Nation

The integration of Illinois-based Nicor Inc. to form the largest distribution-only natural gas utility operation in the nation went off without a hitch in the first quarter (see Daily GPI, Dec. 8, 2011) but financial results were pressured by unseasonable winter weather, AGL Resources Inc. CEO John Somerhalder told financial analysts Tuesday.

Singling out natural gas as an economic engine for the nation, President Obama Friday signed an executive order establishing a high-level, interagency task force to support and oversee the development of unconventional natural gas resources and associated infrastructure.

Singling out natural gas as an economic engine for the nation, President Obama Friday signed an executive order establishing a high-level, interagency task force to support and oversee the development of unconventional natural gas resources and associated infrastructure.

Singling out natural gas as an economic engine for the nation, President Obama Friday signed an executive order establishing a high-level, interagency task force to support and oversee the development of unconventional natural gas resources and associated infrastructure.

A collection of companies and industry groups have asked to intervene in a lawsuit filed by seven Pennsylvania municipalities against recently passed shale legislation.

Capping off a string of regulatory actions that have been favorable to the oil and natural gas industry — and somewhat embarrassing to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — the regulator has said it will delay the release of final air pollution standards for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for two weeks.

The Blackfeet Nation in Montana and Florida-based Ecosphere Technologies said Tuesday they have agreed for Ecosphere to provide water treatment services to oil/gas operators using hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on portions of the Native American tribe’s 3,000-square-mile reservation.

The two state chief executives agreed that environmental safeguards are imperative from both the public’s and the industry’s perspective. They offered their views during a keynote panel discussion moderated by the huge annual energy confab’s founder Daniel Yergin, the well-known global energy author/expert.

With most new oil/gas exploration and production (E&P) moving to the more populated eastern slope of the Colorado Rockies from its traditional rural west-central focus, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) embarked last month on a three-month public service advertising campaign as part of a broader community outreach on the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking). So far the campaign is raising more interest than anticipated, according to COGA, and mostly because anti-fracking groups are crying foul.