Permitted

A recent settlement of a case involving one of the first shale gas wells in the Delaware River Basin will change the way future Marcellus Shale wells are permitted in that region.

Because of increased flow on Algonquin and its resulting ability to blend additional supplies, Millennium said it was permitted Thursday to increase deliveries from 250,000 Dth/d to 325,000 Dth/d. Millennium said it planned to carry out the scheduled work Friday aimed at improving its moisture levels and restoring the Ramapo delivery point into Algonquin to full capacity.

Export of liquefied U.S. natural gas from the Gulf Coast drew another step closer to reality last week as Cheniere Energy Partners LP unit Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC said it had struck its second sale and purchase contract — with Gas Natural Aprovisionamientos, a unit of Gas Natural Fenosa.

The U.S. Circuit Court for the Tenth Circuit Friday reversed a lower court’s decision permanently enjoining enforcement of the Clinton administration’s “roadless rule,” which places restrictions on energy exploration and production, logging and other commercial activities on more than 58 million acres of forest lands.

New York’s registered voters favor the economic benefits of drilling in the Marcellus Shale more than they fear environmental problems, according to a poll released on Thursday by Quinnipiac University. All voters — Republicans, Democrats and Independents — also favor taxing gas producers.

Voters are nearly evenly split about the New York Department of Conservation’s (DEC) proposed recommendations to allow hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) in a portion of the state’s Marcellus Shale, with 45% in support of drilling and 43% opposed, according to a poll of registered voters released on Thursday by the Siena College Research Institute.

Gulfport Energy Corp. announced Monday that it has expanded its acreage position in the eastern Ohio portion of the Utica Shale play.

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed a bill that would have permitted offshore natural gas drilling to move forward, and instead issued two executive orders creating an offshore wind task force and a scientific advisory panel on energy.

Chief Oil & Gas LLC announced Thursday that separate investigations by the company and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) have concluded that Chief is not responsible for contaminating the water well of a woman in Bradford County, PA, who went on to become a vocal critic of hydraulic fracturing (fracking).