Owed

Natural gas producers in Pennsylvania have paid most of the $202.7 million owed under the drilling impact fee enacted under Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. filed a lawsuit against former partner Gastar Exploration Ltd., alleging that it is owed $130 million from a failed joint venture in Texas.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) said natural gas producers have paid most of nearly $206 million owed under the drilling impact fee enacted under Act 13, surging past the $180 million that the state had estimated it would take in this year from its new omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) said Monday that natural gas producers have paid most of about $206 million owed under the drilling impact fee enacted under Act 13, surging past the $180 million the state thought it would take in this year from its new omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) said Monday that natural gas producers have paid most of about $206 million owed under the drilling impact fee enacted under Act 13, surging past the $180 million the state thought it would take in this year from its new omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

Shell Offshore Inc. has agreed to pay $25 million to resolve claims that it underpaid royalties owed on oil and natural gas produced from federal leases, Interior Department’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) said Tuesday.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. is buying BP America Production Co.’s 93% interest in the Wattenberg Processing Plant for $575.5 million. The plant in Adams County in northeast Colorado can process up to 195 MMcf/d of natural gas and 15,000 b/d of natural gas liquids and gas condensate. Upon closing Anadarko will operate and have 100% ownership. Anadarko volumes represent about 70% of plant throughput, said Chuck Meloy, Anadarko senior vice president of worldwide operations. “We are the largest producer in the Wattenberg field, with current sales volumes of approximately 63,000 boe/d, and our early efforts in the emerging horizontal Niobrara play are very encouraging,” Meloy said. The transaction is expected to close by mid-year, subject to regulatory approvals and contractual conditions.

The Alabama Supreme Court has struck down a lower court ruling that ExxonMobil Corp. owed the state $3.6 billion for fraud and for underpaying the state in a contract dispute over natural gas pumped from Alabama-owned waters in Mobile Bay.

A federal court in Washington, DC, Thursday deferred to the Interior Department’s interpretation of which costs can be deducted when producers calculate royalties owed for the production of natural gas on federal lands.