Recently

In making his case for congressional action on natural gas use in transportation, the CEO of a California-based gas transportation fueling company recently told a House subcommittee that the added cost for heavy-duty natural gas-powered trucks is coming down and the NAT GAS Act (HR 1380) will help further reduce those added costs.

Recently announced plans to build a plant in Louisiana to produce gas-to-liquids (GTL) transportation fuels and other products confirm that a GTL strategy “is the country’s best approach for energy independence,” according to Santa Barbara, CA-based Carbon Sciences Inc., the developer of a technology used to make gasoline and other transportation fuels from natural gas and carbon dioxide (CO2).

The city of Morgantown, WV, made no moves to appeal to the state Supreme Court a judge’s ruling that struck down its ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking). It is instead considering its options to seek additional safety measures from Northeast Natural Energy (NNE).

Enterprise Products Partners is working to restore service on two natural gas liquids (NGL) pipelines that were shut in recently due to severe flooding on the Missouri River. The eight-inch diameter pipelines — one carrying propane and one carrying natural gasoline — run from Conway, KS, to Minnesota and are expected to be out for at least two months.

A group of municipal natural gas utilities has protested Lake Charles Exports LLC’s (LCE) request to broaden the scope of ts recently granted authority to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to include countries with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement (FTA). The municipals argue that it would be wrong-headed to approve the proposal and others like it based on the discoveries of domestic shale gas deposits.

Some sort of universal disclosure is needed throughout the oil and gas industry regarding hydraulic fracturing (fracking), Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper recently told an energy conference.

Quicksilver Resources Inc. set another production record in the second quarter and rebounded from a 1Q2011 net loss with net income of $109 million (61 cents/share) in 2Q2011. Production in the Barnett Shale, which has been a primary driver of the company’s recent growth, is expected to ramp up through at least the end of the year.

Following the trend toward liquids-rich basins, Penn Virginia Corp. recently announced plans to sell much of its Mid-continent assets to an undisclosed buyer for $30.5 million.

Setbacks in several production regions, including the Bakken Shale, resulted in an overall decline in Hess Corp.’s 2Q2011 daily output, but those setbacks were mostly short-term, and the company was able to post a 62% earnings increase compared with 2Q2010.