Potential

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. Wednesday said it plans to test for the first time the potential of the deep Pearsall Shale formation in South Texas after agreeing to pay $2.35 million to buy an additional 1,885 net mineral acres in Atascosa County.

The Alaska Pipeline Project (APP), a venture of TransCanada Corp. and ExxonMobil Corp., is holding a nonbinding solicitation of interest for capacity on a potential pipeline to carry Alaska North Slope gas.

Residents of Pittsburgh and the 32-county area surrounding it believe drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale is both an economic opportunity for the region and a potential environmental and public health threat, according to the results of a recent survey conducted by PittsburghToday and the staff of the University of Pittsburgh’s University Center for Social and Urban Research.

The Alaska Pipeline Project (APP), a venture of TransCanada Corp. and ExxonMobil Corp., is holding a nonbinding solicitation of interest for capacity on a potential pipeline to carry Alaska North Slope gas.

Concerns over natural gas development and its potential to cause earthquakes continue to linger in Johnson County, TX, after the area has experienced about 10 modest quakes during the last month.

While the potential is widely recognized, a shale boom in Mexico akin to the rest of North America is unlikely any time soon, an analyst with the Houston office of Wood Mackenzie told NGI.

The number of “felt” manmade earthquakes induced by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in oil and natural gas operations is negligible, the chair of a major report on seismicity activity told a Senate panel Tuesday. However the disposal of the water associated with fracking of shale gas wells is linked to increased quake activity, an official with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Wyoming Oil and Gas Supervisor Tom Doll suddenly resigned Thursday, Gov. Matt Mead’s office announced late in the day. The resignation came a little more than a week after Doll publicly lambasted the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its handling of the well water and natural gas drilling case near Pavillion, WY, that has evolved into lingering state-federal issue.

ExxonMobil Chemical recently made a regulatory filing to add a multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker and other facilities at its Baytown, TX, chemicals complex with the intention of taking advantage of cheap ethane being thrown off by liquids-rich shale gas plays.