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Dallas-based Summit Midstream Partners LP (SMLP) is buying two shale gas gathering systems — one in the Bakken and the other in the Marcellus — in two deals worth a combined $460 million. The Marcellus transaction marks the company’s entry into the play.

Like other cities and its own county in Colorado, the Boulder City Council is set to consider two actions related to the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on open space within the city limits.

ExxonMobil Corp., Chevron Corp., BP plc and super independent ConocoPhillips are expected to lead all other exploration and production (E&P) spenders in the United States this year, with capital expenditures (capex) on average about 5% higher than in 2012, according to a survey by Barclays Capital. Last year’s No. 2 spender, Chesapeake Energy Corp., dropped to No. 5 after cutting its exploration plans.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is initiating an environmental analysis evaluating the impacts of seismic and other geological and geophysical activities involved in oil and gas development and the potential siting of wind turbines in the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf and adjacent state waters.

The Crestwood and Inergy companies are merging to create a $7 billion midstream business that will serve numerous big-name North American unconventional plays with existing assets and additional infrastructure to be developed or acquired, they said Monday.

Energen Corp. management said the first quarter of 2013 was “both encouraging and challenging” as test wells in the Third Bone Spring and Wolfberry formations of the Permian Basin performed well, but cold weather and interference issues worked against the company as profits fell slightly.

Contrary to a media report, there is no time frame for when a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc will make a decision over whether to build a proposed “world scale” ethane cracker in western Pennsylvania, state and company officials told NGI’s Shale Daily.

The cash market overall retreated 28 cents Wednesday, but if multi-dollar swan dives taken by Northeast and other thinly traded points are excluded, the drop comes to a more meaningful 11 cents. Nearly all points sustained sizeable losses. Midcontinent and California locations were down by double digits, but Gulf points also weakened. At the close of futures trading May had fallen 6.9 cents to $3.900 and June was off by 6.9 cents as well to $3.950. May crude oil plunged $2.74 to $94.45 on unsupportive inventory data and weak economic news.

TransCanada Corp. Tuesday gave a name and targets to its promised plan to convert part of its aging, half-empty natural gas Mainline to oil service.