to natural gas, a continued surge in output from the gas shale plays and cryogenic gas processing technologies, new infrastructure continues to be in high demand for the U.S. liquids market, according to a report by Bentek Energy LLC.

California regulators have filed a protest of El Paso Natural Gas Co.’s proposed rate increase. They have requested a hearing in the matter, and asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to suspend El Paso’s proposed rates for the maximum five-month period.

California regulators have filed a protest of El Paso Natural Gas Co.’s proposed rate increase. They have requested a hearing in the matter, and asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to suspend El Paso’s proposed rates for the maximum five-month period.

Subject to the economy and some legal factors, the need for added natural gas pipeline and storage capacity in the Pacific Northwest is a no-brainer; it is just a matter of when, not if, according to senior executives at Northwest Natural Gas Co., speaking on a second quarter earnings conference call Wednesday. Earnings increased quarter over quarter for the most recent period and were flat for the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2009.

The application of oil dispersants 5,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) was set to begin in a matter of hours Friday afternoon as responders continued to combat oil leaking from the deepwater well ruptured last week 42 miles from shore south of Venice, LA (see Daily GPI, April 27). An attempt to drill a relief well to stop the oil’s flow was to begin Saturday.