Operating

ExxonMobil Corp. now has about 51 natural gas and oil rigs operating in the U.S. onshore, which is down from the 57 rigs it averaged from April through May and well below the rig count a year ago, Investor relations chief David Rosenthal told analysts on Thursday.

ExxonMobil Corp. now has about 51 natural gas and oil rigs operating in the U.S. onshore, which is down from the 57 rigs it averaged from April through May and well below the rig count a year ago, Investor relations chief David Rosenthal told analysts on Thursday.

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.

The backer of a bid to hike the severance tax levied on natural gas producers operating in Arkansas last week submitted 69,717 signatures to a petition to get the initiative placed on the November ballot. Former gas utility executive Sheffield Nelson needed to gather 62,507 signatures. The signatures gathered have not yet been reviewed and could be challenged. Nelson wants to hike the severance tax to 7% from the current range of 1.25-5%. His opponents include energy industry members as well as the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce and anti-tax hike group Arkansas for Jobs and Affordable Energy. Nelson, a Republican who was a chairman of Arkla Inc. and a two-time gubernatorial candidate, is the leader of the Committee for a Fair Severance Tax (see Shale Daily, June 29).

The Carlyle Group LP and Sunoco Inc. last week stepped up with an ambitious plan to keep the doors open at the oldest continuously operating refinery on the East Coast by using the gassy Marcellus Shale that surrounds the refinery and the oily Bakken Shale, which could provide up to 140,000 b/d of low-cost fuel supplies.

The Carlyle Group LP and Sunoco Inc. on Monday stepped up with an ambitious plan to keep the doors open at the oldest continuously operating refinery on the East Coast. The new venture is eyeing growth from the gassy Marcellus Shale that surrounds the refinery, while the oily Bakken Shale would provide up to 140,000 b/d of low-cost fuel supplies.

Calgary-based Talisman Energy is abandoning a project it had considered with Sasol Canada to develop Canada’s first gas-to-liquids (GTL) facility to create transportation fuels from natural gas.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is operating under a “misperception of initial production from gas wells,” which “has led to a drastic overestimate of methane emissions from hydraulically fractured [fracked] natural gas wells,” according to Darren Smith, environmental manager for Devon Energy Corp.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is operating under a “misperception of initial production from gas wells,” which “has led to a drastic overestimate of methane emissions from hydraulically fractured [fracked] natural gas wells,” according to Darren Smith, environmental manager for Devon Energy Corp.