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The Senate Thursday confirmed Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ending a four-month long stalemate between Republicans and Democrats over her controversial nomination.

Steel manufacturer Nucor Corp. said it plans to spend more than $700 million on natural gas drilling over a two-year period to meet its contractual obligations with Encana Corp. for low-cost gas supplies.

Output from the nation’s shale plays has ballooned domestic natural gas production over the past few years, but the industry, and the country, have yet to fully embrace all that the paradigm shift entails, said Rick Smead, a director in Navigant Consulting Inc.’s energy practice.

BP plc last week launched a Gulf Claims Fraud Hotline “to help protect the integrity of the claims processes” related to the 2010 Macondo well blowout and Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The United States could produce 5 million b/d from shale oil deposits by 2017 and may become the world’s largest oil producer — reaching up to 16 million b/d in just a few years by combining shale with conventional oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and biofuels, according to a researcher at Harvard Kennedy School.

With a flat U.S. horizontal rig count and a lower-priced backlog still to be worked through, the oilfield services sector didn’t have a lot of “classic” catalysts to propel them in 2Q2013, according to a preview by Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH).

While acknowledging that rail shipments are a vital part of the burgeoning Bakken Shale play, North Dakota energy officials on Monday refused to speculate on the eventual impact of the oil rail car derailment and fire in Quebec, Canada, on their state’s soaring production (see Shale Daily, July 16).

Oilfield services giant Nabors Industries Ltd. last week warned that operating results for the second quarter will fall below consensus estimates because of a “pronounced” shortfall in the pressure pumping and top drive completion service lines.

U.S. domestic crude oil production is at its highest level in 20 years, outstripping pipeline capacity and, increasingly, making its way to refineries and storage centers via railroads, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).