Northeastern

Complaints from area residents have prompted the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) to increase its enforcement presence in the five-county area of northeastern Pennsylvania connected to the Marcellus Shale, the agency said Friday.

Complaints from area residents have prompted the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) to increase its enforcement presence in the five-county area of northeastern Pennsylvania connected to the Marcellus Shale, the agency said Friday.

More than a dozen families living in a northeastern Pennsylvania town in the heart of the Marcellus Shale on Thursday sued Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. and a service operator, claiming that their water wells became contaminated when the producer used hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracing) to stimulate production from area natural gas wells. The plaintiffs claim the hydrofracing “fluid and/or drilling mud includes hazardous chemicals that are carcinogenic and toxic.”

Forty-five residents of a northeastern Pennsylvania town in the heart of the Marcellus Shale on Thursday sued Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. and a service operator, claiming that their water wells became contaminated when the producer used hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracing) in the course of drilling and stimulating natural gas wells. The plaintiffs claim the hydrofracing “fluid and/or drilling mud includes hazardous chemicals that are carcinogenic and toxic.”

The discovery of the Horn River Basin in northeastern British Columbia (BC) brought with it a lot of hype, but drilling results are beginning to indicate that the natural gas play may be as prolific as explorers first suggested.

The discovery of the Horn River Basin in northeastern British Columbia (BC) brought with it a lot of hype, but drilling results are beginning to indicate that the natural gas play may be as prolific as explorers first suggested.

Western Gas Partners LP has completed the acquisition of midstream assets in the Uinta Basin in northeastern Utah from its largest customer and parent company, Anadarko Petroleum Corp., for an estimated $107 million, it said Thursday. The acquisition includes a 51% interest in Chipeta Processing LLC, which owns the Chipeta natural gas processing complex in Utah. The complex entails two recently completed processing trains: a refrigeration unit completed in November 2007 with a design capacity of 240 MMcf/d and a 250 MMcf/d capacity cryogenic unit that was commissioned in April (see Daily GPI, July 15). Chipeta provides processing services to Anadarko and third-party producers in the Greater Natural Buttes Field and has current throughput of 375 MMcf/d. With the closure of the transaction, Anadarko still retains a 24% stake in Chipeta. Anadarko spun off Western Gas in 2008 (see Daily GPI, Dec. 23, 2008). The midstream assets acquisition will be financed primarily with debt.

FERC Thursday issued a certificate to Atmos Pipeline and Storage LLC to build a 25 Bcf storage project near Fort Necessity in Franklin Parish in northeastern Louisiana.

Northeastern citygate spikes in anticipation of much colder regional weather early this week belied an overall market that continued to soften in most cases Friday. However, Thursday’s 4.8-cent uptick by April futures and forecasts of sub-freezing temperatures Sunday in the Midwest added several rising points in the Gulf Coast and Midwest to the Northeast gains Friday, in contrast to losses at nearly all points a day earlier.