Migration

The San Francisco-based Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in a California Superior Court Thursday, seeking to get the state to enforce existing laws governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) when it is used in oil and natural gas production. The nonprofit conservation organization alleged that the state is shirking its responsibility.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Shell Appalachia are investigating a methane gas migration issue first discovered last week in Tioga County, PA.

Contract drillers Helmerich & Payne Inc. (H&P) and Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. are feeling the effects of producers’ migration from dry gas to oil and liquids-rich drilling targets. Pressure pumping operations are facing market challenges, and rigs are getting more of a workout as deeper holes are being drilled more quickly, executives from the companies told financial analysts during earnings conference calls.

Contract drillers Helmerich & Payne Inc. (H&P) and Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. are feeling the effects of producers’ migration from dry gas to oil and liquids-rich drilling targets. Pressure pumping operations are facing market challenges, and rigs are getting more of a workout as deeper holes are being drilled more quickly, executives from the companies told financial analysts during earnings conference calls.

Producers’ migration to liquids-rich shale plays in pursuit of higher returns in a low-gas price era has been good for the midstream energy sector, which can look forward to increased capital spending and a robust environment through the middle of next year and possibly beyond, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), community representatives and Indian tribes will collaborate on the retesting of two water wells near hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations near Pavillion, WY, which were the subject of a controversial EPA report last December (see Shale Daily, Dec. 21, 2011).

A forecast migration to the north and west in the sources of Canadian natural gas supplies has taken a stride ahead, thanks to a favorable pipeline regulatory ruling. TransCanada Corp. obtained approval from the National Energy Board (NEB) for a C$324 million (U.S. dollar at par) addition to its Nova gas transportation grid in northern British Columbia and Alberta.

A forecast migration to the north and west in the sources of Canadian natural gas supplies has taken a stride ahead, thanks to a favorable pipeline regulatory ruling (see Daily GPI, March 1). TransCanada Corp. obtained approval from the National Energy Board (NEB) for the C$324 million (U.S. dollar at par) addition to its Nova gas transportation grid in northern British Columbia and Alberta.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will perform water sampling at about 61 homes in Dimock — the small Susquehanna County, PA, township where some state officials believe hydraulic fracturing (fracking) may have contaminated water wells — “to further assess whether any residents are being exposed to hazardous substances that cause health concerns,” EPA said.