Permit

The U.S. Forest Service on Thursday withdrew its decision to not permit oil and natural gas drilling in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in the Wyoming Range.

Natural gas liquids (NGL) production from the Woodford Shale, Cana-Woodford Shale and Granite Wash, as well as NGL market developments in the Gulf Coast, have inspired ONEOK Partners LP to announce plans to spend $910 million to $1.2 billion between now and late 2013 on new liquids infrastructure.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) issued its ninth permit for drilling in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico — this time to Murphy Exploration & Production Co. to drill well No. A008 in Green Canyon Block 338 in 3,325 feet of water, 170 miles southwest of New Orleans. Murphy’s well No. A008 is a sidetrack well, which will be drilled to a new geologic target or a new location within the original target from the existing wellbore, according to BOEM. The operator had a rig on location when drilling activities in the Gulf were suspended following the blowout of BP plc’s Macondo well. Murphy has contracted with Helix Well Containment Group to stop the flow of oil in the event of a blowout.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has granted Port Dolphin Energy LLC an environmental permit for its offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal. When the project is completed, vessels operated by Port Dolphin parent Hoegh LNG of Norway will return LNG to a gaseous state onboard and move natural gas through the terminal’s pipeline. State lawmakers voted in November to authorize issuance of a long-term easement on state-owned submerged lands to accommodate the undersea pipeline. Port Dolphin received its federal deepwater port license in October 2009 and a certificate of public necessity and convenience from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in December 2009.

The Bridger-Teton National Forest will not permit natural gas and oil drilling on 70 square miles of the Wyoming Range, a U.S. Forest Service (USFS) supervisor said last week.

The Bridger-Teton National Forest will not permit natural gas and oil drilling on 70 square miles of the Wyoming Range, a U.S. Forest supervisor said Tuesday.

Apache Corp. said the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement approved a permit to enable the company to resume plugging and abandonment operations at East Cameron Block 278 Platform B in the Gulf of Mexico. Operations were suspended when a leak was discovered Sunday morning by an Apache crew, which saw bubbling near the platform (see Daily GPI, Jan. 20). Air monitoring equipment found no traces of gas emissions on the facility and power had been restored to assure safe operations, the company said Thursday. The depleted gas field is in water depths of 168 feet about 95 miles south of Cameron, LA. Apache acquired East Cameron 278 in 2003. The development of the wells and installation of the platform occurred in the 1990s by prior owner-operators. Apache holds a 50% working interest, with Stone Energy holding the remaining working interest.

The Town Council of Flower Mound, TX, which sits atop the Barnett Shale, has combined two existed drilling permit moratoriums into one and extended it until April 15 while it awaits an advisory board’s report on oil and natural gas development activities in the town.

Fort Worth, TX-based Quicksilver Resources Inc. has entered into a confidentiality agreement with a group of investors that includes Quicksilver CEO Glenn Darden, Chairman Thomas Darden and the Darden family-controlled Quicksilver Energy LP. The group may seek to take Quicksilver private.