In an attempt to lure foreign investment back to its shale natural gas plays following several high profile defections, the country’s finance minister said a severance tax on unconventional production will take effect in 2015 but no tax would be levied until 2020.
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Penn Virginia Makes Its Big Eagle Ford Buy
Penn Virginia Corp. (PVA) is opening its Eagle Ford Shale oil window wider with the acquisition of 40,600 gross acres (19,000 net) in Gonzales and Lavaca counties, TX, for $401 million from Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. (MHR), which has set its sights, in part, on the Pearsall Shale.
Marcellus Is Still Golden Child Among Cabot’s Plays
Despite a year of languishing natural gas prices, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. annual revenues for the first time surpassed $1 billion in 2012. Cash flow set records as proved reserves grew by 27% to 3.8 Tcf on organic growth that replaced 417% of record production. The Marcellus Shale gave much despite infrastructure challenges.

SM Energy Targeting Eagle Ford, Bakken/Three Forks, Permian
SM Energy said Wednesday that next year it will spend 90% of its planned drilling and completions budget of $1.2 billion on its Eagle Ford, Bakken/Three Forks and Permian Basin programs.
Enbridge: Bakken Trains Having Their Day, For Now
The proliferation of rail-based crude oil transport in the Bakken Shale and elsewhere has not gone unnoticed by pipeliner Enbridge Inc. “It’s an agile…way of getting to market,” Enbridge’s Stephen John Wuori, president of the liquids pipeline business, said. However, “…rail movements can and will get turned off in a day if differentials collapse.”
Perryville Hub Services Evolving with Market
The Perryville Hub in North Louisiana continues to raise its profile in the Gulf Coast region on the shoulders of Midcontinent shale gas production and growing gas-fired power generation demand in the Southeast. Pipeline operators are responding with efforts to streamline trading at the location with the expectation that it will become the supply-demand crossroads for shale gas and power plants.
Pipelines Making Perryville a Shale-Power Link
The Perryville Hub in North Louisiana continues to raise its profile in the Gulf Coast region on the shoulders of Midcontinent shale gas production and growing gas-fired power generation demand in the Southeast. Pipeline operators are responding with efforts to streamline trading at the location with the expectation that it will become the supply-demand crossroads for shale gas and power plants.
Pipelines Tying Shales to Power at Perryville
The Perryville Hub in North Louisiana continues to raise its profile in the Gulf Coast region on the shoulders of Midcontinent shale gas production and growing gas-fired power generation demand in the Southeast. Pipeline operators are responding with efforts to streamline trading at the location with the expectation that it will become the supply-demand crossroads for shale gas and power plants.
Wyoming Governor Pushes for Coal Gasification Projects
Harkening back to an abandoned, high profile, public/private sector coal gasification project in his state, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead at a press conference on Friday indicated he wants to rekindle similar like coal gasification projects in the state, drawing on advancements now in commercial operation in China.
Tillerson: Natural Gas to Satisfy 25% of Global Energy Demand
Natural gas will cut a stronger profile at home and abroad during the years ahead, and the United States will benefit from that, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson said during a presentation at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City Wednesday.