Pioneer

Houston-based Fayetteville Shale pioneer Southwestern Energy Co. took a hit last quarter from low natural gas prices in the form of a large ceiling test impairment and lower operating income.

Houston-based Fayetteville Shale pioneer Southwestern Energy Co. took a hit last quarter from low natural gas prices in the form of a large ceiling test impairment and lower operating income.

Atlas Pipeline Mid-Continent WestTex LLC and Pioneer Natural Resources USA Inc. have filed a joint application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for approval by Oct. 1 to build a natural gas pipeline from a proposed Permian Basin cryogenic gas processing plant that is due to go into service in early 2013. The proposed 10.2-mile pipeline in Midland, TX, would transport 150 MMcf/d of pipeline-quality gas to interconnections with Northern Natural Gas and two intrastate pipelines owned by Atmos Energy Corp. and Enterprise Products Partners LP. The so-called Driver Plant is being built in two phases (see NGI, Nov. 21, 2011). The first phase would have the capacity to handle 100 MMcf/d and is expected to begin service in 1Q2013; the second phase would add 100 MMcf/d with a target date of 1Q2014. Completion of both phases would increase capacity at the WestTex facility from 255 MMcf/d to 455 MMcf/d at an estimated cost of about $200 million.

The Norwegian pioneer of going to northern offshore extremes for production and exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has set out to transplant the industrial frontier arts to Canada.

Range Resources Corp., an early pioneer in the Barnett Shale that has since taken its estimable talents to the Marcellus, on Wednesday saw its share price jump almost 20% in early trading after reports surfaced that Royal Dutch Shell plc or another major oil company might make a bid for the company.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has given Australia’s BHP Billiton Ltd. and shale patch pioneer Petrohawk Energy Corp. the final necessary regulatory green light for their proposed $12.1 billion merger, concluding that the deal poses no national security issues of concern, the companies said.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has given Australia’s BHP Billiton Ltd. and shale patch pioneer Petrohawk Energy Corp. the final necessary regulatory green light for their proposed $12.1 billion merger, concluding that the deal poses no national security issues of concern, the companies said.

A voluntary first-in-the-nation effort to start a baseline groundwater quality sampling program before and after drilling was announced Tuesday as a joint effort among oil/gas producers, Gov. John Hickenlooper and the state Department of Natural Resources at an annual energy conference in Denver hosted by the Colorado Oil & Gas Association (COGA).

Fayetteville Shale pioneer Southwestern Energy Co. has been branching out to Appalachia’s Marcellus Shale; to New Brunswick, Canada; and to the Lower Smackover Brown Dense formation, an unconventional oil reservoir in southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana. Right now company executives are most enthusiastic about the latter, which Southwestern has been working on for more than two years.