Opportunities

While the opportunities associated with shale gas are “quite great,” an executive with a leading global investment firm Thursday cautioned industry about the “current euphoria around shale,” saying it could be “wrong-minded” if the challenges are not considered.

Unconventional plays in North America will be ConocoPhillips’ priority going forward, with the focus on fields rich in liquids and oil, CFO Jeff Sheets said Wednesday.

With activity heating up in several Permian Basin shale plays, Houston-based start-up Nuevo Midstream, LLC announced Wednesday it has secured a $65 million equity commitment to develop midstream infrastructure for natural gas producers in the Permian.

After rebranding itself last year and finishing a transformation into “a significant resource play company,” SM Energy Co. plans to step up development in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas and the Bakken-Three Forks formation while it hopes to sell down Eagle Ford assets, secure a joint venture (JV) partner in the Haynesville Shale and exit the Marcellus Shale.

The “fundamentals” for oil and gas remain unchanged, but new opportunities have arisen because of “technology or changed circumstances,” Schlumberger Ltd. CEO Andrew Gould said Monday.

The Maryland House of Delegates has approved a bill that would freeze the permitting of Marcellus Shale drilling until 2013 while state agencies review the results of various studies into Marcellus development and hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking), including a major study being performed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (see Shale Daily, Feb. 24).

While Talisman Energy Inc. has a diverse portfolio of international exploration and production (E&P) interests, in North America the company is focused largely on the Marcellus, Montney and Eagle Ford shales, plays in which its activities are in various stages of development. In the Marcellus, where its shale activities are the most mature, Talisman is enjoying improved well results as it continues to learn the play.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. last year ramped up its activity in the Spraberry Field of West Texas and the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas, both of which were drivers for growth in 2010.

Energy regulators must operate independently of both industry and environmental groups, led only by facts and the rule of law, said Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary John Hanger, who leaves office this month after a tenure of more than two years during which activity in the state’s Marcellus Shale mushroomed.