Needed

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has told key state legislators that no additional requirements are needed to protect the air quality from horizontal oil and gas drilling.

A coalition of environmental groups led by the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club has called on FERC to reject Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC’s (Transco) Leidy Southeast Expansion project, saying there is no homegrown demand for it.

Chevron Corp. will gain access to some needed infrastructure to develop a portion of its one million-acre leasehold in the Permian Basin in West Texas, and Cimarex Energy Co. will have expanded opportunities in a key Texas county under a joint agreement.

Chevron Corp. will gain access to some needed infrastructure to develop a portion of its one million-acre leasehold in the Permian Basin in West Texas, and Cimarex Energy Co. will have expanded opportunities in a key Texas county under a joint agreement.

Although investors were disappointed by the Utica Shale production figures released last week by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), a surge in production should be at hand in the play as infrastructure comes online, according to an analysis from RBN Energy LLC.

America’s “shale revolution,” combined with increased Gulf of Mexico oil production, the potential for major deposits in the Arctic, and growth in tight and heavy oil, including oilsands, makes North America’s energy picture much brighter than it was not that long ago, Royal Dutch Shell plc CEO Peter Voser said recently at the Chief Executives Club of Boston.

Hess Corp., which is facing a shareholder revolt for a perceived lack of focus and crony-heavy board, on Monday said it would become a pure-play exploration and production (E&P) company. The plan involves fully exiting the downstream business, selling Bakken Shale midstream, and bringing aboard six new independent directors.

Royal Dutch Shell plc hasn’t given any indication that it will back out of plans to build a world-scale petrochemical complex in Pennsylvania, but a developer working on a smaller project in the Northeast thinks bigger isn’t always better.

Saying they needed more time to implement new oil and natural gas drilling regulations, elected officials in Boulder County, CO, have extended for four months a drilling permit moratorium to June 10.