Plugged

With increasing national news media and regulatory attention and despite ExxonMobil’s assurances that everything is under control at a plugged oil spill near Little Rock, AR, hardened opposition and skeptical stakeholders in the high-stakes business of finding markets for Western Canada’s heavy tar sands-based crude oil are raising red flags, as evidenced in California this week.

Utica Shale operators are discovering that with some patience and seasoning, estimated ultimate recoveries (EUR) for liquids reserves appear to move higher.

The re-emerging Mississippian Lime may be cheaper to drill than in some deeper formations, but an abundance of produced water has created a flood of innovative solutions by some operators.

Calling them a model for other states, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) on Tuesday unanimously approved new rules for the disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking), including trade secret protections sought by the oil and gas industry. The Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) said the state “now has the strongest hydraulic fracturing rule in the country,” and environmental groups praised the action.

As Pennsylvania lawmakers move to increase the bonding requirements for shale operators, a new Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) study questions whether bonding adequately ensures reclamation.

Arkansas regulators Wednesday afternoon established a permanent moratorium area for any new drilling wastewater injection wells in an area of the Fayetteville Shale where four such wells are thought to have contributed to earthquakes.

An estimated $1.2 billion in economic output and 17,000 jobs will be lost in the Gulf Coast states by the end of the year even if the spewing oil flow is permanently plugged by next month, according to a report issued by Moody’s Analytics Monday.

“Significant web-based investments directed at residential consumers can only be justified on the basis of faith–not rational financial analysis,” according to a survey by Primen which found virtually no consumers interacting with energy companies on the internet.