Newspaper

If the only newspaper you read is The New York Times, you could be forgiven for thinking that all the news about hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is bad. Still, the good news about fracking — energy security, economic development and jobs — is often drowned out by environmental worries, former commodities trader, analyst, energy author and New Yorker Raymond Learsy told NGI.

The West Virginia Legislature’s House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Thursday on a bill that would make several changes to the state’s regulation of Marcellus Shale drilling, including instituting dramatic increases to horizontal permitting fees to fund a larger staff at the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Energen Resources Corp. has purchased three-year leases for about 17,000 net acres in the Bone Spring and Avalon shale trends in the Permian Basin from various Texas state agencies and other entities for $15.3 million, said parent Energen Corp. Based on 320-acre spacing, the company estimates that the acreage in Reeves, Ward, Loving and Winkler counties offers potential for approximately 50 Bone Spring locations and 50 Avalon Shale locations. The typical Bone Spring well has estimated ultimate recovery of 400,000-500,000 boe, the company said. Energen Resources estimates that drilling and completion costs are approximately $7.5 million per well. It has drilled eight Bone Spring wells in Ward and Winkler counties and participated in another 23 wells. The company announced plans in December to drill another 13 Bone Spring net wells in 2011 and at least one Avalon Shale well. Potential drilling plans on the new leases in 2011 have not been determined.

The Pittsburgh City Council was scheduled to vote Tuesday on an ordinance with questionable legal premises that would prohibit natural gas drilling in the city which is surrounded by the Marcellus Shale.

The Dawson Creek Daily News newspaper last Wednesday received a second letter linked to a string of natural gas pipeline bombings in the Dawson Creek, BC, area dating back to last fall. It threatens more action and gives EnCana Corp. a deadline for removing its oil and gas facilities.

The Dawson Creek Daily News newspaper Wednesday received a second letter linked to a string of natural gas pipeline bombings in the Dawson Creek, BC, area dating back to last fall. It gives EnCana Corp. a deadline for removing its oil and gas facilities.

NorthernStar Natural Gas Corp.’s proposed Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal received support from an editorial in the Longview (WA) Daily News. The newspaper stressed benefits that it says the project offers the region. An 18-mile gas pipeline connecting the terminal on the Oregon side of the Columbia River to the Northwest Pipeline interstate grid is slated to run just north of Longview. “Hydropower won’t meet the [Northwest’s] future needs,” the editorial said. “New dams are not being built. Coal, while plentiful, carries unacceptable environmental costs. LNG is a clean source of energy.” The editorial cited a 2007 study by University of Oregon economics professor Philip Romero that concluded that up to 10,000 jobs could be created by the facility, and an increase in the gross domestic product for Oregon, Washington and Idaho of up to $1 billion could be realized. Romero also said the terminal could help cut natural gas prices in the region by 13%. “Politicians do their constituents no favor by stalling this project,” the editorial said. “The Bradwood Landing terminal is a net benefit for the region’s economy — both short- and long-term.”

Following an Oregon state-sponsored assessment that natural gas prices this winter will rise and a newspaper editorial favorable to liquefied natural gas (LNG), a NorthernStar Natural Gas official expressed confidence Tuesday that the company’s Bradwood Landing LNG project along the Columbia River will gain FERC approval despite its removal from the commission’s agenda.