Pads

A district court judge has reconsidered her decision last month to pass a key surface rights case on to the highest court in West Virginia, the Supreme Court of Appeals.

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple on Monday signed into law a measure (HB 1134) offering tax breaks to oil and natural gas operators as an incentive to cut flaring of associated gas at the wellhead on oil wells. HB 1134 was passed last week by the North Dakota legislature. It will be effective July 1.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. intends to drill at least four Utica Shale test wells in Ohio this year, the Houston-based independent exploration and production company said Tuesday.

A pair of attorneys with extensive knowledge of New York’s regulatory, business and geological climates said the rules proposed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) governing high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) won’t hamper development of the state’s shale plays, and they believe permits will be issued soon.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter welcomed the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) and the Shale Gas Insight 2012 Conference last week, but he warned the industry to do more to earn the public’s trust that hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is safe.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told attendees of a Philadelphia clean energy conference that he believes hydraulic fracturing (fracking) can be done safely, but added that he supports the de facto moratorium on drilling in the Delaware River Basin and would even back a genuine one.

Only a fraction of the names listed on a citizen group’s petition citing concerns with the proposed Guardian Pipeline LLC and associated Wisconsin Gas lateral are landowners that would be affected by the construction of the projects, the companies said.