Redistributed

The Senate Thursday confirmed Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ending a four-month long stalemate between Republicans and Democrats over her controversial nomination.

Output from the nation’s shale plays has ballooned domestic natural gas production over the past few years, but the industry, and the country, have yet to fully embrace all that the paradigm shift entails, said Rick Smead, a director in Navigant Consulting Inc.’s energy practice.

Steel manufacturer Nucor Corp. said it plans to spend more than $700 million on natural gas drilling over a two-year period to meet its contractual obligations with Encana Corp. for low-cost gas supplies.

Apache Corp., which had planned to sell about $4 billion worth of assets by the end of the year, accomplished that goal and more last week after agreeing to sell Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Outer Continental Shelf operations and properties, and the asset retirement obligations, to a Riverstone Holdings affiliate for $5.25 billion total.

BP plc last week launched a Gulf Claims Fraud Hotline “to help protect the integrity of the claims processes” related to the 2010 Macondo well blowout and Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Researchers commissioned by state government agencies have offered differing opinions over whether a housing shortage is on the horizon in eastern Ohio, where development is ramping up in the state’s portions of the Marcellus and Utica shales.

U.S. domestic crude oil production is at its highest level in 20 years, outstripping pipeline capacity and, increasingly, making its way to refineries and storage centers via railroads, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Denver-based SM Energy Co. is marketing all of its properties in the Anadarko Basin, including its Granite Wash interests. The sale of the gas-weighted assets is part of normal high-grading activities, the company said. Proceeds could be spent in the Permian Basin or in the Eagle Ford Shale, analysts speculated last week.

Prolific oil production from U.S. shales is weighing on the need for imports, OPEC acknowledged in its latest Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR), and analysts at Barclays predicted that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will see its influence over market balances decline over the next few years.