Plays

With production out of the nation’s shale plays holding down natural gas prices and electricity generation becoming ever more dependent on inexpensive gas, coordination between the two markets will continue to be a top priority and a series of other issues need to be resolved, according to panelists at the Energy Bar Association (EBA) Mid-Year conference in Washington, DC, Friday.

The Mancos Shale plays in the Piceance and San Juan basins in Colorado and New Mexico are a potential gold mine of low-cost natural gas supplies, according to an executive from Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp., who spoke Wednesday to Wall Street analysts at the J.P. Morgan SMid Cap Conference.

Looking to support local oil and natural gas development operations in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays, Valerus and Brilex Industries have established a partnership to manufacture oil and gas production equipment in Youngstown, OH, for building surface facilities operating in the shales.

Development of the nation’s shale natural gas plays may be a thankless job for producers today, but its value will pay off in the years to come, according to the CEO of Chief Oil & Gas LLC, who hopes to expand his company’s presence in the Marcellus and Utica shales.

Development of the nation’s shale natural gas plays may be a thankless job for producers today, but its value will pay off in the years to come, according to the CEO of Chief Oil & Gas LLC, who hopes to expand his company’s presence in the Marcellus and Utica shales.

Following a few reporting snafus in its biannual oil and natural gas production report released in August, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has added a click-through disclaimer notice on the Marcellus Shale production section of its website noting that the agency “expressly disclaims any liability for errors or omissions related to the production data” contained within the reports.

U.S. shale plays are on the right track, regulation-wise, even regarding hydraulic fracturing (fracking), according to oil and natural gas professionals surveyed recently by Deloitte LLP.

Inergy Midstream LP announced Monday that it plans to purchase Rangeland Energy LLC — which owns and operates the Colt crude oil rail terminal, storage and pipeline facilities near Epping, ND, in the Bakken and Three Forks shale — in a cash and stock deal valued at $425 million.

New Brunswick should require a portion of any natural gas found in its shale plays be set aside for use in the province and should put in place a water use strategy for the shale gas industry, but it should not place a moratorium on the industry, according to a report by Louis LaPierre, a professor emeritus in biology at the University of Moncton.