Play

Tulsa-based oil and gas exploration and production company Samson Investment Co. could be in play, according to a Tuesday report by The Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed sources who said the company is “considering strategic options.” A deal could be worth as much as $10 billion, the paper said.

Houston’s ConocoPhillips, which is poised to become the largest pure-play independent in North America once it spins off its refining unit, said Ryan M. Lance will assume the chairman and CEO role when current chief Jim Mulva retires in 2012. Mulva, who has run the company since it merged with refining giant Phillips Petroleum Co. in 2002, plans to step down once the repositioning, announced in July, is complete (see NGI, July 18). Lance currently is senior vice president, exploration and production, international. Greg C. Garland was elected by the board to chair and become CEO of the new downstream company. Garland is currently senior vice president, exploration and production, Americas for ConocoPhillips.

As Ohio awaits results of preliminary Utica Shale wells, industry leaders told an audience in Columbus last week that the play, if successful, could revive the state’s manufacturing sector.

A new report that slams the natural gas industry and state regulators for “widespread violations of Arkansas clean water standards” in the Fayetteville Shale is based on old data and overlooks the fact that some of the report’s recommendations already have been implemented, state regulators told NGI’s Shale Daily.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) said it had reviewed air quality test results in the Barnett Shale that found trace amounts of a chemical compound once used widely as a pesticide, but said there is no danger to the public health and the chemical is unlikely to have come from oil and gas activities.

In a challenge that could have repercussions in small towns across Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, Range Resources on Tuesday filed an appeal of South Fayette Township’s ban on drilling in conservation areas and all residential zones, including suburban communities and rural farmland.

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.

On the heels of selling off much of its Barnett Shale assets to focus on the liquids-rich Eagle Ford Shale and Niobrara Formation, Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. is reporting record production rates from the second quarter of the year.

DCP Midstream Partners LP will construct a 200 MMcf/d natural gas processing plant in the Eagle Ford. The $120 million Eagle Plant project will be supported by a 15-year fee based agreement to process the company’s natural gas volumes. The facility, which will compliment the company’s five existing processing plants and capacity of 800 MMcf/d in South Texas, is expected to be completed during 4Q2012.