Region

The drilling boom in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas has increased instances of illegal drilling waste hauling in the region, while some South Texas counties have seen highway fatalities skyrocket, blamed largely on increased commercial truck traffic.

Drawing up a blueprint for regional companies that want to capture the lucrative business opportunities brought on by rampant Marcellus Shale oil and natural gas development in Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh researchers this month released a Pitt Business Working Paper titled “Understanding the Marcellus Shale Supply Chain.”

With an eye for the developing shale potential in Kansas, Irvine, CA-based startup New Western Energy Corp. said Wednesday it has obtained a 90% working interest in the 550-acre Smith Oil & Gas Lease in Chautauqua County, KS. The interest is in acreage that sits adjacent to 1,700 acres that New Western holds in the B&W Oil & Gas Lease.

The California Department of Conservation’s Oil/Gas Division goes to the heart of the state’s energy production region in Bakersfield Wednesday night to kick off a series of eight public workshops on hydraulic facturing (fracking) as a data-gathering phase prior to writing draft rules to more precisely regulate the oil/gas drilling process.

Even with the Marcellus Shale fueling new growth across the region, Pennsylvania still faces barriers to building natural gas vehicle (NGV) infrastructure, in part because of public fueling needs and high vehicle costs, according to a recent report by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, a nonprofit organization focused on economic development in the state.

Early indications point to natural gas development having a positive impact on state tax collections in counties in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale region, according to an analysis by Pennsylvania State University researchers.

A new completion design doubled initial production (IP) rates from the Marcellus Shale in southwestern Pennsylvania for Range Resources, the Fort Worth, TX-based company said Thursday.

A committee appointed by Quebec’s environment minister to study hydraulic fracturing (fracking) said the practice requires further study and recommended against authorizing any test wells that would conduct fracking for research purposes.

A majority of states, including many deeply involved in shale development, are not preparing for the ways a changing climate might impact future water supplies, according to a new report from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC).