Multi

A multi-pad drilling project led by Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. to test Marcellus and Utica formations in southern Ohio may answer some of the lingering questions about the real resource potential of the Utica/Point Pleasant Shale.

A multi-pad drilling project to test Marcellus and Utica formations in southern Ohio may answer some of the lingering questions about the real resource potential of the Utica/Point Pleasant Shale, an analyst said Tuesday.

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) has approved a multi-year rate plan for Puget Sound Energy (PSE) to increase annual limits for natural gas and electricity rates over the next three to four years. PSE’s gas rates would increase by $9.1 million, or 1.55%, and power rates would increase by $52.3 million, or 3.34%, effective Monday (July 1). Rates may increase over the period by a maximum of 3%, with any excess amounts recovered the following year. Also as part of the approval, UTC separated utility profits from sales levels. The so-called “decoupling” allows the utility to recover fixed costs regardless of how much gas and electricity it sells.

A U.S. District Court judge in Washington, DC, has dismissed a challenge by Bloomberg LP of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Dodd-Frank regulations of the multi-trillion over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market. At the same time, a coalition of associations urged the agency to maintain the $8 billion threshold for swap dealing activity that a participant may engage in before it becomes subject to the requirements.

Cash natural gas prices fell 6 cents Monday, led by multi-dollar declines at Northeast points. East points were soft as well, and California locations were mixed. At the close of futures trading, July had added 0.7 cent to $3.991 and August was higher by 0.6 cent to $4.009. July crude oil added $1.48 to $93.45/bbl.

Proposed in 2009 to state regulators, Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) utility is still treading water in its multi-million-dollar attempt to upgrade some of its vast underground storage in the region. The utility is still trying to finalize environmental reviews that wary local residents are using to question the projects.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it agrees with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) over not listing a nearly 100-mile section of the main stem of the Susquehanna River at the foot of the Marcellus Shale as an impaired waterway, despite concerns over the health of the river’s smallmouth bass.

Officials with the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) announced Wednesday that the agency had started a multi-year effort to study water quantity, but rebuffed calls for it to be expanded to a comprehensive environmental study that could include the impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the basin.

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple on Monday signed into law a measure (HB 1134) offering tax breaks to oil and natural gas operators as an incentive to cut flaring of associated gas at the wellhead on oil wells. HB 1134 was passed last week by the North Dakota legislature. It will be effective July 1.