Northeastern

Australia’s Austin Exploration Ltd. has struck an agreement for Houston-based Halcon Resources Corp. to participate in its Birch Project in the northeastern Eagle Ford Shale. Halcon’s founders are Eagle Ford veterans, having pioneered the play with a previous company.

Newfield Exploration Co. and joint venture (JV) partner Hess Corp., have terminated about 1,500 leases in northeastern Pennsylvania, dashing hopes that landowners could earn about $187.5 million in royalties.

A group of elected officials, economic development and real estate experts in northeastern Ohio have developed a proposal to create a network of wet gas gathering lines and other infrastructure in the Utica Shale, using the region’s steel industry, abandoned or partially used rail lines and existing highways.

SM Energy Co. is seeing encouraging results from a test well drilled in the Woodbine formation and has added about 10,000 net acres to its position on the northeastern edge of the Eagle Ford Shale in East Texas.

Physical natural gas cash prices fell 3 cents on average Wednesday, but that included some hefty drops at northeastern points, as weather-related demand plummeted. If those are taken out of the mix, the overall market actually added a couple of pennies on average. Gulf points were particularly strong, and New England was particularly weak. Spot futures managed to settle well above $4 and posted an 18-month high. At settlement May was $4.068, up 7.7 cents and June added 7.7 cents as well to $4.108. May crude oil gained 24 cents to $96.58/bbl.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is looking for a new secretary to lead the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), but in a strange twist the outgoing secretary, Michael Krancer, is reportedly on a short list of names to replace a state Supreme Court justice who resigned Monday after being convicted on corruption charges.

Most exploration and production (E&P) executives believe shale natural gas prices have bottomed out, with 87% predicting that prices will stay the same or increase over the next two years, according to a survey of 357 North American executives.

The promise of production from seven “exceptional” wells brought online in January in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale and continuing additions to its pipeline business paint an expanding future for National Fuel Gas Co. (NFG) in 2013, CEO Dave Smith said during a conference call with analysts.

Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (GWI) announced Monday that one of its railroad subsidiaries has signed a long-term agreement to transport natural gas liquids (NGL) and serve a fractionation facility being built by Utica East Ohio Midstream LLC (UEO) in Harrison County, OH.