NYMEX

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said Thursday he would join Republicans in voting against former Colorado regulator Ron Binz for FERC chairman, which would sink his nomination if the rest of the votes in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee split along party lines.

North America should find plenty of outlets for its copious natural gas reserves, but some questions need to be clarified soon, such as whether to allow manufacturers to dictate how much supply remains onshore, or whether the free market fuels an export revolution, according to Statoil ASA’s chief economist.

A report by environmental group Earthworks on the Eagle Ford Shale alleges “reckless endangerment” by regulator Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ); however, TCEQ has fired back that Earthworks is being reckless with the facts of its monitoring and enforcement of drilling, hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and production in the region.

A FERC quarterly update of various regional efforts to coordinate natural gas and electric markets shows that the New England and Northeast generation markets will continue to be the most gas-dependent during the upcoming heating season.

Dominion Resources Inc. is well into the process to secure a partner to farm-out about 100,000 prospective liquids-rich acres in West Virginia, offering a can’t-lose proposition for both sides, a spokesman said last week.

Although the storms are gone, the troubles from historic flooding along the Front Range in Colorado are continuing as producers and operators try to fix the damage done by the record storms over the past week. Heading into the weekend, more than 1,500 wells were still shut in.

With the topic of water conservation moving into the national and international spotlight, the water usage of North America’s oil and gas shale development boom is being scrutinized as experts examine the issue. Some researchers are quick to point out that hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is one of the most water-intensive energy activities; others point out that fracking consumes far less water than power plants do.

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) best practices need to be improved, but the drilling practice can be done safely, according to Stanford University’s Steven Chu, who served as Energy Secretary during the first Obama administration.

The first of 16 methane emissions studies focusing on unconventional natural gas production and organized by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has been published and says that industry efforts to control emissions at well sites are having a significant impact.