Procedures

GMX Resources Inc. (GMXR) announced Monday that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and is looking to finalize an asset purchase agreement with holders of the company’s senior secured notes to acquire all of GMXR’s operating assets and undeveloped acreage.

Water well testing procedures used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) near natural gas drilling sites in Pavillion, WY, were flawed, leading to results that failed to account for naturally occurring chemicals, Encana Corp. officials claimed on Tuesday.

An administrative law judge (ALJ) at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has released a proposed decision outlining the procedures for eliminating current restrictions on the operating pressures of major natural gas transmission pipelines operated by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) in the wake of last year’s San Bruno pipe rupture and explosion. The ALJ also denied a recommendation by PG&E for raising future pipe pressures.

Talisman Energy Inc. temporarily shut down all hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations in North America while it investigated a well control incident that occurred Jan. 17 at a Talisman natural gas well on state forest land in Tioga County, PA, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said Tuesday. DEP is conducting a separate investigation of the incident.

FERC on Thursday established a new inflationary adjustment, or price index formula, that will increase the ceiling levels on rates for pipelines carrying crude oil and petroleum products, including natural gas liquids (RM10-25).

Eight out of nine major national and regional hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) service providers have agreed to submit “timely and complete information” to help the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conduct its study on hydrofracking and its impact on drinking water quality, the EPA said Tuesday. Halliburton, after failing to comply with the agency’s voluntary requests for information, has been subpoenaed.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is investigating a Tuesday fire at a natural gas well pad in Susquehanna County. There were no injuries nor significant contamination, DEP said.

EnCana Corp. instituted new safety procedures and conducted a risk assessment review at 500 drilling sites ahead of a report issued Thursday by the British Columbia (BC) Oil and Gas Commission (OGC) that said the producer failed to properly execute its emergency response plan following a natural gas leak last November at a shale drilling site.

EnCana Corp. instituted new safety procedures and conducted a risk assessment review at 500 drilling sites ahead of a report issued Thursday by the British Columbia (BC) Oil and Gas Commission (OGC) that said the producer failed to properly execute its emergency response plan following a natural gas leak last November at a shale drilling site.