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The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said natural gas production in Pennsylvania increased 69% in 2012, despite a reduction in drilling activity.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM)’s Buffalo Field Office in Wyoming has approved Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s Crazy Cat East oil and natural gas drilling project about 40 miles south of Buffalo in North Central Wyoming.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon’s controversial financing transactions “did not reveal any improper benefit” to him nor did they increases costs to the company “as a result of the overlap in financial relationships,” the board of directors said Wednesday.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Region 6 office in Dallas is holding a volunteer effort through Feb. 28 to train exploration and production workers about health and safety issues at sites in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The National Service, Transmission, Exploration & Production Safety Network, commonly known as STEPS, is participating. Participating companies may choose to hold training events at their work sites with OSHA materials. A commitment form and training tools to conduct job site inspections is available online through the OSHA Education Center at the University of Texas Arlington website.

The New Mexico State Land Office pulled in $2.39 million in proceeds Tuesday from its January oil and natural gas lease sale, which covered slightly more than 7,200 acres. Those numbers vary with the state’s December and November proceeds last year, which were $5.8 million and $3.85 million, respectively, for about 10,000 acres in each case (see Daily GPI, Nov. 28, 2012).

The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in Rawlins, WY, announced that it will hold a public open house next Tuesday and extend the public comment period into March on a draft environmental assessment for the proposed expansion of natural gas drilling in two counties.

The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in Rawlins, WY, announced that it will hold a public open house next Tuesday and extend the public comment period into March on a draft environmental assessment for the proposed expansion of natural gas drilling in two counties.

BP plc plans to begin drilling the first of 10 appraisal wells in Trumbull County, OH, next April, but developing eastern Ohio’s portion of the Utica Shale may be hampered by a lack of pipeline infrastructure, officials said this week.

With protesters opposed to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) outside, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) California office held a lease auction last Wednesday on 15 oil/natural gas parcels in Monterey and two adjoining counties, selling all of the parcels and pulling in $104,000, including administrative fees.