natural gas prices

Mark Watson, interim head of theWyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC), has been named the new commission chief. Gov. Matt Mead and the other four members voted unanimously for Watson, who has been heading the agency since Grant Black resigned (see Daily GPI,April 1). Watson is a petroleum engineer who graduated from the University of Wyoming. The OGCC also established a deputy supervisor position.

While the saturation of natural gas vehicles (NGV) in other parts of the world, such as Italy and Brazil, is much deeper in the passenger car market and taxis than in North America, overseas and U.S. markets share some of the same questions and concerns, judging from a panel at the NGV Global joint program Thursday at ACT Expo in Long Beach, CA.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. continued to focus on divesting non-core assets in the first quarter, as it looks to shore-up its liquidity and narrow its focus on two core areas in the Appalachian and Williston Basins that continue to slowly drive production gains.

Halcon Resources Corp. reported forward progress in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) during the first quarter, while making drilling improvements in the Williston Basin and derisking its holdings in a portion of the Eagle Ford Shale in East Texas.

A unit of Southern California Telephone & Energy (SCT&E) has acquired land on the Calcasieu Ship Channel in Louisiana for development of a $2.4 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction and export terminal. The project joins about a dozen others in the Pelican State to export liquefied domestic natural gas.

The city council of Denton, TX, has put the brakes on drilling within the Barnett Shale town, at least until Sept. 9, while city staff and council reconsider drilling rules in light of numerous citizen complaints about drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) activity harming their health and quality of life. No new drilling permits are to be issued while the ordinance is in effect.

A unit of Germany’s BASF and Norway-based Yara plan to construct a world-scale ammonia plant at BASF’s existing site in Freeport, TX, the companies said.

Colorado methane and other more deadly emissions from oil and natural gas operations are much higher than previously recorded in earlier studies, according to a report released by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

FERC has given regulatory approval to a pair of pipeline projects designed to supply two boroughs of New York City with additional natural gas, just in time for the 2014-2015 winter season.