Monitoring

A series of earthquakes recorded late last month in western Pennsylvania could be linked to a Hilcorp Energy Co. site where the company was stimulating two horizontal wells near the epicenter, state researchers said this week.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) plans to spend $1.56 million to launch an “unprecedented” expansion of the state’s fine particulate matter air monitoring network in areas of heavy natural gas development activity.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) plans to spend $1.56 million to launch an “unprecedented” expansion of the state’s fine particulate matter air monitoring network in areas of heavy natural gas development activity.

An Internet-based groundwater monitoring technology was introduced in Colorado Wednesday in a joint effort by a university researcher, major oil/natural gas operator, environmental group and the state.

Shale gas production activities in the Barnett Shale have not resulted in volatile organic compound (VOC) exposures great enough to pose a health concern for area residents, according to a new study of the region’s air quality.

A report by environmental group Earthworks on the Eagle Ford Shale alleges “reckless endangerment” by regulator Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ); however, TCEQ has fired back that Earthworks is being reckless with the facts of its monitoring and enforcement of drilling, fracking and production in the region.

A pair of U.S. senators from Kansas has renewed that state’s efforts to shift the responsibility for monitoring some underground natural gas storage facilities from the federal government to states, saying the modification would help avoid accidents at such facilities.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has undertaken five case studies in the Marcellus, Barnett and Bakken shales and the Raton Basin on the impact of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on drinking water sources as part of its multi-year review of the well stimulation technique used in unconventional plays.

Engineering company Curtiss-Wright Corp. said Monday it would pay $135.1 million in cash to acquire Cimarron Energy Inc. to gain entry into the U.S. shale oil and natural gas market.