Remains

While it remains to be seen whether the Obama White House will be more friendly towards oil and natural gas in its second term, it appears to have become more coordinated on oil and gas issues, said a spokesman for the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA).

Although drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale has slowed and some producers have dropped rigs, there is enough of a drilling backlog that, if wells were brought online over a one-year period, production would continue to grow but at a slower pace, energy analysts with Barclays Capital said.

D&L Energy Inc. has filed an appeal with the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission, asking it to overturn the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ (ODNR) decision to revoke six of the company’s permits, deny three permit applications and order a halt to all temporary storage operations near Youngstown, after oilfield waste was illegally dumped into waterways near Youngstown in late January.

Encana Corp. is cutting back its capital expenditures (capex) and shifting more resources to oil and liquids, but the gassy Haynesville Shale remains on the development list, a top executive said Thursday.

The Permian Basin remains Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s (Oxy) go-to area for exploration and production, and beginning in 2014 there should be a sharp increase in oil production in California, according to CEO Steve Chazen.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has permanently revoked the operating permits for two companies, D&L Energy Inc. and Hardrock Excavating LLC, after employees were seen dumping oilfield waste into a storm drain in Youngstown that empties into the Mahoning River.

Canada’s First Nations on Wednesday protested across the country — blocking railways, border crossings, and in some places hindered access to oil and natural gas facilities — to protest the federal government’s passage last month of an omnibus budget bill that altered the rules for leasing tribal lands.

Lone Star Fractionator I in Mont Belvieu, TX, a 100,000 b/d natural gas liquids (NGL) facility designed to handle prolific NGL production in the Permian and Eagle Ford regions, is now in service, according to Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) and Regency Energy Partners.

McMoRan Exploration Co. remains stymied in efforts to unlock production from the Davy Jones No. 1 well in the Gulf of Mexico’s shallow waters after operations designed to unblock perforations using a propellant stimulation gun had “limited success.” The New Orleans-based producer now plans to reperforate the well on South Marsh Island Block 230 with electric wireline using tubing guns. Davy Jones, which McMoRan operates, is part of an ultra-deep natural gas structure encompassing 20,000 acres on four blocks of the Outer Continental Shelf. In late November McMoRan said it still was struggling to bring the prospective No. 1 well online, which was supposed to be flowing 50 MMcf/d last summer (see Daily GPI, Nov. 28). McMoRan holds a 63.4% working interest with Energy XXI (15.8%); JX Nippon Oil Exploration (Gulf) Ltd. (12%); and Moncrief Offshore LLC (8.8%). In early December Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., whose top executives also run McMoRan, agreed to to buy the company, as well as Plains Exploration & Production Co., for $9 billion (see Daily GPI, Dec. 6).