Operations

The Buckeye Water District (BWD), a utility based in Columbiana County, OH, agreed to supply water for at least three years to a subsidiary of Rex Energy Corp. for oil and natural gas drilling in neighboring Carroll County, OH, the most prolific in the Utica Shale.

Aurora Oil & Gas Ltd. has begun drilling activities earlier than expected on its recently acquired Eagle Ford Shale acreage, the Australia-based company said Monday.

James J. Kleckner has been promoted to executive vice president of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s international and deepwater operations and will join the executive committee, replacing Doug Lawler, who is to become CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp. (see Daily GPI, May 21). Kleckner has been running Anadarko’s Rockies division, and the promotion “is a reflection of his global operational skills,” as well as his “instrumental role in the phenomenal growth of the Wattenberg field in Colorado and the Greater Natural Buttes area in Utah,” said CEO Al Walker. Kleckner, a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines, began his career in 1981 with Sun Oil Co. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and the American Petroleum Institute.

In an attempt to lure foreign investment back to its shale natural gas plays following several high profile defections, the country’s finance minister said a severance tax on unconventional production will take effect in 2015 but no tax would be levied until 2020.

BG Group strategy going forward will be to run with a simplified organization while improving operations and portfolio management. Exploration is at the “heart” of what BG Group does, Group CEO Chris Finlayson said last week. But global liquefied natural gas (LNG) also is crucial to growth, he said.

Three storms in March failed to deter oil and natural gas operations in North Dakota, which set new all-time highs for the month, according to the latest statistics from the state Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).

BG Group strategy going forward will be to run with a simplified organization while improving operations and portfolio management. Exploration is at the “heart” of what BG Group does, Group Chief Executive Chris Finlayson said Tuesday. But global liquefied natural gas (LNG) also is crucial to growth, he said.

Houston’s Plains Exploration & Production Co. is building a facility in Broussard, LA, to support its deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) operations, according to the Lafayette Economic Development Authority (LEDA).

Three bills that if enacted would place a moratorium on using hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in drilling operations, as well as review oil and gas drilling practices, have advanced in the California legislature along partisan lines in a body dominated by Democrats.