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Seneca Resources Corp., the exploration and production subsidiary of National Fuel Gas Co., said Tuesday that six recently completed wells targeting the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania are among the most productive ever drilled in the play, according to initial test results.

Spectra Energy Corp. infrastructure development mostly recently has been focused on the Northeast, where capacity is needed to get Marcellus and Utica shale gas to market. However, the Southeast and Gulf Coast regions are ripe for billions of dollars of investment as well, said Bill Yardley, president of the U.S. transmission and storage business.

Most recently, Spectra infrastructure development has been focused on the Northeast, where capacity is needed to get Marcellus and Utica gas to market. However, the Southeast and Gulf Coast regions are ripe for billions of dollars of investment as well, said Spectra’s Bill Yardley, president of the U.S. transmission and storage business.

A recently combined and publicly held exploration and development company, Salt Lake City-based Richfield Oil and Gas Co., announced a purchase in the Graham Reservoir oilfield in Uinta County, WY. Richfield bought a shut-in well in the Wasatch National Forest (Well #16-15) from Frontier Energy for $610,000, including 640 acres of mineral leases. The company said the purchase gives it 100% working interest in a mineral lease in the Graham Reservoir, located approximately 120 miles northeast of Salt Lake City in southeastern Wyoming. The well has been shut in since 2003 and was completed in the Dakota Formation at 15,600 feet. Flow testing and production operations will get underway later in the first quarter. For Richfield, which is the product of the merger of Hewitt Petroleum Inc. and Freedom Oil & Gas Inc. in 2011, the acquisition is part of the process of “methodically building our reserve and production base” through graded acquisitions,” said CEO Douglas Hewitt.

Driven by carbon emission reduction and renewable energy goals, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber recently released a new 10-year energy plan for the state that calls for conservation and energy efficiency to take care of all increased energy demand during the period. Fossil fuel use is discouraged, and natural gas is virtually unmentioned in the 49-page document..

The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) added two newly elected members and one re-elected member Monday. Bob Stump, the recently re-elected member, was voted by his colleagues as the ACC’s new chairman. He is joined by new member Bob Burns and Susan Bitter Smith, along with returning members, Gary Pierce and Brenda Burns. Pierce just completed two years as the regulatory panel’s chair. Stump serves on the board of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. On Friday, the ACC also named a new executive director, Jodi Jerich, who comes to the commission from a three-year stint as head of the Arizona Residential Utility Consumer Office. Jerich formerly served as policy advisor to ACC commissioner Mike Gleason.

Audi AG held a topping-out ceremony recently for a new plant in Germany that will be the world’s first manufacturing facility for producing synthetic methane, or “e-gas,” along with renewable electricity. The facility is scheduled to begin operations early in 2013 and begin feeding e-gas into the local natural gas distribution network by summer.

DTE Pipeline Co. began Tuesday began operation of its Bluestone Gathering pipeline system in Susquehanna County, PA. The southern portion of the pipeline connects gas production of Southwestern Energy to the Tennessee Gas Pipeline in Lenox Township, PA (see Shale Daily, July 6, 2011). The pipeline has a capacity of 275 million cubic feet per day. The remaining 32 miles of pipeline will interconnect with the Millennium Pipeline in Sanford, NY and should be completed in January, DTE said. Bluestone Gathering is being developed as the Bluestone Pipeline Co. of Pennsylvania LLC, Bluestone Gas Corp. of New York Inc. and Susquehanna Gathering Co. I LLC, all of which are subsidiaries of DTE Pipeline, an affiliate of DTE Energy. Bluestone is DTE’s first natural gas gathering project outside Michigan. DTE Pipeline also is a 40% owner of the Vector Pipeline, 26.25% owner of the Millennium Pipeline and 33% owner of the recently announced Nexus Gas Transmission System.

Producer Antero Resources, which recently refocused all of its efforts on Appalachia, has signed up for Utica Shale processing, fractionation and marketing services with MarkWest Utica EMG LLC.