Response

Oklahoma regulators on Tuesday implemented the largest volume reduction plan yet for oil and natural gas disposal wells in the Arbuckle formation in the western part of the state, which covers 5,281 square miles and 245 disposal wells. Meanwhile, the Sierra Club is suing Chesapeake Energy Corp., Devon Energy Corp. and New Dominion LLC for triggering quake activity in Oklahoma and Kansas.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell Wednesday named former Vice Admiral Brian Salerno to direct the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), which oversees oil and gas operations on the federal Outer Continental Shelf. Salerno, who retired from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) last year as its Deputy Commandant for Operations, will assume his new post on Aug. 26, replacing James Watson.

Dry natural gas production in the United States, boosted by stronger pipeline flows from the Marcellus Shale, led Goldman Sachs analysts on Monday to revise their forecasts down for prices and lift expectations for end-of-summer storage levels.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) report on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on drinking water resources will likely be finalized in 2016, the agency said Wednesday.

Nearly 100 shale gas-driven chemical industry projects in the United States — worth about $71.7 billion — will generate $20 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue by 2020, according to an analysis released Monday by the American Chemistry Council.

Once exports of liquefied U.S. natural gas begin, the global gas market will get its formal introduction to the hub in Louisiana named Henry. The response might only be a shrug, or even less. But gas markets will feel the hub’s presence, IHS Inc. Vice Chairman Dan Yergin told a Houston audience.

Most exploration and production (E&P) executives believe shale natural gas prices have bottomed out, with 87% predicting that prices will stay the same or increase over the next two years, according to a survey of 357 North American executives.

Minnesota-based Xcel Energy’s Colorado utility plans to upgrade and expand its natural gas and steam infrastructure in response to regulatory mandates and safety needs calling for an overhaul of the utility’s pipelines system. Xcel is asking state regulators to approve annual gas utility retail rate increases averaging 3.6% and totaling $113.8 million through 2015.

After a tepid company response saying it was “disappointed” in a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-sponsored study that supports export of liquefied natural gas (LNG), Dow Chemical Co. CEO Andrew Liveris unloaded on the report and its findings in a statement of his own.