Recently

Columbia Gas of Ohio outlined a possible exit scenario from its merchant function as part of its standard choice offer (SCO) auction process, recently filed with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO).

GreenHunter Water LLC recently began handling water disposal services at its newly completed salt water disposal (SWD) facility near Helena in Karnes County, TX. The facility is composed of new storage tanks and a fully contained offloading platform that features four unloading tractor trailer bays, a 150 hp pumping system and 2,400 bbl of onsite storage. The newly drilled SWD well was completed to the Middle Wilcox formation at a total depth of 7,800 feet. Green Hunter Water is a unit of GreenHunter Energy Inc. “We expect demand for Class II injection capacity in this part of the Eagle Ford Shale play to remain robust due to the increased drilling in the region directly related to the successful drilling efforts by operators in the ‘oil window’ of the Eagle Ford,” said Green Hunter Energy President Jonathan D. Hoopes. “With this new well now online and the facility operational, GreenHunter Water’s total owned disposal capacity has reached 35,000 bbl per day from a total of seven SWD wells located in five states.”

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) is proposing to amend its rules relating to water protection to allow for a wider variety of recycling activities. The existing rules contemplate two categories of commercial recycling facilities: mobile and stationary. Since adoption of the rules in 2006, RRC has received an increasing number of applications for permits for facilities that fit neither category. Therefore, RRC proposed to create a third category: a semi-mobile commercial recycling facility. It proposes to authorize on-lease, non-commercial recycling of produced water and/or hydraulic fracturing (fracking) flowback fluid, and to clarify requirements for off-lease or centralized noncommercial recycling of produced water and/or fracking flowback fluid. It also proposes to amend the definition of “fresh makeup water pit” to allow use of such a pit in conjunction with fracking of an oil or gas well for the storage of fresh water or treated fracking flowback fluid used to make up fracking fluid for use in a new well. The changes are intended to reduce the demand for fresh water for fracking. The proposal was recently published in the Texas Register.

Total gross withdrawals of domestic natural gas jumped to 28.58 Tcf in 2011, a 6.5% increase from 26.84 Tcf in 2010, and are on pace to easily surpass those numbers again this year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Monthly Energy Review for September.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell recently said in Philadelphia he believes hydraulic fracturing (fracking) can be done safely, but said he supports the de facto moratorium on drilling in the Delaware River Basin and would back a genuine one.

The government of Western Australia said Wednesday it will introduce regulations to mandate public disclosure of “any chemicals introduced into a well or formation” although tight and shale gas development in the region is seen as “a number of years away.”

Fort Worth, TX-based Quicksilver Resources Inc. provided an operational update on its recently completed well in the Delaware Basin in West Texas and the completion of an eight-well pad in the Horn River Basin in British Columbia (BC).

The implementation of four recently proposed or finalized U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations affecting coal-fueled electricity generating units could prompt the retirement of as much as 12% of coal-fired capacity, with natural gas expected to replace much of that, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The implementation of four recently proposed or finalized U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations affecting coal-fueled electricity generating units could prompt the retirement of as much as 12% of coal-fired capacity, with natural gas expected to replace much of that, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).