Remaining

Continuing its strategy of increasing its acreage in the liquids-rich Bakken Shale and Three Forks Formation, a QEP Resources Inc. subsidiary has entered into two deals with multiple sellers to acquire “significant crude oil development properties” in the Williston Basin for an aggregate purchase price of close to $1.38 billion.

Citing continued downward pressure on natural gas prices, Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. on Wednesday reported a 40% increase in production but decreased earnings in the second quarter from a year ago. Both natural gas and liquids production continued to soar, up 37% and 96%, respectively, CEO Dan Dinges said during a conference call with financial analysts.

Southern California Edison Co. (SCE) gained state regulatory approval Thursday to sell its lone remaining interest in out-of-state coal-fired generation. This is consistent with the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) mandate that it do so by 2016.

Williams Partners LP is holding an open season through April 2 for the remaining capacity on its 260-mile Atlantic Access Project, a pipeline that would carry more than 1 Bcf/d of Appalachian gas supply to eastern markets along the Atlantic Seaboard by late 2014. The partnership already has a binding precedent agreement from a shipper for half of the project’s anticipated initial capacity of 1.8 million Dth/d. The pipeline would connect Marcellus and Utica shale supply in western West Virginia and Pennsylvania to markets via Williams’ existing Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco). The project would enable Transco to move natural gas through about 350 miles of new pipe from receipt points in Marshall County, WV and Butler County, PA to connect to Transco’s Station 195 in York County, PA (see NGI, Jan. 2). Interconnections are planned with several processing plants and other pipelines along the route, including Columbia Gas Transmission, Dominion Transmission, EQT and National Fuel, as well as Williams Midstream’s proposed Confluence pipeline. For information contact Gary Duvall at (713) 215-2589.

Williams Partners LP is holding an open season through April 2 for the remaining capacity on its 260-mile Atlantic Access Project, a pipeline that would carry more than 1 Bcf/d of Appalachian gas supply to eastern markets along the Atlantic Seaboard by late 2014.

Two members of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Tuesday said they were forming a partnership approach to oversee two remaining natural gas pipeline safety proceedings regarding the aftermath of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) 2010 transmission pipe rupture and explosion in San Bruno, CA.

Just days after it announced that it would suspend drilling in the Huron Shale, EQT Corp. said Thursday that its 2011 earnings totaled $479.8 million and annual production increased more than 44% from a year ago, to 194.4 Bcfe.

Boosted by the “shale gas revolution,” Williams on Tuesday said it will spend up to $400 million to expand its Geismar olefins production facility near Baton Rouge, LA.

Production data issued by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Tuesday — which indicated that increased drilling in the Marcellus Shale has been the leading force in the growth of natural gas production in the northeastern United States — combined with a recent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report, demonstrates that the Marcellus Shale is hardly the shrinking violet some mainstream media reports have claimed, according to the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC).