Patch

Far from the oil and gas patch in a seaside annex to Hollywood, CA, independent filmmakers are working on documentaries that attempt to push back at critics of the industry. FrackNation, a pro-hydraulic fracturing (fracking) documentary under way, questions information in the controversial 2011 Academy Award-nominated Gasland, as well as creator Josh Fox, who is now pursuing a sequel.

A newly formed Texas company is buying liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fueled trucks and deploying them in the state’s oil and gas patch under the banner Green Energy Oilfield Services.

Executives at drilling and pressure pumping contractor Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. have experienced a seasonal slowdown in the northeastern U.S. energy patch, they told financial analysts during an earnings conference call.

Signs in the natural gas patch that drilling will be slowed or halted in some basins, and reports of decreased pipeline volumes flowing east are being watched out West, but California energy officials for are not concerned about shortages and price spikes on the horizon. Analysts at the California Energy Commission (CEC) said they are not ready to alter any of their forecasts for 2012.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., one of the biggest deal makers in the U.S. energy patch, has secured more funding for its onshore exploration and production program after it agreed to sell its natural gas pipeline gathering system in the Marcellus Shale to an affiliate for $865 million, analysts said.

Texas regulators Wednesday approved new air emissions rules affecting producers in the Barnett Shale of North Texas. Industry groups have said the rules are too strict, while environmentalists said they don’t go far enough.

The chair of the Railroad Commission of Texas has directed commission staff to look into its existing rules on water recycling in the oil and gas patch. “If we need to streamline our old rules and make amendments where necessary to encourage companies to expand their recycling activities, then that is what we will do,” said Chair Elizabeth Ames Jones. “…[W]e must maintain that hydraulic fracturing can continue to benefit Texas by allowing companies to manage water use and conserve when possible as it relates to this process of energy production.”

Contract driller Helmerich & Payne Inc. has been repositioning its rig fleet or the last 10 years, well in advance of the shale revolution that has swept the oil and gas patch. Back then it wasn’t known how well suited the firm’s FlexRigs would be to horizontal drilling in the shales. As it turns out, they work quite well, H&P CEO Hans Helmerich told financial analysts during a fiscal fourth quarter earnings conference call.

Contract driller Helmerich & Payne Inc. has been repositioning its rig fleet or the last 10 years, well in advance of the shale revolution that has swept the oil and gas patch. Back then it wasn’t known how well suited the firm’s FlexRigs would be to horizontal drilling in the shales. As it turns out, they work quite well, H&P CEO Hans Helmerich told financial analysts during a fiscal fourth quarter earnings conference call.