Operated

With dry gas supplies ballooning, it’s probably a good thing that the industry grew demonstrated peak working capacity in underground storage caverns last year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). From April 2011 to April 2012, Lower 48 state capacity increased 3%, or 136 Bcf, to 4,239 Bcf, according to a new EIA report.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has reduced its natural gas-operated rig count in the Marcellus Shale and in the Greater Natural Buttes of Utah to put more mechanical muscle into the oily Wattenberg field of Colorado, which is delivering the highest rates of return (ROR) in the U.S. onshore portfolio, said CEO Al Walker.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has reduced its natural gas-operated rig count in the Marcellus Shale and in the Greater Natural Buttes of Utah to put more mechanical muscle into the oily Wattenberg field of Colorado, which is delivering the highest rates of return (ROR) in the U.S. onshore portfolio, said CEO Al Walker.

A series of recent reports highlights the economic benefits of the burgeoning gas industry in eastern Ohio’s Utica and Marcellus shales and, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, shale energy “has the potential to be an economic game-changer” for the state and the nation.

Australian subsidiaries of Chevron Corp. and Apache Corp. and their partners have agreed to sell liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the under construction Chevron-operated Wheatstone Project in Western Australia to Japan’s Tohoku Electric Power Co. Inc.

BHP Billiton has agreed to provide $708 million in pre-commitment funding for phase two of the BP plc-operated Mad Dog project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

Although at times it has operated bidirectionally, TransCanada has made its Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) pipeline from western Canada to California a two-way line with the establishment of an agreement with El Paso’s Ruby Pipeline, which interconnects with GTN in southeast Oregon, a Houston-based spokesperson confirmed Friday.

Cardinal Midstream LLC has brought a third cryogenic gas processing plant online in the Arkoma Woodford Shale, and it now has 220 MMcf/d of operated cryogenic processing capacity in the Oklahoma play. The new Tupelo Plant in Coal County, OK, is capable of processing 120 MMcf/d. Cardinal’s Coalgate Plant, an 80 MMcf/d facility, is adjacent to Tupelo, and the Atoka Plant in Atoka County, has a capacity of 20 MMcf/d. Cardinal Midstream President R. Mack Lawrence said the company was expanding its gathering system and “evaluating further processing capacity expansions given the level of drilling activity on dedicated acreage and the quality and production volume we’re seeing from the rich gas wells in the play.”

MDU Resources Group Inc.’s Fidelity Exploration & Production Co. has set a new Bakken Shale production record of 3,500 net boe/d from its operated wells. Including nonoperated wells, production exceeds 5,000 net boe/d, the company said Monday.