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The Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), which was created to referee contested cases, will hold a hearing July 12 in Gainesville, TX, on EOG Resources Inc.’s application for an air permit to build a plant to process sand to be used primarily to hydraulically fracture (frack) oil and natural gas wells.

WPX Energy Inc. said it has determined through isotopic testing that four contaminated drinking water wells in Susquehanna County, PA, were fouled by naturally occurring methane and not by Marcellus Shale drilling.

The integration of Illinois-based Nicor Inc. to form the largest distribution-only natural gas utility operation in the nation went off without a hitch in the first quarter (see Daily GPI, Dec. 8, 2011) but financial results were pressured by unseasonable winter weather, AGL Resources Inc. CEO John Somerhalder told financial analysts Tuesday.

In what can only be called a sign of the times for North American imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), consultancy Pan EurAsian Enterprises Inc. said Monday it is no longer going to bother tracking daily sendout from nearly a dozen terminals. “There is a lot else going on in the world of global LNG that should be getting more of our attention,” the firm told clients in a note.

Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s board of directors Thursday was working with CEO Aubrey McClendon to terminate early the Founder Well Participation Program (FWPP) in which the CEO has a contractual right to participate and invest up to a 2.5% working interest in every new well the company drills.

With only a few exceptions all points rose Thursday with eastern points registering the strongest gains and weakness limited to a few points in the West.

The energy industry — thanks to advances in drilling and production techniques resulting in growing natural gas and oil supplies — can lift the U.S. economy out of its doldrums, but only if government regulation and permitting requirements don’t get in the way, speakers at a recent industry conference in Houston said.

The energy industry — thanks to advances in drilling and production techniques resulting in growing natural gas and oil supplies — can lift the U.S. economy out of its doldrums, but only if government regulation and permitting requirements don’t get in the way, speakers at a recent industry conference in Houston said.

Among assets slated to be sold by Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) to win antitrust clearance for its acquisition of El Paso Energy Corp., the “only meaningful” buys are the 50% stake in the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) and KMI’s Kinder Morgan Interstate Gas Transmission (KMIGT), an industry analyst said Friday. And it’s not because of what they are now, but what they could become.